Musa wasn't even sure why she was crying. They'd had sex and somewhere around the time they were coming down, she looked at Jared and felt wrong. His silky dark hair, lopsided grin and sparkling amber eyes; all of it was wrong. It wasn't what she wanted. He wasn't what she wanted. Was it? She had no idea anymore.

He hadn't been happy when Musa had asked him to leave. He'd argued. That was something she would have liked months ago – that he'd fought the stay with her. Jared had been furious. Musa understood why – she probably would be angry too – but she couldn't seem to find it in her to care. She just knew she wanted him out of her house, so she'd fought back.

What the fuck is wrong with you?

I was right, you are into him.

No. I'm not.

You're acting crazy, Musa.

No wonder Andy fucked someone else. Anything not to deal with you.

She'd almost killed him. She should have killed him. Called Aisha and Bloom, have them help her cover it up. She didn't even need to do it that well, just enough that there was reasonable doubt. If OJ could get off even though he was one hundred percent guilty, so could she. She'd been good, though. Hadn't even thrown one of the pillows at him.

Jared had slammed the door on his way out. Musa stared at it for a few minutes, heart and mind still racing from the adrenaline. What the fuck was she doing? What had happened to the sweet guy that used to support her and surprise her with chocolates and flowers or bring her food whenever she worked through a meal? How had he been replaced with this goddamn distrustful jackass?

Somehow, she'd found herself sitting on the couch with the movie playing, not that she was paying it any attention. She'd had the presence of mind to turn off the movie, tossing the remote to the side. The evening replayed in her mind over and over, culminating in Jared's accusations and comments. He'd gripped the back of the couch so tightly she thought he might rip the cushions apart. He'd looked so angry; like he was seconds away from destroying everything in sight. She'd never seen him like that. She was sure that everytime she looked at him from now on, she'd see those once peaceful and kind amber eyes glaring at her as if she were the gum under his brand new shoes.

"Musa?"

Her name broke through the haze, and she forced herself to turn and face the caller. Riven stared at her from the doorway. He'd been in the hot tub; his chest still glistened ever so slightly, and she wondered if his skin was damp. Almost instinctively, she reached out to touch him. Mercifully, he was much too far, and her hand landed on the back of the couch. The same spot where Jared had clenched his fist around the cushion.

"You okay?"

How long had he been there?

How long had she been there?

"Uh, yeah."

His eyes darted around the room as if he were expecting something to happen. Finally, they settled on her. "You sure about that? Cause you're crying…"

Musa reached up to touch her cheek. Sure enough, she was crying. Or had been? She had no idea. When had she even started crying? "Oh…" she mumbled, wiping the tear residue away. She turned her back to him and curled her legs up against her body, wrapping her arms around her knees and resting her chin on them. On the table, her phone lit up silently – she'd muted it for the movie – and she peered over to see.

Jared.

She ignored the call. She had no desire to speak to him.

Behind her she heard Riven slowly approach the couch and walk around to sit at the opposite end. He looked so uncomfortable and out of place, it almost made her want to laugh. "Are you… hurt?" he asked, eyes raking over her to assess her physical well-being.

"No. We just had a bit of a fight…" Musa admitted. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Riven nod slowly. Her phone lit up, message after message popping up on the screen. "But that's normal, right? All couples fight sometimes."

"Seems like you guys… Are you gonna get that?" Riven trailed off, pointing towards her phone that had started ringing once again.

"No. Do you and Darcy fight a lot?"

"Uhm, not really. That's more..." He trailed off again, glancing at the buzzing phone on the coffee table. "Are you sure you don't want to get that?"

"Yes" Musa said, grabbing the phone and denying the call. "It's Jared and I really don't want to talk to him right now." While she had the phone in hand, however, she did sneak a glance at her texts and missed calls.

Missed call 8:56: Jared.

Jared (8:57): I'm so sorry. I didn't mean what I said.

Jared (8:57): Musa, I love you. Please call me.

Jared (8:58): Please.

Jared (8:58): I'm really sorry. I was just hurt and I lashed out at you.

Jared (8:58): Please stop ignoring me

Aisha (8:58): Hey, do you remember that dark blue dress you wore when we went to dinner while we were in Miami like 3 months ago? Any chance I can borrow it for my date on Thursday?

Jared (8:59): I love you.

Jared (8:59): You're probably complaining to him about me, aren't you?

Jared (8:59): Of course we have one fight and you go crying to him. You want him to know you're vulnerable and available so he'll fuck you.

