“Alright.” Aleks leans down to give me a quick kiss before heading off with Jackson.
I shoot off a few texts to Deanna as I drain the rest of my coffee.
“Want to play Jelly Kart?” Phoebe asks me. “Parker said you were pretty good.”
I eye the unreadable blonde as she skirts the island and heads to turn on the TV. I weigh the idea. I don’t really have much else to do, and it would help turn off my brain.
“Sure.” I get up to follow her, plopping myself on the couch.
“Perfect.” She tosses me a controller with a kind smile, and I let the game distract me from the battle to come.
***
The warehouse doesn’t look as creepy in person. A little less “I might murder you” than I was expecting. Then again, I doubt Chase would’ve picked a place that was rundown. He won’t even step into a hotel unless it’s four stars. The warehouse is probably all decked out inside.
We pile out of the Escalade, Francis and Phoebe remaining in the front seats. The air is cooler this close to the mountains. Aleks puts his arm around my waist, giving me a squeeze. I stare up into the red lights of his mask. The setting sun shines off it, and I can’t see his eyes, but I know he is looking at me, his strength pouring into me to balance out the nerves.
“Have I told you how beautiful you look?”
“You have not.”
I’d slipped into a pair of black boots that I combined with a black skirt and a red leather bandeau top. I wanted to show Chase that Aleks and I are a team, united equals. The boys each don their masks, all in black jeans and wearing shirts of their respective colors. Sydney switched into a black skirt and white silk front-tie shirt, hair pulled into a high ponytail, looking every bit their watchdog.
“Well, you look like a devilish angel.”
“I was going for more of a ‘rip your heart out’ vibe.”
“Well, you certainly have mine.”
I snort at him. He’s a goddamn smooth talker without missing a beat.
“Alright, if you two are done, you should head in.” Phoebe rests her arm against the open window, nodding in the direction of the warehouse. “He’s expecting you in five.”
A stone forms in my throat, and I swallow it down, feeling it drop into the pit of my stomach. My nerves are turning into dread.
“We’ve got this.” Parker’s voice is confident.
“I know you do, little bro.”
Parker takes off first, hands lazily in his pockets as he strides, Sydney and Jackson close behind him. Aleks holds my hand, linking our fingers together.
“Together.”
“Together.”
We take up the back, the five of us a force as we enter the final boss’s lair.
***
The warehouse is dark, save for some glowing TV screens in the far distance. I can’t make anything out. The boys’ masks glow against the void. We hover near the entrance, wary of what could be farther inside. All I can hear is a faint clacking sound and some music.
Then the lights flick on all at once, and I flinch at the assaulting brightness. The warehouse walls are entirely black, the concrete floor painted white. There are boxes piled up along the two side walls, various pieces of furniture wrapped in plastic stacked around, and some framed art leaning against it all. My heart hurts a little and hopes those aren’t expensive pieces because this is not the right environment in which to store them.
Now I can see that the wall opposite us houses not only a handful of mounted screens but a desk with a large chair. I can see elbows resting on the chair arms from behind. Aleks nods forward, and we make the walk across, our footsteps echoing loudly.
The closer we get, the clearer I can see the screens and the louder the music gets. There’s a security feed on the left mounted screen; the screen on the right has that creepy 3D-rendered orange mask on it. The clacking sound from earlier registers as someone typing on a keyboard.
“Chase.” I call out, my voice bouncing off the walls.
Once we are only a few feet away, Aleks stops. My eyes dart around the set up. In addition to the two mounted screens, there are three desktops set up on the desk, piles of paper strewn everywhere. My eyes narrow in on the video game being played on the center desktop.
“Let’s start the match.”
Panic lances through my stomach.
The voice isn’t Chase’s.
I have no idea who we are dealing with. We’ve just walked into enemy territory with no visibility. Whatever Plan B is, I hope it accounted for this.
“Time limit: thirty; Stock: one; Stage select: the warehouse.”
The game on the screen ends, and the player in front of us emerges victorious.
“Do you accept my rules, Aleksander?”
Aleks’ hand flexes around mine.
The chair swivels to face us, and my eyes widen as I fight to keep the rest of my face neutral. But it’s impossible.
I stare at the cockroach in front of me. A conceited grin, blue eyes dripping with arrogance, and that hallmark, perfectly-gelled red hair.
We’ve just walked into the fox’s den.
“Decker?” My expression falls into one of absolute incredulity.
“Daniel-fucking-Decker,” the boys confirm in unison, voices laced with derision.
“I don’t…” My brain is trying to rewire itself, figure out the right connections. “Did Chase set you up? Make you do this?”
“No one makes me do anything,” he scoffs.
“But Chase—”
“Isn’t involved in this, sweet Steffy.”
No. That doesn’t add up.
“But the roses?” My brain pounds as it runs through different scenarios, trying to figure out Decker’s play. Why would Decker send me the roses? Those were the only things that made sense out of this whole thing. They were my clear connection to Chase.
“Think, Stephanie, when did the roses start showing up?”
“After the breakup, when Chase was trying to win me back.” It was typical of Chase to do that, expected.
He shakes his head. “Think a little more specifically.”
More specifically?
The first rose appeared on my car after brunch with Deanna. We’d met to debrief about the VSAs, and she freaked me out with that article.
Wait.
“After the VSAs.”
“Five points to Stephanie.” The asshole shoots a finger gun at me.
“What the hell. You’ve been following me since the VSAs?”
“Not me, my P.I.”
“Same shit,” I growl.
I didn’t even know Decker before the VSAs. Never met him, never heard of him. Sure, he said Chase had talked about me a bunch to him, but that still doesn’t fill in any more of the puzzle. I didn’t even know I’d be at the VSAs until the day before when Deanna called about being short-staffed.
Aleks takes a small step forward.
“Why Stevie?”
It’s the first thing any of the boys have said.
I hate that I can’t see their faces, can’t see how they’re reacting to all of this.
“Opportunity, honestly. You guys have a habit of getting your dicks wet at those sorts of events, not that you ever take anyone home. But then I saw our sweet Steffy chatting with you, and I knew you wouldn’t just let her go. She’s a prize, one everyone in our circle has wanted to win. And you love to win.”