A Slave to Broken Hearts (A Slave to Love Sequel)

Chapter 85: Say Yes

Days passed and everything was quiet. Too quiet.

I was growing antsier with every passing day, the sudden distance from Blade after a week together paired with my constant hyper awareness of everything around me and needing to pretend like everything was fine was taking its toll.

But absolutely nothing out of the ordinary happened. I went to work, hung out with Katie, texted Ace because our schedules didn't align to hang out--which was simultaneously a relief, a point of extra stress, and possibly suspicious or possibly very normal--went for too many runs when I had a free minute because I couldn't sit still despite being exhausted, and didn't hear anything from Blade once.

Though, every once in a while, I'd feel him nearby. He was using the convenient excuse of shopping for a place to live, visiting different apartments and houses to pass by my neighborhood and check for trails as he drove through and to remind us both we were okay and have some kind of contact during this period apart.

Not even beginning training for my new position at work was enough to put a dent in my stressing. It was fun, but my worries remained at the edges of my mind, waiting to pounce on me as I learned the ins and outs of the kitchen.

Then came a break.

I wasn't supposed to meet up with Ace today--we were supposed to meet tomorrow--and I was supposed to be at work until eight in fact.

But it was dead and Shauna had volunteered to stay later as a way to make up for the incoming reduced hours when she started school next week. So naturally, I took the opportunity to bow out early and headed directly to Ace's house without telling anyone and hoped whoever was stalking me didn't think it worthwhile to do so while I was at work, and I could slip in mostly undetected.

I made it to the house without arousing any obvious suspicions and didn't even encounter a single soul. It was late to be sure, outside of regular daytime business hours, but in a place like this that didn't mean much. Different parts of the house saw different levels of traffic, and even with Ace putting his foot down, occasional late nights couldn't be helped. But just because I didn't see anyone, didn't mean nobody had seen me. 

The 'home' part of the house, naturally, was usually completely empty save for its sole occupant and whatever maids or guards were around. I did encounter a handful of guards I recognized at one point as I made my way through the house, but they didn't disturb me, just nodded as I passed and I smiled and turned down the next available hallway that was empty, walking with confidence like I had every right to be there and there was nothing suspicious about it. I just hoped they wouldn't alert Ace or anyone else that I was here while I was poking around, since my presence here had become a fairly regular occurrence that it should no longer be noteworthy. 

I hoped.

I tried to orient myself, heading more towards the 'business' end of things, that maybe I could catch some snippet of a meeting or gossip or anything, but so far had come up empty. I'd even tried knocking on a few doors, as gently as I could, and calling Ace's name. If anyone found me wandering aimlessly I could easily pretend like I'd gotten lost on my way to surprising Ace, instead of attempting to snoop in random rooms and catch bits of private conversations. 

The rooms I found were mostly empty, larger meeting rooms with hardly anything in them, beautifully furnished dining rooms or meeting rooms, libraries, sitting rooms, bathrooms, offices, the horrifying room we had Alek's trial in, the even more soul crushing ballroom/throne room Aros died in that had me yanking the door shut so hard it slammed loudly enough to make me wince...but nothing of any real interest. There were a few locked doors, but unfortunately, picking door locks hadn't come up in my self defense training yet, though I made a mental note to ask about it next time. I gave those a few half hearted knocks and called Ace's name but no one ever answered so I had no choice but to move on.