Page 28 of The Prime-Time Experiment

There was a pause on the other end as Declan considered the request. “Alright,” he said. Riley noticed her legs, which had been bouncing up and down seemingly without her awareness had suddenly stilled.

“I have access to a private space,” he continued. “My place has a gym. It’s set up for training clients, but I haven’t gotten around to finalising the move yet. No extra people, no excess noise, no cameras unless we put them there.”

Riley didn’t respond immediately. “A much smaller footprint,” he added. “And I’ve arranged it to be a predictable layout, but if you don’t like it, we can move the equipment around. We can run sessions there instead.”

Her grip shifted slightly on the wool. “You would be removing external variables,” she said, more to confirm than to question.

“Yeah.”

Riley pulled one of the knots loose, cleanly this time. “That is acceptable.”

There was the faintest shift in his tone when he replied, something lighter threading back in. “Good.”

Riley ignored it. “You will not redirect focus inconsistently,” she said. “If instruction is directed at me, it remains directed at me.”

“Done.”

“You will not introduce additional stimuli for the purpose of observation.”

He paused. “…Define ‘additional.’”

Riley’s eyes narrowed slightly. “In this case, deliberate disruption to my parameters.”

“Alright,” he said. “Done.”

“You will not use informal identifiers in place of my name.”

It took him less than a second. “Can’t promise you that one, I’m afraid.”

Her hand stilled again. “That is a non-negotiable.”

“Yeah,” he said lightly, “I don’t think it is.”

“Declan—”

“Riles.”

The word dropped straight through the line, intentional. Riley closed her eyes briefly, a controlled pause rather than a reaction, but her grip tightened around the wool. “You are doing it on purpose.”

“I am,” he agreed, and this time the amusement wasn’t even subtle.

Riley exhaled sharply through her nose. “That is not conducive to a functional working dynamic.”

“I disagree.”

Her eyes opened. “On what basis?”

“On the basis that it gets a reaction out of you.” A beat. “And that,” he added, voice softer now but no less certain, “is the most consistent and most enjoyable response I’ve seen from you all day.”

The statement echoed sharper this time and far less clinical. Riley’s fingers tightened again around the wool. “That is not a valid metric.”

“Seems pretty consistent to me.”

She pulled one of the knots harder than necessary. It gave suddenly, loosening under the force, the tension snapping out of it in a way that felt far more reactionary than she would have preferred.

Across from her, Dee smiled slightly. Riley chose to ignore it. If he insisted on maintaining one point of disruption, she would tolerate it provided it remained contained. A single variable was manageable, preferable even, to the alternative.

“Fine. I will be returning tomorrow,” she said, her tone clipped now, reasserting control where she could. “Under the adjusted conditions.”