Chapter 20 Eris
Ireally should be terrified.
Three men. One fucked up app. A latticework of lies and half-truths stitched together by obsession and bloody devotion.
This is the part where sane people run.
I don’t.
I stand in Kieran’s shirt, leaning against the kitchen island as I watch the guys float around their home, and feel something settle inside me instead.
Ownership.
Silas’s voice is still in my head.
Real things don’t power down cleanly.
I like that.
I like him.
All of them… in ways that feel dangerous precisely because they don’t blur together.
Jace is all cocky grins as he watches me, like he’s planning a hundred dirty ways to make me forget my name.
Kieran is patience woven into adoration, observing me like the world might tilt if I step wrong.
Silas...
Silas studies me like I’m a variable he never planned for and can’t stop calculating. It’s all heat and hunger, his attention landing like a challenge.
I don’t want him to stop.
But Silas scares me the most because I can’t scare him.
He stares at me like he knows my secrets and can pinpoint how I’ll fall… And he’s simply waiting to catch me at the bottom of some monumental cliff.
Big focus on the mental part of that cliff.
Because I am falling.
That’s the problem.
Not running like my cyber-stalkers just CNC abducted me.
Not hiding like a sane person.
Falling.
Hard.
Right over the edge of that fucking monu-mental cliff.
I’m pushing off the counter, about to say something reckless, when a decidedly digital sound rings through the loft.
It’s a soft chime that emanates from the wall panel near the door. Subtle. Expensive. The sort of sound you only hear when someone’s presence is assessed before they make it to their destination.
Kieran glances at the display in the kitchen, tapping at the screen. His jaw tightens, and he looks at us, irritation clear in his expression. “She’s here.”
Jace goes still. Not tense. Cold washes over him like dread creeping into his bones.
Silas doesn’t even turn his head from the wall of monitors before him. “Confirm.”
Kieran taps something else. The screen on the far left of Silas fills with a clean exterior shot. Perfect lighting correction. Facial recognition box already outlined.
It’s bizarrely high-tech security for a converted warehouse outside of Downtown Crimson Bay… Or maybe it isn’t. This place is a criminal haven.
But it’s her on the screen.
The country club princess from the cafe.
Blonde and polished to perfection. Dressed like money and privilege that won’t matter in the Bay. Standing as if the building owes her access because she has a last name with weight somewhere that isn’t here.
I straighten. “That’s the ex.”
I already know the answer. Roo found her while we were getting ready to go out… yesterday? Fuck. Was that really yesterday?
“The one who couldn’t handle sharing,” Silas adds, finally looking at me as his mouth curves faintly. “She thinks the world spins just for her.”
Another chime rings through the home, louder this time. And a knock at the door makes me frown.
“She always hated being ignored.” Jace huffs in exasperation. “You don’t have to be here for her bullshit.”
“I’m not hiding,” I say, already moving toward the door.
Jace reaches out to stop me. “Eris—”
“I’m not,” I repeat, calm and certain. “If she’s here to bother you because of me, she can look me in the face while she tries to stir up the bullshit. I haven’t had fun in weeks.”
No one argues with me, but they don’t appear thrilled either.
I can’t blame them.
Kieran opens the door with a controlled delay, just wide enough that he fills the frame like a barricade. I can’t see the woman beyond his broad shoulders, but I watch her on the screen.
She smiles immediately.
And that grates on every nerve in my body.
“Hi,” she purrs, warm and practiced. “I was hoping you’d all be home today.”
Her eyes slide past Kieran, locking onto Jace as soon as he steps up. The way she simpers at him really pisses me off, like he’s still hers and she’s just giving him the illusion of a little space.
“Oh, thank God,” she continues. “I was worried you weren’t here. Is Silas here too? I want to talk—”
“There’s nothing to talk about,” Jace interrupts.
She laughs lightly. “You don’t have to keep lying... There is an us to talk about, and—”
Her words cut abruptly as her gaze flicks again, landing on me as I pull the door open wider, stepping into view.
No one ever wants to talk about the eyes… but they tell so much.
There’s a slight flare as her brows lift ever-so-slightly in surprise. And a quick narrowing as she runs an assessment of who I am, why I’m here, and what I’m wearing.
The calculation comes last… Can she compete? Fight? How does she get me out of the picture?
Ah.
This situation is new to her.
“Why is she here?” Her tone changes, nothing like the airy quality she had a moment ago. “Is it her? She’s why you won’t let me in?”
