Chapter 115: Are you In?
Fin heard Mara open the door, Juna’s voice, bright and a little too loud, spilling into the apartment. Juna. Of all people.
Great. Just when he thought he had Mara almost convinced, or at least scared enough to cooperate. This complicated things. He stayed put in the armchair, trying to look casual, like he just dropped by for a chat.
Which was a lie. Everything about this was a lie.
He heard Mara’s flustered reply, the sound of someone trying to act normal when a walking catastrophe was sitting in her living room. He leaned back further, deliberately relaxing his shoulders.
Juna would be in the archway any second. He wondered what her face would do when she saw him. Surprise? Amusement? Or that calculating look she got when she sniffed out trouble?
"Oh, I was just, uh..." Mara stammered from the doorway. "Just tidying up."
Then Juna was there, framed in the archway, one perfectly sculpted eyebrow already starting to rise as she took in the scene. Her gaze flicked from Mara’s obviously stressed face, to the shattered wine glass and the dark stain spreading on the rug, then landed squarely on him.
The eyebrow went all the way up. Her lips curved into a slow smile. Not a friendly one. More like the smile a cat gets when it finds a particularly interesting mouse.
"Well, well," Juna purred, her voice dripping with amusement. She strolled into the living room, completely ignoring Mara’s attempt to block her view. She stopped a few feet from the coffee table, her eyes sweeping over him, taking in his changed hair, the cool clothes, the way he sat there trying to look like he owned the place.
"Fancy meeting you here, Carver. Playing houseguest?"
He just looked at her. No point trying to act surprised. She already knew this wasn’t a social call.