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“Yeah, I first spoke to them two months after we started dating. I was curious because you never talked about them. We’ve spoken every few months since then.”

I studied Graham’s face for any signs of distress or anger.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m surprised. But then again, I’m not. Why didn’t you tell me you spoke to them? Or asked me about our relationship?”

“You’re not open with your emotions and anytime I brought up family, you changed the subject or walked away. It was the way you were about everything in our relationship. Anything you didn’t want to talk about, you’d shut down and I didn’t get anywhere, even more so if I pushed. When we broke up, they told me they worried you would end up alone and miserable.”

There was a pause as Hensley studied Graham’s face. “Huh.”

“What?”

“Let me guess? You’re nothing like that with Neko here. You told him about your parents…”

“The morning after they woke up on the couch, leaving behind their man juices because of their all-night gay sex marathon, which Neko hasn’t replaced even though we agreed it’s disgusting,” Ri said.

“Nothing happened on the couch.” My words did nothing to mitigate the inscrutable stares we were getting from the family.

“But you had sex last night, which makes me so proud, so proud,” Echo sniffed.

“Yeah, Neko lost is virginity. Woo hoo,” Yu taunted.

“How do you know that, you evil miniature—”

Graham kept his eyes open as he slammed his mouth down on mine. Without breaking contact, he murmured against my lips, “Words hurt, sweetheart, don’t be mean.”

I blinked at our weird position, forgetting all about the constant embarrassment of my family knowing too much about my life, and smiled against his lips. “Does this mean you’re done with breakfast and ready to kick everyone out and head upstairs for some naked fun time?”

“What about the Donovan problem? You never answered me earlier,” Echo said.

The man I wanted to see naked, seduce, and fuck to within an inch of our lives, growled at the reminder of my ex doing stupid shit and lifted me onto his lap and surrounded me with his warmth. Since I was sitting with my legs draped over his thighs, I buried my face into his neck and breathed in his spicy scent.

“You two are sweet together,” Hensley said.

“Thank you,” I murmured.

“What has he done? Created several fake social media accounts with old pictures? There’s nothing I can do about that, and they aren’t incriminating. If he wants to prove that I’ve only dated women, I supposed he’s managed it,” Graham added.

“Despite the rumor going around that you’re married and cheating on a supermodel, he might track you down and hurt Neko,” Echo sounded worried.

“The room where Neko records hasn’t changed, other than a few gaming and movie souvenirs he’s added through the years, so the fucker knows where he lives. If he’s stupid enough to show his face, Neko won’t be within shouting distance of the man, because I’m never far from him. And I promise to call you and wait to kill him until after you arrive. Then we’ll decide where to bury the body.”

Ri cleared her throat as Yu gave Graham a malevolent smile.

“We don’t want to kill him. There are much more humiliating and life-destroying ways we can get back at him. Like… I know his middle name and his social security number, along with his credit score, every debt he’s accumulated over the past ten years, along with his weird addiction with ‘beanie babies.’ He’s spent close to a quarter million dollars on this hobby, all of which he displays in his bedroom. He even has a sleep schedule where he rotates them out on a week by week basis,” Yu added.

The twins turned their heads and did some sort of twin-speak, before Ri suggested, “It would be a shame if his house burned down.”

I lifted my head from Graham’s shoulder and let out a tremendous yawn I covered with my hand. But my eyes watered for a moment, and using a finger, I wiped the tears that leaked.

“You two are the most brilliant and conniving minds of the century. Should I expect a knock on the door with some government agent coming to recruit you for some covert, unauthorized, clandestine, Jason Bourne shit?”

“Maybe.”

I glanced at Echo, who sat back with her arms crossed over her chest, a satisfied smirk on her face.

“Wait. Does he still live in West Hartford?” Echo asked.