Hiding Sparrows

22. Cat and mouse

I don't know what I was expecting at Ty's place but it wasn't this.

It was just out of the city, an elaborate, modern apartment block. When Azael dropped us off out the front, it felt like we were walking into a hotel.

Ty walked past the cheery receptionist, and the built-in coffee shop (already closed, given it was getting to be past 9 by that point), straight around to a set of elevators that required him tapping his phone to a scanner to access a tap pad with a list of floors. While he fiddled with it, I continued to look around the luxe interiors of wood, stone, and gold. As I looked closer, I noticed that there were subtle accents of native birds and plants across the walls and floors.

I tried not to let the overwhelm of the sheer expense of the building to show on my face. Still, when Ty looked at me in the elevator, he smirked.

"Are you shell shocked, little bird?" He asked.

I scowled. "It's just... a nice building."

"Mmm," he replied. "I don't have many complaints. Although the cafe is new, it used to be a Thai fusion restaurant. Way too expensive for how shit it tasted. I'm yet to discover if the cafe will be the same."

"We'll have to try it together sometime," I said, boldly. 'Please let me see this apartment more than once,' was the implication.

He just nodded, noncommittal.

Ugh.

There were no buttons in the elevator, so I presumed the touch pad at the bottom was the control. But because I hadn't been paying attention, I was surprised when the elevator kept rising, and rising, until finally settling on floor 25.

The doors opening were marked by the call of a bird, and my jaw dropped as Ty stepped out. Not into a hallway, or a landing, but directly into the entryway of a stunning penthouse.

"What the fuck," I muttered.

He smiled and turned back to look at me. "Come on, get out here before the doors close again and you get stuck going back down."

I shook my head and stumbled out.

"When did you get this rich?" I asked him.

"Ay, you haven't even seen the view yet," he said, then gestured across an open air living room and kitchen to the tall windows behind him.

Eyeing him suspiciously, I followed where he was gesturing and walked across.

"Holy shit."

The apartment overlooked the whole of Sydney harbour, looking back up towards the city, the water, the bridge, and everything in between. In the dark, I could just catch the lit sails of the opera house peeking beneath the bridge, and as I panned across, I could see Anzac bridge in the other direction. The lights on the water glimmered and shone.

"Nice view," I muttered, lightly pressing my hand against the glass. I looked at my fingers, a question occurring to me. "Have you ever fucked someone against this window?"

Ty laughed, and I instantly went bright red, realising what I had just asked.

"I'm so sorry, it was an intrusive thought, I didn't mean to-"

"It's okay, little bird. I get it. But do you really want to know the answer to that?"

I frowned. "Well, that response makes me think no, I don't want to know the answer."

He smirked. After a moment watching my face a moment, he spoke. "No. The answer is no, I haven't."

Then, before I could stop myself, I asked, "Do you want to?"