Jared (8:59): If you had just admitted it, I wouldn't mind. I understand that attraction is complicated. But fucking him behind my back after kicking out the person that loves you the most? That's bullshit.

Aisha (9:00): Oh, actually... Would you have a key to Stella's? Her strappy black sandals would go perfect with it.

Aisha (9:00) She doesn't have to know I borrowed her shoes without asking... Right? XD

Missed call 9:00: Jared

Jared (9:01): Musa! Answer me!

Jared (9:01): Please babe, I love you.

Jared (9:01): I don't know what you want me to do.

Missed call 9:02: Jared

Jared (9:02): Anything you want. Please!

Jared (9:02): I love you.

Musa groaned, dropping the phone on the couch beside her. It clattered as it met the remote and slid off the couch. She didn't pick it up; didn't care to. She'd answer Aisha later. Jared, well, maybe not at all. Not after the Andy comment, and especially not after accusing her of going crawling to Riven in hopes that he'd fuck her. Why was he so convinced she even liked him? Why was everyone so convinced she liked him?

"You must miss her" Musa commented after a minute. Riven agreed that it sucked being forced apart because of work. He'd started to add on that it was good money, but Musa cut him off. "You should have her over."

"What?"

"Invite her over." Riven tilted his head and leaned in a bit, just close enough that she could smell the fresh, almost minty aftershave he used. She sunk away from him as much as possible without being too obvious, suddenly hyper aware of the fact that her cheeks would still be red and blotchy and that she wore just her baggy t-shirt and underwear. "We both know that you're here for a completely bullshit reason and I know how much it sucks to be away from someone you love. If you want to have her over, spend the night, whatever, do it."

"Seriously?"

Yeah, seriously? "Yeah" she nodded. Maybe if her friends – and her boyfriend – knew that she was fine with him having his girlfriend over, they'd back the fuck off.

Riven was surprised. He hadn't expected Musa to suggest he have Darcy over; he didn't even think Musa liked Darcy. Sure, they'd only met the once, but Musa had clearly not taken to her. Of course, that could also be her dislike of him being applied to Darcy. It could also just be Darcy, though. She was gorgeous woman, but she did tend to be a bit cold towards, well, everyone.

"Wow, uh, okay. I guess I'll go call her" he said, standing up to head up to his room. A thought occurred to him as he rounded the side of the couch and spotted the flowers in the entryway, visible through the living room door. He knew he was pushing his luck, but it was worth a shot. "Actually, a, uh, friend of mine is gonna be in the city as of this Thursday for the next week and a half. She had called to see if I wanted to -"

"Have her over" Musa shrugged. "Or, if she likes art, invite her to the gallery on Sunday. Or we can go out for dinner, whatever."

"Great!" Riven was sure he'd never smiled this widely – or sincerely – since he'd been given this assignment. He'd hated knowing that he'd miss out on seeing Flora. It had been three years since they'd seen each other and, besides Nabu, she was his closest friend.

He'd call Flora first; make sure she knew to fit him into her schedule while she was here. He'd also invite her to the gallery thing that Musa's cousin had invited her to because he knew that Flora had always been a big fan of the arts even if she wasn't much of an artist herself. Darcy would wait a bit since she didn't have a limited amount of time.

It occurred to him when he was almost out of the room that he should probably thank Musa for allowing him to have a life even though he was working. He turned back to her, and a wave of concern ran through him. Musa looked so small sitting on the couch still curled up. Like a child whose toy had been stolen. The protective part of him wanted to scoop her up and tell her everything would be okay, maybe buy her an ice cream or something to make her smile. She wasn't a child though; she was a full-grown woman who happened to be his employer who he... didn't entirely hate. "You sure you okay?"

"Mhm."

Riven didn't ask anymore, he just thanked her and walked away. Musa didn't want to talk to him, and he didn't want to press her. He wasn't concerned about her emotional well-being, just her physical one. She was unharmed, he had nothing to worry about. At least, that's what he told himself.

Flora was ecstatic to hear that Musa had accepted to spend time with her for Riven's sake, though it did take him a while to get her to stop insisting that she would be imposing. She would be landing Thursday morning and meeting her client in the afternoon. After that, she'd have Friday to Monday off for them to spend time together, whenever he could, plus time during the week.

