But sometimes I seem to forget that, and it feels like I’m crossing a line. The guilt comes rushing in, the disappointment that I am breaking the promise I made so many years ago. I can’t have Hex, he’s not meant to be mine that way. It’s wrong, forbidden, impossible. I just need to remember that.
Hex flashes me the biggest shit-eating grin, and it melts all the annoyance coursing through me. The nose ring adds to his impish charm, as does his stylishly messy blue hair, and before I know it, I’ve lost any intention of scolding him.
With a deep sigh, I direct my gaze at the dark ocean and sky. I need to end this game we’ve been playing, once and for all. For my own sake and sanity. It just won’t be tonight. We have bigger things to worry about.
“I’ve let this get out of hand.” I clear my throat, center myself, and summon my most authoritative scowl at him. “What happened at the dinner? And no more hedging. I can tell when you are trying to buy yourself time.”
And yet you let him. You got carried away, swept up in his pace.
I’m only human. And he’s perfected getting under my skin. It’s harder and harder to resist him.
You can always walk away when he tries to flirt with you. No one is forcing you to listen to any of it. So why are you?
“Well…” he trails off, fumbling with the seam running along the couch’s backrest. “You were there when I agreed to join the Lynxes for game night tomorrow. And I also agreed to hang out with Not Aran at the pool before that.”
It takes my agitated brain a few moments to comprehend Hex’s words and remember that conversation. I was so worried something might have happened during dinner, that picking him up at the meeting spot and leading him to the cabin is a bit of a blur.
Fear surges through me just thinking about letting him spend more time in the company of the old couple. There is something about them that just rubs me wrong. The way the woman was looking at Hex, the glint in her eyes, the casual touches… And now there is some waiter in the mix, too?
Tension floods my head, starting at my temples and quickly escalating all across. I don’t like this.
“Look, I know you don’t like this. It’s obvious even without you staring daggers at me, okay? I already took that, plus how risky and possibly dangerous it might be, into account yada, yada, before agreeing to meet with them again. But I also have a plan.”Oh, so Hex has a plan? How assuring.“I just… I’ll need your help to make it work.”
Crossing back to the other side of the room, I fill a glass with water from the sink. The headache has gotten too nasty to let be, so I pop a pill into my mouth and swallow it. Its bitter aftertaste stays on my tongue, slightly unpleasant and kind of fitting my mood.
“Let’s hear it,” I prompt, steeling my nerves.
Hex claps his hands, then lets them dangle off the backrest. “Okay, so. You’ll come with me to the pool. We’ll chat with Not Aran, maybe swim a little. Then I’ll bring up the cocktail he made me—”
“You drank alcohol?” Hex is the lightest lightweight you’d ever encounter. Plus, he hates the taste of alcohol.So why the hell did he drink?I knew I shouldn’t have let him go on his own.
“Chillax. I only had a sip. The Lynxes offered me wine, but I played them like a pro. That shit wasnasty.”
This was a mistake. I should’ve never let Hex come. If he doesn’t get us both killed, I might die from a brain aneurysm because of too much stress.
The sudden burst of panic subsides as he explains how he pretended to drink both the wine and daiquiri. Sometimes, I think it would be better if I let Hex live his life in peace and make his own mistakes. It’s not like I stop him or limit him though, so that’s a moot point. He does what he wants, and I only ever step in if he puts himself in any real danger. While this mission lasts, things are a little different though, but if I had tried to go with him, I’d have brought upon us unnecessary attention.
Taking a deep breath, I let my worries pass. Whatever happened, happened. Hex is here and fine, so there’s no point stressing over it.
“Let’s get back to your plan. We’ll entertain your friend at the pool, and then what?”
He scrunches his face, thinking. “Oh, right. So, I’ll bring up the cocktail he made me and say how amazing it was. Then you’ll jokingly say that you’d love to try one of his drinks. And then we invite him to our cabin, because we have alcohol.”
I think I know where his brain went. And I most definitely don’t like it.
“And?” I cross my arms and arch an eyebrow at him.
“And, well, that’s where you come in? You’ll do your thing, scare him a little, maybe beat him up here and there, and voila, we have his bracelet and schedule? He’s not working tomorrow night, but maybe we can convince someone to switch with him. That way you get to do his shift.” He waves his hand as if none of this is particularly hard. “We’ll need to figure out what to do with Not Aran while you are pretending to be him, of course.”
“And how are we going to do that?” I pose, forcing down the smile that’s trying to escape me despite the ludicrousness of Hex’s plan.
But this crazy idea is also so Hex, so I can’t really blame him. Like Leo and Matt, who are his best friends, his moral compass is a little questionable. Skewed. In our line of work, it’s a good thing, even if I sometimes forget that and momentarily get fooled by Hex’s angelic face.
“I don’t know. That’s your specialty. Maybe we can explain the situation to him and ask him to cooperate? If he promises to behave, maybe you won’t have to tie him up to the bed and tape his mouth?”
I feel the twitch as my lips curve up of their own accord.
“Shit, are you smiling?” Hex points at me accusatorily. “You like my plan, don’t you?”