“She has a name,” I mention smoothly, a smirk on my lips as I lean into Kieran. “But you can keep calling me her. It makes me sound like a storm.”
If she wants to be the basic mean girl, I can match that… It’s just so boring.
“Of course.” She gives me a wide predatory smile, certain I’m in her place. “I’m sure you do.”
“Say what you came to say,” Silas demands, his tone lethal as he puts his hand on my shoulder.
It feels like he’s prepared to pull me back, as if I might launch myself through the doorway and grab a handful of brittle, over-processed hair and expensive extensions… But I don’t pull hair. I have a gun for a reason.
She doesn’t take her eyes off me, or the way I’m casually leaning into Kieran and Silas is claiming all the space behind me. The three of us are effectively blocking Jace, which seems to make her frustration grow.
“I came to fix a misunderstanding,” she states.
I arch a brow. “You rang the wrong doorbell for that.”
“You don’t know who they are,” she spits back, her eyes narrowing into slits as she points at the four of us. “What they are.”
“I know what they’re not,” I retort, shrugging and channeling my best Roo impression. “There are other horses to ride, baby. If you search hard enough, good dick is right around the corner. Someone else can help you find what you crave.”
I feel Kieran snort, though he doesn’t outwardly make a sound.
“This isn’t how this goes.” She finally looks at Silas, irritation at my audacity causing her cheeks to pink. “You don’t get… attached.”
Jace chuckles, a short, cruel burst of incredulity. “Watch us.”
Her composure cracks just enough to show the truth underneath.
Belief.
Pure, delusional belief.
“You don’t fall in love,” she tells them, voice tight. “You orbit. You fixate. And you burn through people before you move on.” Her gaze cuts back to me. “You’ll be temporary. They’ll get bored when you can’t keep up with them.”
I smile as soon as she finishes… because deep in my chest, that feral thing stretches and purrs.
“Funny,” I say, keeping my voice even. “I’m pretty unpredictable. But you shouldn’t get attached to me either. I already have another stalker.”
Her lip curls up as she reaches into her purse too quickly. My muscles coil with tension, ready to disarm her, but there’s no need. She pulls out a sleek gold card case, exposing the metal edge of something with zero limits.
“Name your number,” she comments, her expression morphing into something coy. “I’ll triple it.”
I actually laugh.
A real, surprised cackle that takes me a minute to stop.
“Oh,” I say, shaking my head and trying to wipe the humor off my face. “How kind of you... But I have my own money. I don’t want yours.”
Her eyes narrow. “Everyone has a price.”
“Not me, and not anyone here,” I reply, my voice dropping an octave as I lean toward her. “Buying skin in Crimson Bay will get you killed.”
Silence follows my statement.
Kieran stiffens beneath my touch. I can’t see Jace or Silas, but their ex is looking at me differently now.
No longer dismissive.
Threatened.
Good.
“This doesn’t end well for you,” she warns softly.
I move another foot closer to her until I’m in front of Kieran and Silas’s grip tightens on my shoulder, just shy of bruising as he steps with me.
“No,” I agree. “It doesn’t. But it won’t end well for you either.”
“Leave.” Jace’s voice is final, booming behind us. “Shut the fucking door.”
She stares at him, searching… needing to know he isn’t talking to her. And finding none of her wishes are coming true.
Silas loosens his grip and pulls me back inside, pushing me toward Jace like this is a game of Keep Eris on the Leash.
Kieran slams the door in her face and taps the screen beside us twice. The locks engage with a soft, satisfied click.
“Well,” I say lightly, turning so I can face all three of them. “She’s going to be a problem.”
Silas smiles, and it feels like a dangerous thing to witness, lined with secrets I want to know. Secrets I recognize, but don’t dare breathe aloud yet.
“Yes,” he admits. “But not your problem.”
I don’t argue with him... Though I can already guess the outcome of this. The line that existed yesterday is gone.
And to her, I’m not prey... I’m competition.
Jace drags a hand down his face. “You okay?”
I nod. “Are you?”
“I am now.” He meets my gaze, a touch of humor shining through his hazel eyes. “She gives me an instant headache.”
That feral thing in my chest roars in discontent.
They. Are. Mine.
But I don’t want to be just theirs.
I want to be the reason they never look at another woman again.
Ever.
There is only me.
Even if it means getting blood on my hands to keep it that way.