24. Zane
TWENTY-FOUR
ZANE
I don’t know what I’d been thinking.
In the heat of the moment, it had been so easy to agree to be with Hyacinth in full, to go out with him in public and potentially let people make assumptions about the nature of our “relationship.”
Is that what we have? We’re still in the early days, and this will be our first date, but I know he wants this to be something that lasts.
He doesn’t do things by halves.
When it comes to dating, that’s all I’ve ever done.
It’s hard to really date someone when you don’t trust them, after all, and every woman I’d gone out with could’ve been working for the Bouchards or the Courroux — or the Cuores, for that matter.
The irony that I’m now going out with Hyacinth Cuore is not lost on me.
I’m brooding, and I know I’m brooding, but I can’t quite stop.
The alarm on my watch goes off, and I glance down at it. It’s time to leave to pick up Hyacinth.
Am I really ready for this?
I straighten my shirt and head outside, following behind Stefan to the car.
He’s already done a sweep of it for explosives, so I’m reasonably sure I’m not walking directly into a trap at this point, but who knows?
When we’re in the car, I slide into the backseat. “Why is it you’re the only one of my bodyguards who seems capable these days?”
“Because you go off on your own and decide to invite assassins into your bedroom?” Stefan growls. Then he grimaces. “I don’t know, boss. I’m looking into it.”
As irritating as the comment should be, I can’t muster up the annoyance when I’m too busy obsessing over everything else. “Good,” I say. “I’m starting to think that replacements might be in order.”
The car starts to move, only to come to a complete halt before we reach the gate. “For fuck’s sake,” Stefan growls.
Hyacinth is in the middle of the driveway, wearing a beautiful, light gown. He waves, even though I know he can’t see me through the tinted glass of the car.
I’m not sure what to make of the dress.
On one hand, it makes it easier for me if people assume that I’m with a woman. On the other…
When it comes out that he’s a man, is that going to cause even more trouble for me?
Stefan gets out and walks to the front of the car to confront Hyacinth.
I get out of the back of the car. I know we were in the middle of a conversation about irresponsible, unreliable bodyguards, but I wave Stefan back.
“Did you climb over the gate?” I ask Hyacinth, arching a brow.
Hyacinth looks at the gate, then down at his completely unmarred dress. “How would I have done that?” He grins and steps closer to me. “So where are we going?”
“That is a surprise,” I tell him.
One I hope he’ll enjoy. It’s not quite public, but it’s not a cozy night in my home where no one at all can see us, either.
It counts for something.
“Now get in the car.” I open the door for him.
He inspects the interior before sliding in, like he’s worried it might be a trap.
Hyacinth doesn’t trust me.
That shouldn’t sting, since I don’t trust him entirely either.
But it does.
“Good,” I tell him, getting in after him.
Hyacinth immediately scoots closer to me, so that our thighs are pressed up against each other. “Who did you tell about this outing?” he asks mildly. “Stefan, obviously. Your other guards?”
“No,” I tell him.
I watch his face go carefully neutral.
“Not for the reasons you think,” I continue. “You have to have noticed that my security is… lacking. You shouldn’t have been able to get close to me so many times.”
“You underestimate me,” Hyacinth answers. “But it’s good you didn’t tell them. We don’t want to be predictable.” He glances out the window. “I had to make sure I wasn’t being followed, too. I still haven’t heard back from Dante.”
I grimace.
That’s not good.
“I did have to make reservations,” I say, “but I was as careful as I could be.” Pursing my lips, I follow his gaze as Stefan gets back into the car. “I want us to enjoy ourselves. It shouldn’t be easy to get to us where we’re going, at least.”
Hyacinth stays quiet for the rest of the car ride.
I don’t know what to say to him now.
What do we even have in common, other than our love of violence?
We arrive at our destination, which is right outside one of the busier tourist areas of New Valence. Hyacinth gets out first, and like Stefan, he holds out his hand to stop me from leaving until he deems it secure.
“Okay,” Hyacinth says. “It’s clear.”
I see Stefan bristling.
“You aren’t here to do a job,” I say as I get out of the car. I squeeze Hyacinth’s shoulder. “Come on.” I lead him to the entrance of the building, and Stefan goes ahead to clear it before letting us inside.
The lobby is simple, the walls made of paneled wood and the furnishings modern and sleek. A woman is eyeing Stefan from behind the desk, and I stroll up to her with Hyacinth on my arm. “Reservation for two for Vilani,” I tell her.
