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Nick waved him to go ahead.

Viper picked up, not one bit ready to hear her voice and loving it all at the same time. “Hey.”

“How did you get my number that time you called me about my kidnapped baby cousin?”

Viper held back a grin. She’d obviously savedhisnumber.

But Lyric sounded off. This wasn’t her usual cheerful self others got to experience while she remained suspicious of him. But she didn’t sound cautious today, more like inquisitive and scared.

He didn’t like that at all.

So he answered her. “You call your sister from the kitchen to the bar all the time.” He found it odd since they were in the same building, less than twenty feet away from each other. But then again, Lyric couldn’t just leave whatever she was cooking back there unattended, so she would call Aria behind the bar for whatever it was she wanted. “I see your number light up her phone all the time.” He had a knack for remembering details like that. “I put the number in my phone. Why?”

“That’s what I want to know. Why?”

“In case I needed to call you. Which I did that one time.”

“Did I ever thank you for reuniting Cyn with her niece?”

“Not the way I wanted you to,” he said under his breath, hoping Nick kept his mouth shut, because the last thing he needed right now was his big brother giving him shit about distractions Viper surely didn’t need. But Lyric wasn’t someone he could ignore. Now. Ever.

“What did you say?”

He got back on track. “You thanked me. And that’s how I got your number. So?” The pause unsettled him when nothing ever really did anymore. “Lyric, what’s wrong?”

“It’s just that easy for anyone to find me, to get my information.”

“I only called you once.” It wasn’t like he made a habit of it. Though, he probably shouldn’t mention how often his finger hovered over her contact information. But he never pressed the button to send the call through, no matter how badly he wanted to hear her voice and have her all to himself once in a while. He stared at the picture of her on his phone whenever he was alone. Because even he had limits to his loneliness. So he indulged them by watching her YouTube videos. He loved watching her sing and hearing her songs. She was so talented.

But she didn’t need to know that either.

“I’m not talking about you.”

That got his attention. Just like this random call did.

He had noticed a couple of her followers left some rather personal comments, hoping she’d respond to them with as much interest as they showed in her. She never did. But lately one in particular had seemed a little too enthusiastic.

“Who got your information? Did someone contact you?”

Nick raised a brow, catching on that this personal call was also something serious.

She didn’t respond.

“Lyric, you can talk to me. Tell me what’s going on.”

“Maybe it’s nothing.”

“Nothingdoesn’t make you call me.” They didn’t have that kind of relationship, though he wished he could change that.

“I’m probably overreacting.”

He knew her well enough to know she wasn’t dramatic.

“It’s just . . . You wouldn’t do something like this. And he did. He looks like a nice guy. You don’t, particularly. I mean, you seem one way, but I don’t think that’s really who you are.”

If she only knew.

And he couldn’t help but feel those words sink deep inside him. She saw past the image he portrayed and saw something else. He hadn’t seen the man he used to be for a long time. He had to bury that guy deep to do what he did.