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I dug deeper, cross-referencing her phone number. A burner app, active last week, linked to an encrypted handle. Not odd for Vivi’s circle, but it raised a flag.
I set a crawler to trace the handle. My fingers moved on autopilot. My mind was on her.
Vivi tonight, meeting Jessa. Her grin sharp, reckless, body moving like she owned the room. I wanted to be there. Watching. Shielding.
The ballet’s suspension notice—her whereabouts are to be supplied to the authorities—burned in my gut. A threat I hadn’t neutralized.
But Vivi wasn’t for caging. She’d burn through the bars, laugh in my face. I’d love every second.
My cock throbbed. Her lips on me last night—slow, deliberate, tasting herself—flooded my senses. I shifted, adjusting myself, trying to focus. Trying not to think of my mouth on her pussy, burying my face in her.
Jessa’s burner chat was a dead end. Encryption too tight to crack fast. I pulled her financials, skimming for red flags.
Venmo payments to Vivi for “tacos,” “gas.” Nothing suspicious. But my mind wasn’t on numbers.
It was on Vivi’s body. The way she’d ridden me, hips rolling, moans filling the room. I wanted her here, wanted to fuck her slow, feel her come apart, hear her whisper my name. What a drug.
I leaned back, scrubbing my face. Tomorrow. The word circled, foreign, like hope. Like growth.
I saw us in my bedroom, her barefoot, stealing my coffee, laugh cutting the silence. On a beach, her running into waves, me chasing, both alive in ways I hadn’t been.
Reckless. Stupid, maybe. Wanting a future in my world of shadows and secrets. But Vivi made it feel real. Reachable.
A knock snapped me out. “Yeah?” I called, voice rough, eyes on the screen.
Ryker stepped in, broad frame filling the doorway, dark hair mussed like he’d been sparring. “Seen Obsidian?” he asked. “She’s AWOL from her tank. Noah’s losing it.”
I glanced at Obsidian in the corner, coils gleaming, and smirked. “Spent the night with us. She’s fine.”
Ryker’s brow lifted, eyes flicking to the snake, then me. “I don’t want to know, do I?”
“Nope,” I said, tone light but final.
He snorted, shaking his head. “Fair enough.”
He paused at the door. “You good, brother?”
I met his eyes, that unspoken understanding there. My brothers knew when to push, when to back off. “Yeah,” I said, softer. “I’m good.”
He nodded, gone, leaving silence heavy with Vivi’s absence. That was the thing about my brothers—they knew when to let shit lie. Trusted I’d handle it.
And I would. For her.
I turned to the screen, pulling Jessa’s social media. Scrolled her connections. A guy, tagged last month, arm around her, smile too sharp.
I ran his profile, fingers fast. My mind was on Vivi. The way she’d looked this morning, eyes soft but fierce, promising she’d come back.
I wanted her here. Wanted to bury myself in her, forget the alerts, the threats, the world outside.
The guy’s profile was a bust. Tourist, passing through, no ties. I leaned back, frustrated, cock still hard, thoughts a mess of lust and longing.
Tomorrow again. Vivi in my bed, body pressed to mine, laugh filling the air. Driving through the Lowcountry, her feet on the dash, music blaring, no plans, just us.
A fantasy, but real. Something I could reach for. Growth. Or madness. With her, hard to tell.
The clock ticked closer to Vivi’s meeting. I checked my phone. No new alerts. But the suspension notice lingered, a blade I couldn’t dull.
I needed more on Jessa. Friend or threat? I pulled her work schedule, cross-referencing the coffee shop’s roster. Off at six.