"After reviewing your application online, we are impressed by your qualifications and would like to invite you to an interview scheduled to take place in one hour."
The words rolled slowly from Bryce’s lips as he read the email aloud, his gaze fixed on the screen as though it might vanish if he blinked.
He had only moments ago wished that some company would come across his profile, find his qualifications impressive enough to give him a chance, and somehow it had actually happened?
More astonishing still, it wasn’t just any company that had reached out to him, but LuminousLoom?!
A company people spoke of with admiration, where securing even an interview was an accomplishment in itself, and where countless qualified applicants saw their applications disappear without ever receiving a reply.
For several long moments, Bryce simply stood there, unable to reconcile the unbelievable timing with reality.
Was this nothing more than an extraordinary coincidence?
Or...
Had Vincent intervened?
The possibility surfaced almost instinctively before he dismissed it himself. It clashed with everything that had transpired between them.
Vincent had looked as though the reality of what had happened weighed heavily on him. Nothing about the way he had left suggested he would immediately arrange something like this.
Bryce expelled a slow breath and forced his thoughts into order.
Whatever had brought the opportunity to his doorstep didn’t mattered.
He refused to squander it.
His feet moved toward the door almost of their own accord before another realization struck him with enough force to bring him to an abrupt halt.
His documents.
Every original certificate, identification document, and qualification he possessed had disappeared together with everything Dave had taken from the apartment.
If LuminousLoom had shortlisted him after examining his online submission, they would almost certainly expect him to present the originals.
He no longer had them.
Bryce remained motionless, conflict tightening every muscle in his body.
One option required walking straight back into Dave’s trap, pretending to reconsider the relationship simply to recover the documents.
The other meant appearing before one of the country’s most influential companies empty handed and risking the opportunity slipping away before it had even begun.
Neither choice favored him.
Worse still, he couldn’t shake the suspicion that the moment Dave realized he had only returned for the documents before leaving again, he might refuse to let him walk out, convinced Bryce had recovered the only things that truly mattered and had no intention of ever coming back.
If that happened, he would never make it to LuminousLoom in time for the interview, if he made it there at all, especially now that he had seen the side of Dave he never imagined existed and realized just how deeply unhinged he truly was.
"Fuck it," Bryce muttered through clenched teeth as resolve hardened within him.
The interview mattered.
Everything else could be dealt with afterward.
He resumed his descent before another thought halted him once again.
His appearance.
An oversized hoodie still hung loosely over him, concealing the fitted sleeveless shirt beneath it, and the same pair of blue jeans.
He had spent the night having sex and hadn’t even taken a shower afterward. He almost certainly still carried the scent of it.
Or rather...
Vincent’s scent.
He immediately turned on his heel, hurried back upstairs, unlocked the apartment, and disappeared into the bathroom.
The bathroom mirror left Bryce with no chance of avoiding his own reflection after undressing, no matter how hurried he was.
The moment his eyes settled on himself, they widened.
Dark hickeys were scattered across his pale, porcelain skin, standing out so vividly that they were impossible to miss.
"Was that man trying to devour me or something?" he muttered under his breath.
Nothing about Vincent Walker had suggested he was attracted to men. If anything, he had seemed like the last person Bryce would ever expect to end up in bed with. So how had any of this happened? Why had it happened?
Or...
Had Bryce somehow mistaken someone else for him?
The thought dissolved almost as quickly as it appeared.
His gaze continued travelling over his body until it reached the place where Vincent had bitten him.
Bryce’s breath caught.
The bite mark had vanished.
In its place was something that looked disturbingly like a tattoo, a simple crimson and black emblem etched into his skin.
It wasn’t complete. Even without knowing what it represented, he could tell part of it was missing, as though it had been severed in half and was waiting for its other piece.
"Am I living in some kind of magical world now? What the hell is this?" he murmured, bewilderment tightening every word.
There was no answer.
Unable to resist, Bryce reached up and brushed his fingertips over the strange mark.
The instant he touched it, his entire body went still. Vincent’s presence washed over him with startling clarity.
It wasn’t a memory.
It felt real.
He could sense the steady rhythm of Vincent’s heartbeat, hear it quicken, and feel an unmistakable current of agitation flowing through him, as though Vincent himself was somewhere nearby, troubled by something Bryce couldn’t see.
Bryce jerked his hand away.
His pulse hammered against his ribs as he stared at the mark in stunned silence before reaching out once more, convinced his mind had fabricated the sensation.
The moment his fingers touched it again, the feeling returned exactly as before.
Vincent.
His heartbeat.
His growing restlessness.
Bryce withdrew his hand as though the mark had burned him.
"Oh, God..." he whispered, his voice barely audible. "I’m losing my mind. Something is seriously wrong... I have to find out what’s happening."
Dragging his eyes away from the mirror, he stepped beneath the shower and finished washing in barely two minutes.
He dried himself in haste, pulled the same clothes back on, and hurried out of the bathroom, making his way downstairs once again. He ran a hand through his damp blond hair.
It wasn’t ideal.
But at least he didn’t smell like sex.
Outside, he raised his hand and flagged down a cab. The vehicle pulled over almost immediately, and he climbed into the back seat.