“Liar,” Liam echoed her thoughts. “I've never been to Wulf's house, though I've known him for years. You only went the one time, right? I'm curious. Let's go check it out. Let's be bad.”
Before Katya could argue, the door to Wulf's apartment swung open.
When Liam had called her and asked to go on a walk, she had figured it would be to a park or something, and that she'd be getting an earful about her behavior from the previous night. She was prepared to tell him that her “date” with Gaten had only been a ruse – even Gate had been aware that she'd only agreed to dinner to piss off Wulf, and the two of them had laughed heartily about it over fish and chips.
When it was clear Liam had no intention of going for a walk and had pushed the top floor on button the elevator, she thought he was going to try one of his seduction routines on her. But then he'd told her they were gonna take a tour of Wulf's apartment, and she'd been so thoroughly caught off guard, she'd just gone along with it.
Of course, she knew what they were doing was wrong. Like as in actually, literally illegal – not to mention an incredible violation of his personal space. Still. She knew Wulf would never invite her up on his own, and also, she didn't care about violating his privacy. Not one little bit. So she walked into the apartment and listened as Liam shut the door, locking it behind them.
It certainly wasn't on the same opulence level as his high rise penthouse. There was no hint of all the marble and black accents, and it was maybe a third the size. If that. She smiled to herself.
He must be miserable here.
It did have one thing in common with his old home, though. It was totally impersonal. No family photos or pictures, no artwork, no personal touches at all. He'd most likely had another designer set the whole thing up. The furniture was warmer, more homey, than his last place, though. She ran her hand along the back of the huge couch she'd watched his movers struggling with the other day.
“It's … nice,” she finally said, looking over a ridiculously big television.
“If you like the idea of living in a hotel room, sure. It has about as much warmth as he does,” Liam snorted from the other side of the room. Katya nodded as she moved into the kitchen.
“Yeah. Yeah, his other place is the same way.”
There was almost no food, also like his other home. There was some fancy beer in the fridge, and a case of expensive water. Some Chinese take out, then just a quart of milk. The only pantry item was cereal.
How does he not have scurvy!?
“So we were talking about the beach,” Liam's voice shouted from a different room.
“Uh huh,” she replied, though she wasn't paying attention. She was being drawn through the apartment towards a large room in the back.
Liam kept prattling away, but she couldn't hear him as she entered Wulf's bedroom. It certainly wasn't as big as his other one, and there were no windows. Luckily, he'd left the light on in the en suite, and it caused enough of a glow for Katya to see her surroundings. For some reason, she didn't want to turn on the overhead light. Didn't want to disturb the scene more than she already had.
She was a little shocked to see that the bed wasn't made. Wulf was more than a little OCD, she had trouble picturing him leaving behind any kind of mess. Everything else in the room was in order – just the covers on the right side of the bed were folded back, as if he'd yanked them off and never returned. She smiled as she took in the other side of the comforter, noticing that it was still in place from whenever the bed had last been made properly. Wulf slept primarily on one side. Even she didn't do that, preferring to stretch out in the center of her mattress.
She glanced over her shoulder, then stepped further into the room. She lowered herself to sit on the edge of the bed, in the spot where Wulf had probably been sleeping just hours earlier. On the nightstand next to her was a half empty glass of water, what looked like a datebook, and some sort of tablet or iPad.
Katya thought briefly about being a good person and getting up and walking out of the room. Then she decided fuck it, and she grabbed the tablet. She wouldn't go rooting through his social media files or anything, but was curious to see what he'd been looking at before he'd gone to bed, if he'd left it up on the screen. Maybe Wulf had some sort of kinky porn fetish she could use against him.
What she saw, though, when she unlocked the screen, surprised her more than any sort of weird kink. She held still as she stared down at the device, feeling a little short of breath.
“Did you hear what I said?” Liam's voice trickled into the room. She took a deep breath, but didn't respond.
She was looking at a picture of herself. Normally not a big deal – she took lots of pictures, had them all over her own apartment. On her own phone, the wallpaper was a selfie of her and Tori. Before that, it had been a pic of her and Liam. She was pretty sure Tori's wallpaper was a pic of herself and a famous basketball player she'd bumped into, and Katya knew Liam's wallpaper was a picture of him and her. Lots of people kept pictures of themselves or their loved ones nearby.
So to see it on Wulf's tablet was more than a little shocking. And it was more than just her picture being his wallpaper – it was knowing her picture was the only personal touch in his entire apartment. It was very overwhelming. She almost wanted to cry. She sniffled and ran her fingers down the side of the screen.
It was from their trip to Carmel. They were in his car, at some overlook they'd stopped in for a moment. Wulf was in the driver's seat, barely visible at the edge of the picture. He was wearing a dark pair of sunglasses and staring down at his phone – the reason for the stop, some business popping up. He was always on his phone.
Katya was the one who'd taken the picture. She was sitting at an angle in her seat and leaning back, actually pressing against Wulf's shoulder so she could get him in the shot. She was smiling big with the tip of her tongue trapped between her teeth. Her hair was in a ponytail, blowing everywhere in the wind. She looked silly and young and messy.
How had he gotten the pic? He must have gone onto her Facebook profile, lifted it from there. A lot of effort for him. And she had to wonder, why that particular picture? She had lots of better ones, where she was dressed up. Even a few with him, where he was wearing his expensive suits.
What on earth goes on in your head, Wulfric Stone?
“You haven't been listening to me at all.”
Katya let out a small shriek and dropped the tablet, startled as Liam entered the room. She'd forgotten about him. She caught her breath and picked up the device before she climbed to her feet.
“No, sorry, I got distracted,” she replied, glancing down at the screen before setting it face down on the night stand. It unsettled her, realizing Wulf looked at a picture of her everyday. At a silly, relaxed, cute, intimate photo of the two of them. Everyday.
“Find anything fun? Anal beads, ball gag, prostate massager?” Liam joked, moving around the bed to lay down behind her.