It was decided that Darcy would come over the next night after she'd finished work. It hadn't been an easy decision to come to though since Icy had discovered on Friday that Darko had been out with another girl – which Darcy had already told Riven about – and the trio had decided they'd have a whole week dedicated to just them. He'd had to argue with her that they hadn't seen each other in much longer. Riven didn't mention that it was no surprise that Darko was moving on from Icy so quickly, that the guy had probably seen the light; Darcy would kill him – possibly literally – for saying that. It hadn't been much of an argument, though – they never were, there just was no arguing with Darcy – and she quickly agreed with far less enthusiasm than he'd have liked.

Darcy was at the door at exactly 5:40, like she'd predicted. She'd come right from work – a secretary job at some fancy Manhattan law firm that she absolutely despised – so she still wore her black dress pants and a very appropriate, very un-Darcy-like light pink blouse. She walked into the apartment, took a quick look around the hall and into the living room and kitchen before kicking off her shoes, dropping her bag and grabbing Riven by the collar and pulling him into a kiss. He'd missed kissing her; missed the way she never hesitated to take control and demand what she wanted. It seemed counterintuitive to his own strong personality, but he liked dominant women.

"You need a haircut" she commented as they pulled apart, running her hand through the baby hairs at the nape of his neck. Riven sighed, admitting that he knew but that he didn't really have time. "Princess has to have someone that makes house calls." Darcy didn't seem to care that she was in Musa's home and that, unlike with Riven, Musa could easily kick Darcy out. He almost said something, but his attention was diverted from the subject by Darcy asking where his bedroom was.

They wasted no time catching up – there was no point; they talked so often – ripping their respective clothes off as soon as the bedroom door closed behind them. He didn't need to take Darcy in, he already knew every inch of her body: every curve, every freckle, every scar. Once her underwear had been stripped away, he pulled her close to him. Her warm lips pressed forcefully against his in sharp contrast to the freezing hands that roamed up his chest. Her hands were always so cold – poor circulation, she claimed, but he joked it was from her proximity to the ice queen she called a best friend.

Darcy pushed him onto the bed, straddling him as she ground into him. She bent down to kiss his neck and he let out a low groan. A small laugh came from Darcy as she placed kisses leading down his chest to the tip of him. He looked at her as she began to tease him, just barely managing to mask the gasp he let out as a moan. She continued to tease, kissing his inner thighs and Adonis belt, but Riven's mind had wandered. Why had he been expecting to see red lips staining him; dark hair falling over his thigh; blue eyes watching for his reaction? Sure, he might reluctantly admit that he'd thought of Musa – no, just her, he didn't want to risk saying her lest Darcy try to murder the singer – a few times since the shooting. He'd pictured her in that lacy red underwear, wondered whether her ass was as firm as it looked and what her lips tasted like, but he'd never admit that out loud.

His mind was cleared of Musa when Darcy took him into her mouth, gagging as she pushed him as far back as she could. He could feel the acrylic nails she wore rubbing against his inner thigh, scratching him lightly. He hated the look of those damn nails – not that she cared – but loved the way they marked him with faint scratches barely visible to the human eye.

Musa hid hidden herself in her room just before Darcy arrived. It was nothing personal. Actually, no, it probably was. She'd only met Riven's girlfriend the one time and that had been enough to tell her she didn't care for the woman. The over the top way she'd groped him when they'd picked her up had repulsed Musa – not that she had a problem with PDA, but there was a limit – and she hadn't liked the smug, condescending face Darcy had had on all through dinner. Those two were a match made in heaven (hell): jackass and jackass-ette.

She'd hoped she'd have peace for an hour; that they would at least have the decency to not start fucking in her home right away. She'd been so wrong. Not a mere five minutes after she'd heard the doorbell ring did she hear them coming up the stairs and Riven's door slam shut. Then the moans. God, it should be illegal for anyone to have a voice so fucking sexy. Musa had tried to focus on something else. She'd put headphones on and scrolled through her Instagram and Twitter feed; she'd tried to write; she'd tried to watch a movie. Nothing. No matter how hard she tried to focus on something else, she could still hear him in the back of her mind.

When Darcy's voice started to mix with his, Musa decided she'd had enough. She could listen to him – sort of wished those sounds were for her (what? No.) – but not Darcy. She needed a proper distraction. At any other point in her life, she'd just leave. She wasn't permitted to do that this time; not without Riven accompanying her. She couldn't go to the damn bodega for a bag of chips without him. She hated it. This was the most captive she'd felt since she finally freed herself from her old label.

Musa (6:11): You busy?

Tecna (6:13): No why?

Musa (6:13): I need you to save my sanity

Tecna (6:13): Too late for that

Musa (6:14): Just come over please

Tecna (6:15): Yeah, yeah. I'll be there in 15.

