Page 24 of How to Hack a Hellhound
I’d always been a snarky asshole, but I was close to my folks as an only child, and I hadn’t made a lot of real connections after they died. I’d puttered around with college classes and worked and gone out partying, but I hadn’t let anyone in.
“Yeah, we have people now, Q. We have each other, and we have people who will miss us if we’re gone. People who care about us,” Aiden said.
We both let that sink in, drinking our coffee. It was really an overwhelming thought, and I almost got a little teary about it. Nope, not doing heavy feelings this early in the morning. As I always told Aiden, mornings were for caffeine and sass (and sex, if you had a cute guy in your bed).
At least I had two out of the three, which, yeah, made me think of Liam. He was a very sexy guy. But that also made me think of the boxes in our living room. I walked back over, poking around some more. Everything looked meticulously labeled—kitchen items, Aiden’s room, Quinton’s room, bathroom…
“So, apparently the supernatural crew packed up our apartment for us and brought it over. I’m surprised they didn’t unpack it, too, while we were sleeping. They’re like fucking house elves or something,” I grouched to Aiden.
My phone dinged at that moment. Aiden and I both looked at it suspiciously. I motioned him to go ahead and read it. He had my passcode to get into it.
“It’s from an unknown number. It says, ‘It was almost time for Aiden to get up, and we didn’t want to alarm him with our presence in your home. We’ll unpack later.’” Aiden looked up at me. “Umm, I’m not sure whether that’s sweet or creepy.”
“Welcome to the club. Everything they do seems to toe the line between the two,” I answered.
The phone dinged again. I walked over to read it with Aiden.
It’s sweet.
I snorted. Another text came through.
I also removed the camera from the bathroom, as requested, although I am concerned about accidents in the shower. Humans die from those.
Aiden snorted that time. “Does he not realize it’s odd to call us ‘humans,’ like he isn’t one? And I guess the cameras in here have sound as well, huh.”
I blushed. “Sorry.” I directed my next words out into the room. “I’m sure we could have Liam turn the sound off if we wanted him to. For privacy. Because surely he would respect our privacy and do as we asked.”
Aiden and I then both looked as three little dots appeared on my phone, then disappeared, then appeared, then disappeared. We looked at each other, and I swear we were both trying not to laugh. Finally a text came through.
Yes.
We both giggled a little at that. All that typing for one word.
“How many times do you think he deleted and rewrote the answer?” Aiden whispered.
I chuckled again, because I was sure Liam didn’t want to turn off the sound, but I didn’t think he wanted to make us uncomfortable either. A message dinged again.
If it reassures you, I very rarely have the sound on.
Aiden shrugged, which I took to mean he didn’t care too strongly about it.
“The rugs weren’t ours, though,” I said to the living room, and the text chime went off a second later.
You walk around barefoot. Hardwood floors are cold.
“OMG, Q, that’s actually sort of sweet. Still creepy, but definitely sweet,” Aiden laughed. He then turned toward the living room, like there was actually someone in there. “Hi. I’m Aiden, which you know, but I don’t know you, so you’re going to have to come over and introduce yourself and stuff, because otherwise it is kind of creepy. Maybe later after breakfast, ok? And for now, you can stop listening in. Ok?”
We both watched as the phone lit up with an immediate response.
Ok.
“A man of few words,” Aiden chuckled.
I looked at him. “Are you seriously ok with this? I know this is… weird, at best.”
“Q, it’s freaking insane. But you know what, that matches with the last year of my life. At least this type of insanity makes me feel safe and, in a weird way, cared for. That’s probably my trauma talking, and it’s probably fucked up, but I’m going with what makes me feel good. I don’t think my therapist had quite this in mind when she told me to do whatever I needed to in order to find peace and happiness, but…” He just shrugged.
I gave him a pat on the shoulder, and he got up to start cooking breakfast. He hated someone in his kitchen space, so I sat down at the island, watching him cook and looking over the one-sided text conversation.
