Chapter 3

Not that he did much of that either these days. Which was fine. Jesse preferred to keep his inner circle tightly knit. He had a great job, plenty of hobbies, and freedom. He didn’t need to be a social butterfly.

Still, he wondered if he should ask Sleepywolf about his location. Jesse enjoyed chatting with him and wouldn’t mind meeting up for lunch. He typed out a few messages but deleted them all without sending. It felt creepy to say, hey I was zooming in on your photo and recognized the background.

Instead, he replied with a laughing emoji, then stood up and made his way back to the den. He could daydream later; it was time to get back to work. 2

Nine o’clock wasn’t most people’s idea of early morning, but Jesse considered it a victory against his circadian rhythm, which skewed toward nocturnal. He’d spent the previous night unraveling a work issue. Once solved, he had celebrated his victory with a few hours of YouTube and spiked seltzers.