Tecna arrived seventeen agonizing minutes later. Musa had never been so happy to see her as she was now – at least she didn't ever remember being this happy to see Tecna. She was especially happy that Tecna had been free. Bloom or Aisha would make her talk about why she needed to be distracted so badly, and she really didn't want to. She couldn't even really explain it to herself never mind another person. Stella was still on her honeymoon and Jared was not even an option. He'd been calling and texting her all day, and she hadn't answered him once. Tecna, though, was in the city, not someone she was angry at, and, best of all, not someone that would push her to talk things through.

They set themselves up in the living room with loud music to drown out the still happening moans and a video game. Musa managed to get her mind into the game enough that she almost forgot about Riven and Darcy's shagging upstairs. The few times her mind did wander to them, she told herself was because she was jealous of their functional relationship. How nice it must be to be so comfortable and confident in your relationship. She'd had that once; been so sure Andy was the man she'd spend the rest of her life with. Then he fucked someone else.

"I know you probably called me because you don't want to talk" Tecna said after having obliterated Musa five times, though Musa was proud to say she did manage to get one win in – a rare feat when playing against Tecna. "But why didn't you just call Jared? Distract yourself from their... noise by making some of your own?"

Musa sighed, dropping the controller into her lap. She hadn't told the girls about the previous night's events. It wasn't that she didn't trust her friends, she just didn't want the I told you so's she knew she'd get from Bloom and Aisha. "We had a fight last night."

"Bad?" Musa loved Tecna so much. There were multiple reasons: her intelligence, her sometimes too brutal honesty, her protectiveness, her dry humour. Most of all, she loved that Tecna never pried. Never asked questions that required complete emotional honesty. It wasn't that Musa denied having emotions; she just preferred to lay her soul bare in song.

"Yeah. Really bad" Musa answered, grabbing her phone and turning it towards Tecna as she quickly scrolled up through the texts that Jared had sent. "And that's just in the last few hours."

"Wow, that's a lot..." Tecna trailed off. She looked away from Musa; her vibrant teal eyes scanning the room absent-mindedly. Musa nodded in agreement with Tecna's statement, but neither of them spoke until: "You guys seem to be fighting a lot lately."

Tecna was right. There had only been two major fights – this one and the restaurant when he'd tried to pick a battle with Riven – but they'd had so many small, pointless arguments since he'd arrived back in New York. Part of her wondered if it was just that they weren't right for each other, but she thought she might also be self-sabotaging. Maybe her fear of getting hurt again was causing her to push away a good guy. "Yeah..."

"I know I've never said it, but I do think Bloom and Aisha are right. Jared isn't the person for you."

"What?" Musa gasped after having forced her mouth closed. "But you've always been so-"

"Supportive?" Tecna guessed. She paused to consider her words – another beautiful thing about Tecna was that everything she said was thought out; she never gracelessly blurted things out because she was upset or frustrated like Musa did. "Yes. I'm supportive of whatever you want to do as long as you're safe and happy. It's becoming increasingly clear to me that you're not happy with Jared, though, so I thought I should tell you my opinion."

Musa didn't know what to say. She'd always thought Tecna liked Jared – or, at least, didn't outright dislike him. Musa shuffled closer to Tecna and leaned on her shoulder. She knew Tecna wasn't the biggest fan of physical contact, but she also knew that Tecna would tolerate it when she knew her friends were upset. They sat in relative silence – the music was still blaring – until Musa spoke again. "So what do I do?"

"Leave him" Tecna stated as if it were the most obvious answer in the world.

It wasn't as if Musa hadn't considered that, but she didn't want to throw away a good relationship so easily. "But what if it's just a rough patch?"

Tecna looked down at her sympathetically, the ends of her bright purple fringe brushing Musa's cheek. "Don't you remember telling me months before you found out about Andy's cheating that something felt wrong? That you weren't happy?"

"Yeah..."

"Are you happy?"

Musa didn't need to think about it, she already knew the answer. She'd been denying it to herself for weeks, but she couldn't lie to Tecna about it. She would see right through the lie; knew Musa too well to believe it. "...No."

"So, leave. Ther-"

Tecna was cut off by the music being lowered. Both girls turned towards the speaker at the back of the room to see what was happening. Mirta stood by it, hand poised on top of the volume button, smiling apologetically. "Sorry. I announced myself when I came in, but I don't think you heard me."

"We did not" Tecna confirmed.

