“Are those the building plans we found at the senator’s house?” Layla changed the subject, slipping free of Roth and coming to the island to look at the paper.

“Yep,” Zayne answered.

As he filled them in on what we knew, which wasn’t much, I sat back and listened. Well, I pretended to listen while I snuck glances at Zayne...and Stacey.

They ended up side by side as Zayne began to show everyone the articles he’d found on Senator Fisher. She asked a lot of questions, as if discussing powerful senators who were involved with demons was a conversation she had once a week. And that wasn’t all she did.

Stacey was touchy.

Very much so.

It seemed playful. A teasing punch or a smack on the arm, as if it were something she did quite often. A hip bump broke up the punches every so often, and Zayne responded with a quick grin or a shake of his head. Even if I hadn’t known that they’d been intimate before, and even with my relationship experience being pretty much limited to the bleachers, I still would’ve picked up on it. There was a comfortableness between them, an ease that said they knew each other very well.

The bitter burn in my throat tasted a whole lot like envy, so I cracked open the ZAYNE drawer and shoved that feeling inside, then slammed the drawer shut.

It remained cracked open, just a sliver.

Resting my elbow on the island and my chin in my hand, I watched the four of them huddle around the building plans. Now I knew how Peanut felt in a room full of people with no one paying a lick of attention to him. Did he throw himself a pity party like I was? Probably.

I dragged my gaze away from the group and stared at the gray cement floor. Zayne was telling them about the demons from last night but leaving out details, maybe so that Stacey wouldn’t have questions.

My glasses slipped down my nose, and I squinted. There was a small crack in the cement, and I wondered if it had been made on purpose. Too much perfection was considered a bad thing nowadays, a flaw itself. How ironic was that?

Why in the world was I thinking about cracks in the floor? My mind was normally one continuous nonsensical thought after another, but this was ridiculous. Still, it was better than—

“Hey.” Zayne’s voice was followed by the weight of his hand on my shoulder.

I jerked my head up so fast that my glasses started to take flight. Zayne’s reflexes were on point. He caught them before they left my face, straightening them.

“You okay?” he asked, voice low.

“Yeah. Totally.” I smiled as I realized we had an audience. “Just zoned out. Did I miss something?”