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"Ambitious and fiercely original. Sondi Warner is the exciting new voice we've all been wai...
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August 10 | Saturday Morning
I had a routine, but it was out the window by the next morning. A schedule didn't stand a chance against the disruption sitting in my favorite chair. Dressed in one of my shirts and smelling like marked territory, Aurie seemed to belong at my place.
I blinked rapidly. Clearly, she didn't belong, and she couldn't stay.
Sitting up, I winced from another kink-free night. (Not that I ever had sex, even as an escort, but that was another story.) Aurie had asked for my laptop, and when she saw me stirring, she pointed at the screen.
"Good, you're awake. Based on Instagram, I was out with my sister last night."
"What about it?" I padded to the bathroom.
"I was, um, having trouble remembering."
She caught me standing at the toilet and quickly glanced away. I sensed her curiosity—the same as I had sensed her feelings about my cologne. I nudged the door shut, but it stayed partially ajar.
"Is that the usual?" I yawned.
"Is it? It's not my usual. I can't recall anything from before I met you."
Yay-fucking-me. I stepped from the bathroom and casually asked, "So, do you know where you want me to drop you off?" Fingers crossed.
"Yeah, my family's address was the first thing that popped up when I searched my name."
"Yay!" I pumped a fist.
Aurie exhaled. "I'm kidding, asshole. I can't search anything. I've been staring at the same split-screen you left up for me—my Instagram and Facebook accounts."
"Oh..." I considered how much work I was missing letting her use my laptop. I weighed that against how long I wanted my apartment to be haunted. Clapping my hands together, I hunkered down next to her and took the computer. "Alright, how can I help you get out of here?"
"Reverse image-search this photo of my sister and me?"
We bonded the rest of the morning scouring the internet for personal details that nobody with a fraction of sense ever posted publicly. It was sometime around noon when a knock at the door interrupted us.
"Are you expecting company?" Aurie bit the corner of her lip.
Shushing her, I dug a gun from the sofa and crept to see who was there. No, I wasn't expecting company. No one knew where I lived. No one should've been able to find where I lived, thanks to a powerful witch's spell on the door as ancient as the church, itself.
With my Empathy, I felt around and sensed no malice on the other side.
"State your name and purpose," I called out.
"Detective Zyr Ravani. I'm here about a crime you may have witnessed last night."
"I think you've got the wrong place, Detective. This is church storage."
