Page 105 of Kill Feed

“Dick.”

It’s a miracle he’s still here. He is content at best, and it’ll be interesting to see just how long he’s willing to be inside my space. Last night he didn’t even mention going home. After nuzzling me so endearingly, we took it further in my bedroom for round two before letting him fall asleep on my chest. I had to regularly scold Ender not to jump on the bed to wake him, not daring to move myself.

My phone vibrates across the counter with a sharp chime.

I grab it instinctively, glance at the screen, and a satisfied huff leaves me before I can stop it. I set the phone back down.

Across from me, Adrian watches the entire thing with narrowed eyes, fork paused halfway to his mouth.

“Who are you talking to?” he asks casually, though there’s something too measured about the question.

I grin wide enough to be obnoxious. “Relax, it’s work.”

He studies me another second before accepting the answer with suspicious ease, shoving another bite of pancake into his mouth.

“Kill Feed?” he finally says, redirecting his attention for half a beat, tearing off a tiny piece of bacon before offering it to Ender, who inhales it instantly.

“You still trying to find out about that shit?” I huff.

His expression barely changes as he says, “You knew?”

I laugh softly. “That you cornered a guy in the woods on a running trail to interrogate him about Kill Feed?” I tilt my head. “Yeah, baby. Of course.”

“What exactly are you to Kill Feed?” he continues, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

“Oh, please,” I say, laughing. “Like you don’t already know.”

“Actually, I don’t,” he replies evenly. “Not for certain.”

That pulls a grin from me.

Fair.

I finish the rest of my breakfast before collecting both our plates and moving around the counter toward the sink. I rinse the plates lazily before turning and leaning back against the slab with my arms crossed loosely over my chest.

“I’m a hunter,” I tell him. “One of Selene’s favorites, actually. I have the highest survival rate and highest kill count.” My grin sharpens. “And I plan on keeping my title.”

Adrian absorbs that without blinking.

I point at him with the dish towel hanging over my shoulder. “Which is exactly why you should stop digging into Kill Feed.”

He leans back slightly in the chair, completely relaxed now. “I don’t intend to.”

“And I should believe that because?”

“I only looked into it to get closer to you so I’d know exactly how to kill you and get away with it,” he says, gaze drifting over me slowly.

I laugh under my breath. “I like the confidence.”

“At Nightfall,” he continues, “you said I’d be good at Kill Feed.”

My eyes narrow with amusement. “I said you’d be perfect.”

“Why?”

I exhale slowly through my nose.

Because you look at violence the way other people look at inconvenience. Because when I wrapped my hands around your throat, you stared at me like you were trying to solve me instead of survive me. Because you’ll fight tooth and nail just to remove obstacles that merely don’t align in your perfectly predictable, calculated life.