Oh God, this was so transparent. They were sure to figure out what I was up to. I usually had my shit together better with storytelling—that’s what DE was all about, after all. But since I was winging it and also desperate, my performance was less than stellar.

Heath was glaring at me, but I ignored him.

Alex cocked her head at me. “So are you wanting us to go and find a reason to keep Emma here?” she asked.

Jenna looked at her. “When did you join the conversation? I thought I was the one talking to her.”

Alex scrunched her brow. “I can talk to her, too. We’re going to end up forming a search party to gather all the friends, anyway, so might as well get it out of the way.”

“I gotta go,” Heath said grabbing his dice bag and standing up.

“You just got here,” said Jenna.

“I suddenly remembered I have to do something.”

“Bullshit,” said Alex. “You’ve been grumpy since you got here.”

Heath shot another look at me. “Yeah, well, if I don’t take off, I’m going to get grumpier.”

“What the—why?” Alex asked.

“Let’s see…the woman is looking for her daughter Emma, who wants to leave her friends and her ‘beau’ and go away to a far distant land to study. What’s the old woman’s name, by the way?” Heath turned back to me.

We held each other’s stare for a long, tense moment. I shrugged. “Are you asking her that?”

“I’m going to guess it’s Kimma or Kendra or something like that. And her beau’s name is Adrian or Adolfo or something like that.”

Alex snorted. “And her best friend is Howard or Heathen or something like that.”

I looked down, put my hands on my hips. Okay, so it had been even lamer and more transparent than I had originally thought. And Heath must have thought I was a major dick for pulling this stunt. But maybe we would get somewhere, now, draw together and approach Emilia as a group of friends.

I met Heath’s blazing green gaze again and shook my head. “Yeah, Howard is going to be the key player, here. He’ll probably be the last one to join the quest with all Emma’s other friends.”

Heath shook his head, his jaw tensing.

Liam turned to me. “So what’s happening? What’s the old woman saying? Why aren’t we playing the game?”

Alex spun on Heath. “Why are you so hip on her leaving everything behind to go so far away, anyway?” I didn’t smile, though I felt like it. Alex was acting just as I’d hoped.

Heath jerked his head in her direction. “Because I care about what she wants.”

Jenna’s brows shot up. “But we’re her support system. Who does she have in Maryland? No one. She’d be all alone there.”

Heath clenched his teeth and shot me a look of pure venom, then raised his chin. “She doesn’t have to be all alone there.” Then he shook his head. “I’m not doing this. Not today.”

“We should stage an intervention,” Alex said

Heath looked at her like she was an alien. “You should stay the hell out of it.”

Jenna was looking down, arranging all her dice into neat rows on the table in front of her. “You’re not the only one here who loves her, Heath. We feel this way because we care.”

Liam looked up, puzzled. “Are we still talking about Emma?”

Heath clenched his jaw. “We were never talking about Emma, William.” He turned back to me. “I’m out of here.”

I followed him to the door and into the hallway outside the apartment. He turned before leaving, looking almost like he would take a swing at me.

“Dickish thing to do, man. I don’t appreciate it.”

I angled my head at him, taking in his tense body language, his closed fists. “Do you blame me?”

“You’re the one who promised to back off and trust her. Now you pull this shit? Uh-uh. You’re so clueless.”

I shifted my stance. “I’m just trying to make a point. It’s not just about her. Or even just about me.”

“It’s not the message you convey, but the way you do it. This whole night was a pretense. It’s you playing your games again. And keeping your coy secrets. You’re all about your hidden plots and secrets, aren’t you? I seriously think you get off on that shit.”

I clenched my jaw and bit back the harsh reply on my lips. I wasn’t stupid enough to want to escalate this. That wouldn’t accomplish anything. And Heath could still be useful to me as an insight to the other side. So I said nothing and let him continue ranting.