Chapter 7
HARLOW
"Let's start with this Eros joker," Boner said. "What sort of nickname is that anyway?"
He raised his hands when we all arched our eyebrows at him. "You're right. You're right. Not one as cool as Boner. Carry on then, Mr. Titmus." He lowered his hands and nodded at Cass.
Cass nodded and placed Fairfield's phone beside his laptop keyboard. As if the device was suddenly hot as lava, he tentatively pressed the screen, scrolled down to the contact and pressed on Eros' name.
The phone rang a couple of times before connecting. A voice that sounded about the same age as me came out of the speaker.
"Apollo, it's about time. Where the hell have you been?"
I smirked. Fairfield didn't deserve a nickname as cool as that. None of them did.
Straight out of the laptop, a voice responded, sounding eerily like Granger Fairfield.
"Eros, my apologies. I was caught up with a couple of things."
I wasn't the only one who shuddered at hearing his voice brought back from the dead.
I had to take a moment to remind myself he really was gone. Cass looked like he was going to be sick, but he swallowed it back, his hands hovering over the keyboard in case he needed to input something.
"What was so important you'd miss last night?" Eros asked, frustratingly vague.
I shoved back a spike of panic. We didn't know what he was referring to, so how could we know the best way to respond, much less let technology decide?
"That's none of your business," Cass' laptop responded as he typed in the words.
It really captured Fairfield and his warm, fluffy personality. "Did I miss anything important?"
Eros sighed. "Not really. Just the usual bluster. If I'm honest, I was envious you sat it out. I would have if it wasn’t necessary for my business."
I exchanged glances with the guys, all of us trying to piece together his identity from vague clues. Male, relatively young with a business, didn't narrow it down very much.
"You should try saying no," Cass' laptop said. "If you don't want to go, then don't."
Eros paused. "You know what it's like. No one says no to an opportunity like that."
I pressed my lips together. I was hoping he'd drop a name. So far, he hadn't given us much and Cass' laptop didn't seem to be able to pin down Eros' location.
As far as I could tell, he wasn't suspicious. He was sure he was talking to Granger Fairfield.
"Yes, of course," the laptop said. "Business always comes first."
"Yes, it does." Eros said. "That's why I needed to approve of one of those women last night. A wife who doesn't ask too many questions about what I do with my time. And my money."
I grimaced. Reminded myself what this man did to my sister. What he was still doing, by the sound of it.
Cass quietly tapped something into the keyboard.
"Did you meet any you like?" the laptop asked.
Good thinking. If we could track down anyone from whatever took place last night, that would help us to narrow down who Eros was and where he was.
"Like?" Eros replied. "A couple I could tolerate. I guess getting my cock wet a couple of times until they're pregnant wouldn't be so bad. Something to keep her distracted."
I could almost see him rolling his eyes.
"Who would you choose?" the laptop asked. "The sooner you choose, the sooner you can…get your cock wet."
If I didn't know better, I'd think the AI wasn't impressed with Eros or his choice of words. I knew I wasn't.
"Does it matter?" Eros asked. "If I had an opinion, my mother would push for someone else, just to be difficult."
"Who would your mother choose?" the laptop asked.
"Someone dumb as fuck who won't argue with her," Eros said. "Someone I'll be bored with in half a second. I want a woman who will fight me. Someone I can pin down until she's broken."
Cass tapped on the keyboard again, his mouth twisted in disgust.
"That would be the dream," the laptop said. No wonder Cass looked sickened. This was a game he wasn't enjoying playing.
"Exactly," Eros agreed. "Remember that bitch who was so wild it took all of us to hold her down? That was a good time."
My hands curled into fists as I realized he was referring to my sister. I wanted to shove my hand down into the phone and punch him in the face.
Right before I gave him a taste of Chef Stabby.
"Very good times," the laptop agreed.
Was it possible to stab AI? Of course, it didn't know what it was agreeing to. It was a machine after all.
"I should get going," Eros said. "Will I see you tomorrow night?"
Cass' fingers moved quickly.
"Remind me what's going on tomorrow night," the laptop said.
"Some boring event at a gallery downtown," Eros said like it was the last place he wanted to be. "Beauregard's or something like that."
Boner sat up straighter and flapped his hands at Cass.