"What's going on?" Mirta didn't usually come this late – it was almost 8:30 – unless Musa called her, which she tried to do as little as possible outside of daytime hours. Unlike a lot of celebrities she'd met who might as well have their assistants attached to them, Musa didn't want Mirta to feel like she wasn't allowed to have her own life.

"Well" Mirta started, moving over to the couch and pulling an envelope out of her bag. She handed Musa the open envelope addressed to her PO box with no return address. "You got another letter from stalker. I thought you and Riven would want to look at it before I turned it over to the police."

Musa reluctantly headed upstairs to fetch Riven at Mirta's insistence. She was pretty sure whatever sexcapades he and Darcy had been having were over, but she still wasn't happy about being the one to have to go up. Before knocking, she leaned her ear against the door to make sure she wasn't interrupting the quieter moments of their fuckfest.

Riven opened the door in a pair of sweatpants and nothing else. Musa lost track of what she'd come up for, too distracted by the gorgeous, chiseled body. She wanted to feel him, lick him up and make him writhe under her touch. Kiss and bite that sweet spot on his neck and discover every other spot that drove him wild. Let him pin her to the bed – or the couch or the wall or the floor, she wasn't picky – and do whatever he wanted to her, as long as it was fast and hard. She wa-

"You okay?" Riven's voice broke through her thoughts, and she forced her eyes up to meet his. She could almost swear he looked concerned. Part of her wanted to believe he was worried about her (why?), but she knew she was likely mistaking confusion for concern; she'd be confused too if someone knocked on her door and then just stared at her. Oh God, she'd been staring at him...

"Sorry, I uh..." Why had she been staring at him? "I sort of..." Why had she been thinking about fucking him? "Zoned out..." She'd had sex yesterday – she shouldn't still be thinking like this. Not this much. It's not like she was actually attracted to Riven. He just happened to have a nice body. A really nice body. And gorgeous eyes. And a smile that could make the coldest of hearts melt. And nice shiny hair that she wanted to run her hands through. And...

Oh, fuck.

No.

No. No. No. No. No.

"What's going on?" He asked, blissfully unaware of the complete mental meltdown Musa was having as she grappled with the fact that she was attracted to someone she hated. Well, maybe not hated. But she definitely didn't like him; she merely tolerated him.

"Huh?" Musa's brain was a jumbled mess, how was she supposed to explain it to him? Why would she explain it to him? He didn't need to know that she wanted his dick.

"You came up here for a reason?"

Right. The letter.

"Right, um. Mirta's here. She has another letter; thought you'd want to read it."

Riven watched Musa pivot and head back downstairs without saying another word. He threw on the first clean shirt he could find and poked his head into the bathroom to tell Darcy he'd be right back. She might not have heard him over the shower, but if she did, she didn't react. He followed Musa down to the main floor where he found Musa, Mirta and Tecna sitting around the kitchen island. When had Tecna gotten here?

Mirta greeted him and pulled the letter out of its envelope, opening it up and wasting no time with idle chit chat. "My beloved Musa," she read. "It has been too long since I've written, and I apologise for that my dear. Life has gotten busy, but worry not, I have not stopped thinking of you for a single second. I dream of your eyes; of your lips and the secrets they'll share; I dream of your hair, of smelling it and running my hands through it; I hear you singing to me every night when I go to sleep, and I picture you beside me in my bed, begging me to make love to you. And I would, my beauty, ravage you for hours until you're satisfied and full of me."

"Oh, that's fucking weird" Riven commented, moving around the island to take the last free seat beside Musa. He pulled the stool towards the right, inadvertently positioning himself closer to the singer. He stole a glance at her, noting the way her jaw was clenched tightly and her nails dug into her crossed forearms. "Were the last two letters like this?" Riven hadn't gotten to read them; they'd been handed over to the police before he'd been hired.

"This one is worse" Mirta replied. "The last two were more like love letters: you're so beautiful, I think of you all the time, that kind of thing. This is... well, listen: I saw that Jared was back. I don't understand why you're still with him; he doesn't make you happy. And he definitely doesn't deserve you. You should be with me. Be mine, Musa, my heart. Let me love and cherish you the way you deserve to be. Also, I noticed that you visited your father -"

"What?" Musa choked out.

"Shit..." Riven was pretty sure that no one knew about her visit to her dad. He knew they'd not been spotted out – they'd gone from the building's garage to the parking lot of her father's apartment without stopping. He texted Timmy, asking him to check if any tabloid stories or social media posts mentioned Musa visiting her father. "Timmy's checking to see if there's any public sources that he could've gotten that information from. Continue."

