Page 3 of Ghosted AF (At First #4)

three

~ Rylee ~

RYLEE: I want to request a new agent.

MNSTR: I’m sorry to hear that. All of our task agents undergo rigorous background checks, and we strive to provide the best possible experience for our users. Can you please provide more details about your complaint?

RYLEE: He keeps walking around my apartment without a shirt on.

MNSTR: I’m sorry. I didn’t understand that. Can you please provide more details about your complaint?

RYLEE: My agent isn’t wearing a shirt, and it’s making my heart do weird things.

MNSTR: Thank you for your feedback. Your information has been sent to a quality control agent for review. Is there anything else I can help you with?

Huffing in frustration, I closed out the app and chucked my phone to the other end of the sofa. So much for customer service. Apparently, I would just have to suffer through my heart palpitations every time Caius walked through the fucking living room.

Despite the pre-bedtime chaos, I had slept soundly during the night, undisturbed by ghostly shenanigans. I hadn’t forgotten about Caius, but I also hadn’t expected to stumble into the living room to find a shirtless male on my sofa.

MNSTR had claimed they were sending a griffin shifter, not a gorgeous, half-naked Viking.

There he’d been, stretched out like he owned the place, one arm draped behind his head and his other hand lazily scrolling through his phone. The morning light had spilled across his bare chest, highlighting the edges of a tattoo I hadn’t noticed before—a swirl of runes just beneath his collarbone.

I didn’t remember making a noise, but he’d glanced up at my entrance, a crooked smile playing at the corner of his mouth as if he found something about me amusing.

His voice had been gravelly with sleep when he’d greeted me, and the hint of an accent made the simple sentence sound far sexier than it had any right to be.

Instead of acknowledging him, I’d made a beeline for the kitchen. Once there, I had determinedly kept my eyes on the coffee pot. I hadn’t even glanced at him. Not once.

I certainly hadn’t noticed the way his hair tumbled around his broad shoulders in messy waves of gold and bronze.

Currently, he had retreated onto the balcony with a cup of coffee, still shirtless, to dry his wings in the morning sun after his shower. And yes, maybe I peeked through the sliding glass door a couple of times, but only to admire his impressive tawny and white feathers.

Clearly.

If I happened to notice the way his back muscles rippled with movement, or the way the bright rays gleamed off his tanned skin, it was purely by accident. I mean, I didn’t care or anything.

It did provide a nice distraction from my problems, though.

The front office hadn’t contacted me. Mykal hadn’t returned for his tools, not that I had expected him to. For the past hour, I had been procrastinating, knowing I should call management, but not sure I wanted to deal with what came after that.

If they didn’t know anything about Mykal’s disappearance, someone should probably report him as a missing person. With his tools still inside my apartment, I would no doubt have to talk to the police, which would probably end with me somehow implicating myself in his death.

Alleged death, of course.

On the other hand, if Mykal hadn’t died, and his body wasn’t rotting somewhere in my apartment, that meant I had an entirely different issue.

Caius kept telling me I didn’t have a poltergeist situation. He seemed positive about that, but he also couldn’t tell me what kind of situation I did have. Which didn’t exactly inspire confidence.

So, in short, I had spent my savings—money I had squirreled away for over a year to get out of this dump—for the pleasure of a pretty view and blue balls.

Before I could get too worked up and do something crazy, like fight the MNSTR chatbot, a knock at my door had me springing up from the sofa. My heart raced as I hurried to answer the summons, a part of me hoping to see Mykal on my stoop, while another part worried it might be the Circle City PD.

It turned out to be neither.

I didn’t have to bother unlatching the deadbolt since the door didn’t even close all the way. Not that anyone would be stupid enough to break in with Caius there, but it still made me uneasy that it had been like that all night.

Rather than my missing maintenance guy or the police, I pulled the door open on screeching hinges to find another Viking waiting for me. At least this one had a shirt on.

Maybe MNSTR had sent a replacement agent after all.

“Can I help you?”

He smiled, and I swear to the gods I heard a bell chime as the sunlight glinted off one of his canines.

“Rylee Burke?”

“Um, yes?”

“Lucius Finch.” He swept his golden hair back with one hand and shoved the other across the threshold toward me.

I took the offered hand before I could think better of it, then flinched back when his words finally caught up to my muddled brain. “Finch? You wouldn’t happen to be related to Caius Finch, would you?”

