Page 38 of Who's Afraid of the Big, Bad World

“Don’t you have some voyeurism to get to?” Noah whispered.

“Fine, don’t discuss it, then.”She grinned.“If I’m lucky, I’ll hit shower time.”Then she disappeared.

Noah sat on the edge of the bed, looking between the spot where he’d seen his wife and the door to the room where Annabelle slept.

It was definitely time he made an appointment with a psychologist.

Chapter Thirteen

It’d been a quiet few days. Their only visitors were ADA Grant, to prep Annabelle for her testimony, and the court’s audiovisual people, who’d set up the remote link for her to testify when the time came. The team was on edge, stretched thin from being constantly on alert. Nerves were beginning to fray, and the younger team members showed signs of cabin fever. Noah almost wished the Demons would attack again and get it over with. He’d rather shoot at them than die from waiting.

Annabelle seemed to be the only person in the building who wasn’t going stir-crazy. Probably because she was used to not leaving the warehouse. She’d stopped worrying about the Demon Brothers, trusting that the team would do their job protecting her. Instead, she seemed determined to live life as usual and enjoy the company. She’d insisted on cooking for them every evening and sent the triplets out to do her grocery shopping. There was even a chocolate cake one day, much to Therese’s delight. Annabelle’s living room had become an unofficial break room for anyone wanting a few moments of downtime, and she was happy with it that way.

But it was her interactions with the triplets that Noah found particularly entertaining. The little group had already formeda strange dynamic. It was as though the brothers had adopted Annabelle while she treated them like the younger siblings she’d never had.

Today, Evan had picked up empanadas for lunch from the local Mexican deli he raved about, and they were eating in the second-floor office rather than the loft. While they did so, Annabelle teased the triplets like she’d known them for years.

“So, have you three ever fallen for the same girl?” she asked, a wicked gleam in her eye.

“Logan and I dated twins once,” Harris said. “Does that count?”

“No, but what happened?”

The two brothers pointed at Evan.

“Don’t blame me,” he said, reaching for another empanada. “I got lumbered with the younger sister because she felt left out. The girl was a psycho. She had Beanie Babies that she pretended were our children. They had names and everything. I had to get out of there before I woke up married and chained to the bed.”

“How old was she?” Annabelle asked.

“Sixteen, two years younger than we were at the time.” Evan looked disturbed by the memory. “She scared me.”

“She also wouldn’t take no for an answer,” Harris continued the story. “So he broke up with her on social media. Her sisters were livid.”

“Evan ruins everything,” Logan said.

“Desperate times call for desperate measures,” Evan said. “I’d break up with her in person, and she’d carry on as though nothing had happened. It was weird as hell. I had to go public. I had no other choice. At least she couldn’t ignore a TikTok video.”

“You broke up with her on TikTok?” Annabelle almost choked on her food.

“She wasn’t on Facebook,” Evan explained.

Noah caught Rodrigo’s eye, and they grinned at each other. If nothing else, the triplets were entertaining.

“Lunchtime’s over, kiddies,” Rochelle said, clearing away her empty plate. “We have work to do. Harris, why don’t you take Annabelle upstairs? Now her new computer’s here, I’m sure she’s eager to get back into it.”

“Okey dokey,” he said, getting to his feet.

Annabelle glanced at Noah, as if checking to see if it was okay for her to go.

“Harris will keep you safe,” he said. “It’s Logan’s turn to patrol, and Evan will keep an eye on the camera feed while we have our meeting. I’m only a shout away if needed.”

“Okay.” She prodded Harris in the back. “It would be good to upload some work to my editor, so don’t go distracting me.”

“You’ll barely know I’m there. And if you need a model for any new drawings, I’m happy to help. After all, I’ve done some professional modeling in my time.”

“I know.” She grinned. “You told me.”

“He’s told all of us,” Rodrigo said.