"You know I don't like when you see him, my darling. Not after the way he treated you during your rise to becoming the starlet you are now. You shouldn't surround yourself with negative people like that. Your father is not a good man; he's standing in the way of you achieving your full potential. Please don't push me on this; I will destroy anyone that stands in your way."

Musa let out a panicked squeak as her hand flew up to cover her mouth. Her eyes welled up with tears that she forced back. Riven rested his hand on her shoulder and leaned forward, unsure of what to say, but wanting to reassure her. Not that he cared that she was upset, but, you know, her father had just been threatened. On her other side, Tecna's hand grasped Musa's wordlessly.

"Call Saladin; tell him I want security for my dad too. I don't care what it costs." Musa turned to face him, those stunning blue eyes of hers glossed over with the tears she was holding back. He became acutely aware of just how close he'd moved in, her face being less than a foot from his. "Okay" he mumbled, forcing himself back.

"Finally, my angel, know that not even that beefed up meathead bodyguard they hired to keep us apart will work. I would do anything to be with you; that's how much I love you. Forever yours, your soulmate."

"Well, that was disturbing."

"I'll say" Riven agreed. Musa said nothing, only continued to stare at the counter silently. He started to reach out to her, stopping when he heard his phone beep.

Timmy (8:50): No sign of any news or gossip outlets mentioning Musa visiting her father. I'm combing through socials right now, but so far there's nothing.

Fuck.

"Are you gonna be okay?" He asked Musa, who, besides nodding when Tecna had asked if she was still alive, hadn't moved or spoken.

"I thought he was just an enthusiastic fan" she whispered, her voice catching as she tried to keep her composure.

"Do you want..." He had no idea what to say. Does she want her stalker not to exist? Obviously. "Extra security? More cameras? Maybe we change the car? Switch up the schedule and routine? Just tell me, I'll make it happen."

"I... I don't know!" She ran her hands through her hair, ruining the messy bun she'd had sitting atop her head. "I think I just need a shower and some sleep for now. I can't deal with this too."

Tecna and Mirta headed out while Riven went back up to his room. He considered knocking on Musa's door to check in on her – poor girl had looked so spooked – but decided against it. She seemed to want to be alone and Riven wasn't going to force himself into her space more than he'd already been. When he got back to his room, Darcy was on the bed in one of his t-shirts. He'd actually forgotten she was there with all the stress and worry the letter news had brought.

"Everything okay?"

"No. I, uh, I think you should go. We-"

"Excuse me?" Darcy hissed, sitting upright on the bed. She glared at him like he'd just told her that she was the ugliest person he'd ever met. He explained the letter situation and how he preferred not to put her in any danger. He worried that, if the guy was willing to threaten Musa's father, he was probably willing to hurt other people that he thought might be part of Musa's life. Riven didn't want Darcy to be in the stalker's sights in case he was a lunatic. Darcy wasn't super happy about it, but she understood until he fucked up badly and said: "Plus, Musa's really stressed out by it, and I don't want to risk making her environment another stress factor for her."

"Wow, Riven. That's really considerate of you." Darcy's voice dripped with sarcasm and anger. He groaned softly, pushing back his hair. He was just trying to do his job and be a nice guy; he should've known Darcy would get upset. "I didn't realise you and princess had gotten so close."

"We haven't."

"Oh, really?"

"Darcy, for fuck's sake" Riven pleaded. Why did she have to make such a big deal of every girl he was even cordial with. It's not like he would every cheat on her – he wasn't a scumbag – so she had no valid reason to be so goddamn paranoid. "Look, she's not as awful as I thought she'd be bu-"

"You're fucking unbelievable" Darcy seethed. She stormed into the bathroom, grabbing her pile of work clothes off the floor on the way. Riven had no idea what she was so mad about; he was just doing his job. It just so happened that being on polite terms with Musa made his job easier, and that was easy to do since she had turned out to not be the major diva he'd expected someone of her celebrity status to be. When Darcy came out, he tried to reason with her. He followed her down to the front door, trying to explain to her that she was overreacting, but she wouldn't listen.

After she'd stormed out, telling him to call her when he grew a brain, Riven did his security check of the first floor and went back upstairs. He stopped at Musa's door, knocking on it softly. When she didn't answer, he poked his head in to make sure she was alive. Musa was fast asleep, curled up in her bed with a teddy he'd never seen before under her arms. He closed the door as quietly as possible so as not to wake her, then did his second floor check and went to bed too.