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A job.

With this in mind, I scowl at her. “Don’t ever feed my bird. She’s on a specific meal plan and schedule. You’re gonna fuck up her digestion.”

Her mouth hangs agape in outrage. “It was one treat. She’d been crying out for hours.”

I yank my drawer open before dropping the towel. “Yeah, well, I didn’t know Coach was going to keep us running hills all morning.”

When I turn, boxers clutched in a fist, her eyes spring up from where they’d been gawking at my ass. “So that’s why Wicker hasn’t been in my room yet today?”

I know for a fact Wicker made a deposit at precisely twelve last night, but nothing since. “Careful, you almost sound disappointed.” Stepping into my boxers, I hold her stare, satisfied by the way she’s squirming. “He was puking after the sixth run through like a little bitch. I wouldn’t take it personally.”

“Goddamn it, Wicker…” Effie calls in Lex’s voice. Then in Wicker’s, “Suck my balls.”

I swing my glare on the cage. “Effie, don’t make me put you to bed.”

Verity frowns as she watches Effie wobble-walk back to her tablet. It’s not a live stream, since the weather’s too wet and foggy for anything decent today. Instead, it’s a stock video.

“Do you ever let her out?” Verity asks.

I sweep a hand toward my desk, littered with stolen, and eventually reappropriated, F12 keys. “I let her out all the time.”

“Not in your room,” Verity says, pointing to the tablet. “I meanout, to really stretch her wings.”

My eyes harden. “She likes it in here. It’s her home. It has all her things.”

Verity looks around, pausing at the heavy, closed drapes. “It just seems sad that she’s cooped up all day.” Her eyes widen, snapping to mine. “Oh, maybe she could come down to the solarium with me.”

I shake my head. “She wouldn’t like that.”

But Verity flaps a hand excitedly. “It’s got those high glass ceilings and all those vines–even a few trees she can explore. I bet she’d love it!”

“And then what?” I burst, watching her flinch as I stomp forward. “Wicker or Danner would walk in, leave the door open, and she’d fly off.”

“Goddamn it,Wicker.”

I grab the blanket and toss it over the cage. She doesn’t need to be hearing all this anyway. “Effie’s always been used to small spaces. She doesn’t like a lot of sunlight, and she doesn’t need more room. She’s happy in here with me.” Jaw tight, I turn my back to her, gripping the back of my desk chair, and ignore the way my heart hammers in my chest. “Why am I even explaining this to you? I don’t give a fuck what you think. Get the fuck out.”

There’s a long moment of stillness, silence, and then Verity says, “You know, it’s not normal to lock living things up all the time. Animals need sunlight, Pace. They need space and fresh air. Just because this is how it’s always been for her doesn’t mean that’s the right thing.”

By the time I form a reply, whipping around to snarl a ‘fuck you’ in her face, Verity is gone.

“Gentle,” Effie croons in Verity’s low, soft voice. “Gentle, gentle.”

It’s latewhen I hear a tap on my door. I check the monitor to make sure it’s not Verity trying to come in here and stir up shit again. Who the fuck is she to tell me what Effie needs? She doesn’t even know her.

Luckily, it’s just Lex.

“Hey,” he says, stepping in. His hair is down, damp from a fresh shower. He’s wearing his glasses too, his contacts probably sitting in his bathroom as he gets ready for bed. “Got a minute?”

“What’s up?” I ask, flipping through the monitors, pausing on the one of Father’s club.

“Can you check my back? There’s a few in the middle I can’t reach.”

I turn to look at him, the request both gutting and soothing. It hurts to see his back, but he’s been letting me take care of him ever since the last punishment, and that’s new.

“I’ve got you.” I stand and he hands me the tube of ointment before pulling his T-shirt over his head. He leans over the back of my desk chair, facing the monitors, and waits. His back is a scarred nightmare, the fresh welts still red. They’re healing though, scabbing over. “Does it still itch?”

“No, thank fuck, that part has passed,” he says as I pick up the ointment and unscrew the cap. “I got a message from the Barons, by the way. Everything’s settled.”