Page 5 of Imperial: The Corvidae Family

“And then his wife, who was wearing a diamond necklace that could probably pay off my student loans, told me she wanted a separate entrée, because, and I quote, I simply can’t eat what he eats. It’s bad for my digestion and my peace.”

She sucked her teeth. “I swear, rich people just wake up every day and find new ways to be exhausting.”

I laughed but really wanted to tell her about the man who was firing off shots and then somehow ended up at the Brewed Bean near my job.

I sure as hell couldn’t tell her about the body even though I trusted her with my life.

At the moment I just didn’t know how I felt about any of this yet, other than I was lusting after a killer.

Rachelle stretched her arms out in front of her, releasing a soft moan as her technician began painting her toes.

“Well, my day was boring compared to yours. The highlight was my coworker almost setting the office microwave on fire. Oh, and the fact that my boss tried to gaslight us into believing our paychecks weren’t supposed to hit until next week. ”

“Girl, not the delayed paycheck trick.”

“Exactly that.” She lifted her mimosa dramatically. “But you know HR had the receipts.”

I smiled smugly. “I don’t know how you’re still working there.”

“Because I enjoy the chaos and it pays well, when she actually pays.” I rolled my eyes and she grabbed her phone off the armrest. “But wait, did you see this on the news?”

“No, what’s that?”

She turned the screen toward me showing Deven’s face and I kept my expression neutral.

Rachelle scrolled. “Apparently, he was some big real estate developer? Anyway, they found him dead last night in the building where you were. They said he was at that Kingston thing. Do you remember him?”

“Nah, I don’t. There were so many people there it was hard to keep up. That’s crazy though and scary as shit that it happened so close.”

No friend, what’s crazy is I’m crushing on the man that did it…

“It’s kinda fucked up too. Some of the attendees they reached out to were talking about how he was creepy. They overheard one of the servers saying he was handsy all over the staff last night. He fucked around and found out. If he was really like that, I doubt anybody cares.”

“Yeah.” Was all I said and she frowned at me. “You good?”

“Yep, just thinking how crazy that was a man died at my event last night.”

“That is hella crazy but I’m glad you’re good though.”

She got distracted with her phone so I picked up mine and saw a new notification that had me fighting a smile.

@BLKVOID liked a photo.

I clicked on it to see which picture they had liked.

A selfie from weeks ago which was deep on my page. This man was on me bad and that was a problem because I was smiling instead of panicking.

I tapped his profile, scrolling through the same images I had seen earlier.

Nothing new. I locked my phone and glanced at Rachelle.

She was laughing at something on her own screen, completely unaware that I was in a state of delusion.

I smiled, pretending this man didn’t have me acting insane and stalking just as much as he was.

By the time we left the shop, I was completely rejuvenated. I flexed my fingers, admiring the glossy white color I had chosen, feeling brand new. I glanced at Rachelle as we walked toward the parking lot. “You wanna grab dinner?”

She groaned. “I wish. But I have a proposal to finish tonight, and if I don’t get it done, my boss is gonna make me curse her ass out.”

“The same boss who tried to gaslight y’all into thinking your paychecks were late on purpose?”

“Exactly,” she said dryly. “I need to stay ahead of the bullshit.”

I wasn’t ready to go home yet so that meant I was eating alone. Rachelle unlocked her car and tossed her bag onto the passenger seat before turning to me. “I’ll make it up to you. You free Friday?”

I did a quick mental scan of the rest of my week before answering.

“That works, just let me know.”

“And get some sleep boo. You look like shit,” she said pointing at my face.

I burst out laughing. “Girl fuck you.”

She stuck her tongue out and I grinned, as I headed to my own car, trying to decide what I wanted to eat. As soon as I thought about Rockin’ Ramen my stomach growled so the decision was made.

After I walked in the building, I slid into a corner booth, setting my bag beside me before I reached for a menu. While I was doing a deep dive a waitress approached me. “Hey, welcome back! The usual? Spicy beef, extra noodles?”

I frowned because I didn’t eat here enough for them to know my order but she smiled big as hell. “I’ve waited on you three times and it’s always the same. I have a really good memory.”

“Oh, okay cool. Yeah, that works and sake please.”

“Got it, be right back.”

She headed toward the counter and I pulled out my phone, scrolling absently through my notifications. I had a couple emails from Tae about an upcoming venue walkthrough and a few random texts in a group chat from work I barely kept up with.

And then…

@BLKVOID liked your post.

Another one.

I clicked on it to see which photo. He liked a second selfie but this one was from today at Tranquil Breeze followed by another one buried deeper in my page.

I stared at the notifications with my fingers hovering over the screen.

But instead of going to his page, I locked my phone.

I needed to get over this weird ass obsession and fast.

Because what the hell am I doing…