Glitch (Next Level #1)(29)

“I do more than read them.” He tugs me along. “Come here.”

I follow Glitch into his bedroom and towards a closet.

Oh, here it is. The moment the bubble will pop.

If he opens that closet door and puts me in some kind of cage because he’s a serial killer, I’ll be so damn mad. Instead of chains and a dog bowl dish for his captives, I find one hell of a recording setup—complete with soundproof pads on the walls and ceiling. “Whoa. You turned your walk-in closet into a recording studio?”

Glitch shrugs. “It’s a side hustle. Trey talked me into it. Said my voice was perfect for audiobooks, and since he knows a lot of authors, he was able to help me get a foothold in the business.”

I can’t even believe this. “You narrate audiobooks.”

“Smutty ones, mostly.”

My eyebrows lift to my hairline. “I want to listen to one.”

“I was hoping you’d say that.” He pulls out his chair and taps the seat. “Put your sweet ass right here.” As I do, he grabs a set of headphones and places them on my ears. His monitor lights up and he starts clicking various files and hits play on one of clips.

His voice hits my ears with a deep, raspy, “Heyyyy, Kitty.”

My thighs clench. My pulse races.

“Why don’t you crawl over here? That’s it. Nice and slow.” I glance up at Glitch. This is what audiobooks are like? How have I never listened to one before?

“Did you miss this cock?”

I stare at his crotch and see he’s hard. Leaning against the desk, arms crossed over his chest, Glitch smiles down at me.

“Open your mouth so I can give you a gift.”

I pull the headphones off. “Someone wrote this in a book?”

Because. Take. My. Money.

“I wrote that,” he confesses.

It’s a good thing I’m sitting down because otherwise my knees might have buckled.

“I wrote that and a lot more.” He hits the computer keys again. “See?”

I glance at the screen. The folder is titled Kitty Series and there are a ton of tracks.

Glitch massages the back of his neck and looks a little uncomfortable. “You showed me your works that are still in progress. Thought I could share mine with you too.”

I hold the headphones up to my ears again, hit play on another track, and listen to his dirty words. It makes me break out in a sweat.

He shuts off the recording. “They’re about you.”

All oxygen evacuates my lungs. They’re about you.

He pulls the headphones off.

They’re about you.

“I’ve been in love with you for a long time, Ara. Even if that doesn’t seem possible or sound true, it is. I’ve fantasized about you so often, I needed to channel it somehow because I didn’t think this,” he says, waving his hand between us, “was ever going to happen.”

I can’t swallow. My throat’s too tight. “You call me Kitty.”

He calls me Kitty. Holy shit. I look at the files in the folder and try to count how many there are. He’s recorded dozens and dozens of dirty talking ear porn about me for months. I’m equally flattered, turned on, and super confused. “But you didn’t ever talk to me,” I whisper. “Even in Discord, you kept our conversations so general.”

“A mistake I’ll regret for the rest of my life.”

I believe him. I wish Glitch had acted sooner. Shit, I wish I had acted sooner. I should have thrown myself out there but didn’t. I let my insecurities get in my way and keep me from going after what I wanted most.

This man.

I wish there was a way I could plug a wire between us and download everything about him. “What’s your real name?”

“Sean.”

My favorite name. I’m so not saying that out loud, because he’d probably never believe me, but Sean is my most favorite guy name in the world. What are the odds? “How did you get the name Glitch?”

“My sister gave me that when I was a kid. Every time I got too nervous or worked up about something, my brain would short-circuit. I couldn’t speak or think straight. She’d say I was glitching, and it stuck.”

I love it. “Can I meet her someday?”

“You can meet her today, if you want.”

Are we moving too fast? Or are we not moving fast enough? I can’t figure my shit out and anxiety starts to bubble in my belly.

Glitch sees it happen and acts fast. “Hey. Whoa.”

I don’t know why I’m freaking. I don’t know why I’m tearing up.

“Ara, look at me.”

He’s blurry because I’m about to cry.

Glitch cups my face and kisses my forehead. “We’ve got all the time in the world, Kitty. We don’t have to rush anything. You can meet her some other time. We dragged our feet, but we still made it to each other. I meant what I said in your studio. You’re mine.”

Annnd now I’m really crying. This is pathetic.

“Is that bad? Did I say something wrong?” He tilts my face so I’ll look at him. “Talk to me, Ara.”

I feel horrible already for what I’m about to say. “If I hadn’t been so stupid, I would have had you longer.” And not ever had to experience the nightmare of my last boyfriend. But I can’t say that part out loud. I don’t want Glitch to know how awful Jason was. I don’t want to ruin this new, shiny relationship with the ugliness of that jerk.