Page 15 of Instigator
It takes a few minutes before I’m ready to come back to reality. I make quick work of cleaning the toy, then soap myself up, and by the time I step out of the shower, the water runs cool.
Once I’m dressed in a fresh pair of joggers and a soft cotton Henley, I stuff my feet into a pair of slides and unbar my door. There’s nobody else in the apartment. Although Hailey technically lives with Ryan now, they’ve both made a habit of coming up here and checking up on me. I like it as much as I hate it.
My brain still buzzes with endorphins as I fix myself a snack and settle on the couch to fire up my gaming console. It’s only three o’clock in the afternoon, so I’m surprised to find Annie’s username highlighted on the available players list.
I click on her contact, the line connecting almost immediately.
“Hey, you.”
seven
. . .
Ceci
Wish’s warm chuckle warms me to my toes. “Hey yourself.”
“You’re on early today.”
“I could say the same to you. Not working?”
“Had a working lunch with a colleague,” I reply as I stretch my legs out on my couch. I’ve been sitting criss-cross applesauce for so long, my legs have gone numb, but as soon as I stretch, I immediately cross them again. It’s the most comfortable sitting position for me, even if I can’t do it for long. “He’s helping me with some code.”
“Oh?”
“I needed to talk it out with someone.”
His soft grunt of frustration makes me smile. “You can talk it out with me. You know I’m here for you.”
“You know a lot about computer code?”
He pauses. “Well, no.”
“I didn’t think so.” I bite my lip, trying to decide whether I want to open this can of worms. “What is it you do, anyway? I don’t think you’ve ever said.”
Wish falls quiet. If it weren’t for the steady sound of his breathing in my ear, I’d half think he disconnected on purpose.
“You don’t have to tell me. I know we aren’t friends like that. I just… I don’t even know your name. Or where you live. Or how old you are. Or what you do.”
“I live in Boston,” he finally says. “And I’m thirty-one.”
My heart stops. “I live in Boston,” I whisper.
His sharp inhalation makes my heart race. “No shit?”
“I moved here for MIT and never left. I’ve been here twenty… twenty-five years.”
“Shit, Annie,” Wish says. “What if we’ve met?”
“We haven’t met. There’s no way. We’d know it.”
“I don’t really do anything aside from work, either.” He huffs out a soft breath of laughter. “I don’t have any friends outside of my teammates or my sister, and the only time I do anything with anyone else is these stupid blind dates she keeps setting me up on. I had another one today, actually.”
I grasp on to the subject change like a lifeline.
“You had a date? I didn’t think you did that.” I’ve always gotten the impression that he’s a bit of a hermit. As social as I am, I get drained easily, but he never talks about going out with people aside from his sister and coworkers.
“A blind date,” he stresses.
