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My belly loosened somewhat. I opened the chat window, reading both messages.

"Hey, babe."

"You okay? Your head's hurting?"

I couldn't help but smile. Sorrel was a pure-hearted darling. The thought of him worrying had me simultaneously grinning and hurrying to assure him that I was fine.

"Hey," I replied. "My head's fine. I'm just trying to convince Mother that it is so she can bring me some perisage for my secret project."

"Oh RIGHT. The long con. I remember." Sorrel replied. He sent a line of winky faces and zipped mouth faces.

I quickly typed out a response. "It really is a long con, isn't it?"

"Yep. And you are super smart for coming up with it."

"Well. I really,reallywant to video chat with you guys."

"Yeah, me too, Zelle. I wanna see you."

See me. I glanced down at myself.

Mother had always told me I was beautiful. But I didn't think I could really trust her to tell me the truth about something like that.

I was certainly more attractive than she was, but that wasn't difficult to achieve.

I had a narrow waist, strong legs from all my running on the treadmill. I was average height, according to the internet. Fifteen hands, give or take a few fingers. My hair was easily my most stunning feature, one that it was easy to get caught up in, given how big a ratio it was to the rest of me.

I hoped Sorrel, Rifyr and Kinden would like how I looked. I hoped they'd think I was beautiful.

"I hope I'm everything you're building me up to be in your head," I typed.

"I'm willing to bet that you're better. I got a feeling my imagination isn't up to snuff when it comes to trying to picture you."

Those words hit me right in the gut. It kind of hammered home exactly why we were doing all of this. But at the same time, it made me realize that it wouldn't be enough.

Seeing them wasn't going to be enough. I wanted to touch them. Taste them. Kiss them. Hold hands. Cuddle. Make love. Hell, I wanted tofuck. I wanted all of that.

And seeing them on video chat wasn't nearly going to be enough for me.

"You're too sweet for words, Sorrel."

"Funny, because my namesake is super sour."

"Well, you're not. Not at all."

He didn't type anything for a few moments, but soon, the three dots appeared at the bottom. "Listen… Zelle… about Kinden…"

My belly knotted up once more. Of course Kinden had confided in him. They lived together, after all. Obviously, Kinden told him about our little weird whatever.

I drummed my fingers on the back of my tablet, waiting for him to finish typing.

"He's sorry he upset you. He says he was out of line. And he promises he won't do it again."

"I'm not mad at him, Sorrel."

He didn't answer for a few seconds. "He says he's glad, but why won't you talk to him?"

"Is he… there with you?" I asked, laughing aloud as I watched the screen.