But I already knew. The family resemblance was undeniable.

“Caius is my brother. He called me to come over and fix your door.”

I glanced at the giant dent in the bottom of the door, then to the splintered frame before meeting his gaze again. “You’re going to fix it?”

He laughed, easy and carefree. “I’m going to replace it. I just need to get some measurements.”

Okay, yeah, that made more sense. Still, I bit my bottom lip, hesitating before agreeing to the repairs.

“How much is that going to cost?”

“For you? Nothing.” Amber eyes—a shade darker than his brother’s—sparkled with petty glee. “Caius broke it, so he’s footing the bill.”

“Oh, okay.” I mean, it was only good manners since he’d karate kicked my door into another dimension, but I still felt oddly touched by the gesture. “I should probably check with management?”

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll take care of everything.”

I didn’t have to pay for the repairs, and I didn’t have to deal with administrative bullshit? Sign me the fuck up.

“Thank you.” I jerked a thumb over my shoulder. “Do you want to talk to Caius?”

“Oh, gods, no.”

He laughed again, an infectious chuckle that I couldn’t help but echo.

“I heard that, dumbass.”

My laughter died immediately when the gruff voice resonated behind me, but Lucius responded with the shit-eating grin of a little brother used to getting his way.

A hand landed on my shoulder, and I tensed, an involuntary shiver vibrating through me when a spark of electricity rippled down my spine. My pulse jumped, my heart climbing into my throat, and my nostrils flared as I tried to breathe through the unfamiliar sensations.

Caius’ touch wasn’t threatening, but it didn’t exactly feel friendly either. It seemed almost…territorial.

That couldn’t be right, though. I barely knew the shifter, and—

Lucius’ gaze flickered to the hand on my shoulder, his eyes narrowed in observation, and his grin widened, stretching to show every one of his teeth.

“Rylee,” he said, though his attention remained on his brother. “You should come with me to pick out a new door.”

Caius’ fingers flexed on my shoulder, his grip tightening briefly before relaxing again. He didn’t comment, but this time, I had no trouble interpreting the gesture.

He clearly hadn’t appreciated the suggestion.

Lucius laughed again, seemingly having the time of his life. “Fuck, why don’t you just whip your dick out and pee a circle around him?”

My eyes widened, and I shook my head quickly as I spun around to face my hired protector. “Please don’t do that.”

To my surprise, Caius barked out a sharp laugh, and the smile that accompanied it transformed his already handsome face into something truly breathtaking. Literally.

My breath caught in my chest, my brain glitched, and I blurted out the first thought that popped into my head. “You’re wearing a shirt.”

A soft black material with a V-neck collar that showed a hint of the tattoo on his chest. It probably didn’t need to be that tight, but it did cover him.

“I do that sometimes.” Still chuckling, he reached out, lightly tapping the underside of my chin with the side of his index finger.

Realizing I’d gone slack-jawed, I shook myself out of my stupor and snapped my lips closed.

“And you,” he continued, pointing the same finger at his brother’s face. “More fixing. Less talking.”

Lucius held both hands up in surrender, though he appeared more amused than intimidated.

Despite their bickering and name-calling, I could hear the undercurrent of affection they shared beneath all that sibling posturing. It was actually kind of sweet, but I doubted either would take that as a compliment.

It also didn’t sound as if they really needed me there for the conversation either.

“I’m going to go get ready for work,” I said to no one in particular. “And I guess I should call the front office,” I added under my breath.

“About the maintenance guy?”

A sigh bubbled from my lips as I nodded. I didn’t look forward to it, but it had to be done.

“Hold off on that.”

“But—”

“Just for now,” Caius said, brushing a lock of hair away from my eyes. “If it ends up being necessary, I’ll take care of it.”

“Really?” I perked up, so relieved I barely noticed the way my stomach cartwheeled from his casual touch.

“Really,” he echoed with a crooked grin. “Don’t stress about it. That’s why I’m here, right?”

“Right.” I took a deep breath and released it slowly, feeling about a million pounds lighter.

“I still need to get ready for my shift, though.” I glanced at Lucius and smiled.

“It was nice to meet you.” As I turned to walk away, I paused next to Caius and reached out to touch his forearm. “Thank you.”

Then I hurried out of the entryway without looking at him, doing my best to ignore the way my hand warmed and tingled from the contact.