Page 66 of Inhuman Nature

Rake grimaced, shifting his gaze to the developers again. Thankfully, none of them so much as glanced their way.

Van lowered her voice. “You guys aren’t actually doing anything illegal, are you?”

“Yes, we are,” DJ confirmed, shooting her some finger guns.

Rake sighed. At both the horrendous use of finger guns, and the half-baked plan he was about to admit to havingconcocted. “As I said in my message—we need your help with something.”

“I’m down for a bit of crime.” Van looked far too enthused at the prospect of breaking the law. It probably made her the perfect person to ask for help.

By mutual agreement, neither Rake nor DJ had mentioned Shaun to their friends yet. It had originally been due to the whole meeting-for-the-first-time-in-a-kink-club thing, and then it was the we’re-not-just-kinky-we-might-also-be-polyamorous thing, and most recently it was because of the whole turns-out-the-guy-we-like-is-actually-a-vampire-being-hunted-by-his-murderous-creator thing.

A complicated situation, all considered.

But now, they needed to share.

Before Rake could introduce the subject himself, however, DJ blurted out, “We’ve started seeing someone.”

Van’s face lit up. “Oh my god, I’m so happy for you! Who are they?”

Rake’s face heated as DJ spoke. “His name is Shaun. He’s adorable. It’s new, but we like him.”

“You guys haven’t always been poly, have you?”

“Nope. And not to go into details, but”—DJ paused for what was clearly intended to be dramatic effect—“it’s fan-tas-tic.” He enunciated every syllable like it was a separate word. Rake agreed with DJ’s statement, no matter how he said it.

“So, when do I get to meet him?” Van asked, and DJ’s face fell. Seeing it made Rake even more determined to go through with the plan.

“That’s the thing,” Rake said. “He’s in a bit of trouble.”

Van narrowed her eyes. “Is this where the crime comes in?Don’t tell me you met online, and he’s asking for money?”

“No!” DJ said. “He’s not a catfish. We met him in real life. But he’s got this…problem. A problem person. A personal problem.”

“What?”

“It’s Shaun’s”—Rake swallowed, hardly able to say the next word because of how inaccurate it felt—“ex-boyfriend. Lawrence isn’t a good person. I thought if you could help us get into his laptop, then we could get some info on him and make sure he doesn’t bother Shaun again.” That felt like a reasonable explanation, whilst also not being an outright lie.

“Look, I’m not one to suggest going to the police willy-nilly, but surely this is a matter they should deal with?”

“We can’t go to the police. For reasons,” DJ said, as if that explanation would allay any of Van’s concerns.

Rake scrubbed a hand over his face. “We can’t inform the police, because Lawrence has connections. He was abusive to Shaun, but we can’t do anything that will put Shaun on anyone’s radar.”

Van’s expression hardened. “Okay, sign me up. I’ll help with whatever’s needed. Is there a chance of getting our hands on the hardware, though? If we have the laptop, it’s gonna make this a lot easier.”

DJ turned to Rake, delighted. “Plan B?”

“Breaking and entering,” Rake lamented. “How have we got to the point where this is our only option?”

“Do you have any experience of breaking into a house?” DJ asked Van brightly.

Van gave him a droll look. “Oh yeah, let me go get my CV for you. Details all my past criminal activity.”

As if on cue, Sophie rushed into the cafe, head swivelling before her gaze landed on them. She came over and sat down next to Van. “Sorry I’m late, DJ. Got held up in a meeting.”

DJ pulled a huge bar of chocolate out of his bag and slid it over to her. “Your bribe,” he said.

“Deej, you engineered this,” Rake said, realising he’d been played.