“Ooh, you booked the asylum room! Good one!” she says. “That’s ready for you. Just follow me.”
Hyacinth keeps his arm hooked with mine, but he’s quiet as he assesses the hallway and then the room we enter. It’s themed to look like an old-school medical asylum, with dim lighting and a bed with broken straps on it.
“Here’s how it works!” the woman says. She runs through her spiel, about how to leave if we have an emergency and that we can always use the walkie talkie to get a clue if we think we’re stuck.
“If you have to force something, it’s not right!
Everything will open easily if it’s correct.
…Your one hour will begin once the intro movie finishes playing! ”
The door clicks shut behind her.
“An escape room? Why an escape room?” Hyacinth asks, completely ignoring the little video about the room’s storyline.
“You like problem solving,” I tell him slowly, though I’m now unsure about how good of an idea this had been. “I thought it might be interesting to work together and see if we make a good team.”
I gesture to the screen, though the confidence I’d felt when booking the room has vanished.
“We should pay attention to the video. Unless you want to leave?” Why the fuck do I sound uncertain? I’m in charge. I’m in control. This had been a good idea.
In theory.
Hyacinth glances at the video as it finishes. The lights brighten enough to show us the rest of the room, with a locked cabinet and a desk covered in laminated papers.
Hyacinth strolls over to the cabinet and checks the lock. “It needs a key.” He grins at me. “But I don’t need a key.” He glances up at the camera in the room. “Mics and cameras to help us if we get stuck. Not very intimate, Zane.”
I roll my eyes. “We aren’t cheating. We’re trapped in an asylum with no way out!” I tell him. “We’ll have to get close and comfort each other when it gets scary.” I give him a lopsided grin.
Is this what being on a date is supposed to be like?
“Oh, very scary.” Hyacinth walks over to the big, theatrically bolted door. “So, five digit code here. I don’t see an easy way of picking it, which means we do need to find the number code. Five digits can’t be brute forced either.”
There’s something strange about how Hyacinth slowly moves across the room, each step nearly inaudible.
He crouches down underneath the bed. “Are you going to help at all, or was this just to test if I can do puzzles?”
“I was admiring the view,” I tell him. “Maybe if I hadn’t missed the opening video because someone was talking…” I smirk at him, then turn so I can start rummaging through the room. I go to the bookshelves. Bookshelves always hold some sort of answer, right?
I find one note that holds a cypher to something, but while I keep looking Hyacinth says, “Okay, I got the two boxes open. We’re missing two digits on the lock.”
I stand up, surprised. “That fast?”
Hyacinth shrugs. “One key under the pillow, another clue under the bed, the clock is stuck to the answer that opens one of the boxes which had a digit in it, and the portrait has another number hidden in it.”
“I found this,” I tell him with a chuckle. “I don’t know if it’s a clue to the digits on the lock. Maybe it tells us the order they’re meant to be used in.”
Hyacinth takes the laminated clue card from me. “Oh, that matches with the stuff on the desk. So, one number to go, but we can brute force that.”
I’d thought it would take longer than five minutes to come up with the answers, but he’s sailing through the place. “Have you done this before?” I ask suspiciously.
Was that why he’d been so skeptical about the escape room in general?
The lights flicker, threatening to go out, and it surprises a laugh out of me. “Ambience is fun,” I remark.
“I’ve done harder ones,” Hyacinth replies. He opens the big door that leads to the next area of the escape room.
This one looks like it has blood on the walls and floor. A solid trunk with a heavy lock sits in one corner, while the shelves hold various prop organs in glass cases.
Hyacinth crosses the room with the exact same care as he had the previous one—like he expects the floor to fall out from under him at any moment.
“This is supposed to be fun,” I tell him, going to him and wrapping an arm around him. I hesitate, then lean up to brush a kiss against his lips.
He startles, but I don’t let him move away from me. Only after several seconds does he kiss me back, but he doesn’t relax.
“Yes. Fun!” Hyacinth smiles, but it doesn’t reach his eyes. “If you want to win, you’ll need to let me actually find the clues.” He turns to look at the fogged up display case in the corner. “There’s going to be a jump scare in there.”
“How can you be so sure?” I ask him. His utter lack of enjoyment has sucked the fun out of the entire experience, and I wish I’d simply taken him to dinner and a movie. “All right,” I say quietly. “Let’s just clear it so we can leave.”
We look around the room for the clues, and Hyacinth again finds the majority of them. He does get frustrated when he realizes he needs to compare the clues we have to a whole table of data to find the correct solution.