Cass nodded and typed again.
"Bonegard's?" the laptop asked. "I've heard excellent things about the establishment."
"Yeah, that might be the place," Eros said. "I'll show for a couple of hours and then go have some fun. Although, you never know, we might meet someone interesting there."
Boner flipped him off with both hands.
"Will Hypnos and Zeus be there?" the laptop asked.
"What? No, you know they're out of the city for the next couple of weeks." Eros seemed confused as to why Fairfield would forget something like that.
"Right, of course," the laptop said. "I'll see you tomorrow night."
"Yeah," Eros said and ended the call.
"Were you planning on hosting an event tomorrow night?" I asked Boner.
"No, but I am now," he said, looking gleeful. "I'll start sending out invitations."
He pulled out his phone and tapped on the screen, sending texts to all of his contacts by the look of it.
"So we know this asshole has a mother," Cass said. "And he may or may not turn up to Boner's gallery tomorrow night."
"We also know he thinks Fairfield is alive," I said. "If the other two are out of the city, we'll have to concentrate on him for now." I didn't like it, but one was better than none.
"We also know that, while the percentage of people who enter into arranged marriages is small, he may be one of them," Archer said.
"Not if we can help it," I said darkly. "No woman deserves to be stuck with someone like him." Used like a broodmare and tossed aside for his depraved proclivities.
Although, that gave me an idea.
"No," Cass said, looking directly at me.
"I didn't say anything," I protested.
"I saw it on your face," he said. "We're not using you as bait."
"Who better?" I asked. "I can pretend to be na?ve and subservient. Get his attention and then unleash Chef Stabby on him." I mimed driving a knife right into his jugular.
"Chef Stabby?" Boner looked up from his phone and grinned. "I like that. It suits you, love."
My face heated. I hadn't meant to say that out loud, but now I had, I liked it even more.
"I like it too," Archer said. "Heart-Renderer and Chef Stabby."
"Sounds like you both went to trade school," Boner said.
"I didn’t," Archer said. "I'm a playwright. But my father was a roofer. I used to help him."
I looked at him in surprise. I hadn't known that.
"That explains why you can creep around places," I said.
"I'm used to crawling around in ceilings and places like that," he said. "They're a good place to hide if you want to spy on someone. Small and hot, but convenient."
"Like Harlow's pussy," Boner said. "Small and hot."
"And convenient," I said dryly.
Boner leaned over to wind an arm around my shoulders and pull me to him. "That's not why I like you, or your pussy." He planted a kiss on the side of my mouth.
"Thanks, I think. Do you need any help planning for tomorrow night? I could cater for your little soirée."
Tomorrow was supposed to be my day off, but if it helped us catch Eros, I'd happily work.
"I suppose we could do with some…finger food," Boner said teasingly. "Shame Archer disposed of Fairfield's fingers. Although, it's not too late to find someone else to take his place."
"That's disgusting." Cass glanced up from shutting down his laptop. He hesitated. "You are joking, right? You wouldn't feed someone else actual, human body parts." He looked from me to Boner and back again.
My tongue slid across my lips.
"Harlow?" Cass' face paled.
"Sometimes I have to…" I started tentatively.
His skin turned from pale to green-tinged. "You wouldn't… You didn't… God, those meatballs."
I reached my hand out toward him. "Cass, I—"
He shook his head, shot to his feet and bolted for the restroom.
I lowered my hand. "Shit."
"Cannibalism is frowned on in most parts of the world, but it's not as rare as you might think," Archer remarked. "Sometimes it was done out of desperation and other times it was ritual."
"You don't seem bothered by it," Boner pointed out.
"While it's not something I plan to take part in, I'm also not sentimental about humans and their meat. Especially when they're monsters." Archer shrugged.
"You don't want to knowingly be accountable, but you approve of the monster mash, got it," Boner said with a smile, followed by a concerned glanced towards the restroom.
"One of us should check on him," I said.
I didn't think he'd want to talk to me right now. Or ever again.
Could I blame him? No. If someone fed me an eyeball without telling me what it was, I'd be angry too.
What? I had my limits.
"I'll go and talk to him," Boner said. "He'll be okay."
I wasn't sure about that, but I nodded when he rose and stepped away.
And hoped like hell everything wasn't just about to blow up in my face.