Chapter 102: 102 | The Girlfriend Selection Committee [CASTLE BONUS]

Jordan’s eyes widened. "What?"

"For the inheritance thing." Chloe’s hands twisted in her lap. "You said you needed three girlfriends, and I’m the first one. So I was wondering if you’d started looking for the second one."

Something flickered in Jordan’s expression. A combination of emotions Chloe couldn’t quite parse. His eyes slid away from hers.

"No. I haven’t started looking." The words came out measured, careful.

"You sure about that? Because Kumiko told me you had your arm around her earlier today."

"That’s not what it looks like." Jordan dragged his hand through his hair, the gesture familiar by now. "These guys were giving her problems. I stepped in to make them back off."

"By playing her boyfriend?"

"It worked. They left." There was a defensive quality creeping into his tone. "She was uncomfortable. I helped."

Chloe watched his face. The words weren’t lies, exactly. But there was something underneath them. Some truth he was skating around instead of facing head-on.

"I need complete transparency here. If you’re thinking about Kumiko, or Alexis, or literally anyone else." Her voice stayed level even as her chest felt tight. "I signed up for this arrangement. But I need information. I need advance notice."

Jordan’s jaw worked. "I wouldn’t go behind your back like that."

"That’s still not an answer."

His eyes found hers again. Those hazel irises held something intense, almost vulnerable. "I don’t want anyone else. Not right now."

"Right now." The qualifier hung in the air between them. "But later..."

"Later, yeah. Eventually I have to deal with the inheritance requirement." His hands closed around hers, warm and solid. "But I promised I’d discuss it with you first. That promise stands."

Chloe absorbed this. The whole situation was completely bizarre. What kind of grandfather wrote stipulations like these into a will? What trust fund came with a girlfriend quota?

But two million dollars meant her mother’s treatments. Meant Daniel’s college fund fully covered. Meant she could delete her OnlyFans account and never look back.

"When you do start looking for the others," Chloe said slowly, thinking through each word, "I want involvement in the selection process."

Jordan blinked at her. "You want what?"

"If I’m going to share you with other women, I should get input on who those women are. Veto power, minimum."

A strange expression crossed Jordan’s face, almost like relief mixed with surprise. "You’d do that?"

"Better than you picking them without me knowing."

Jordan pulled her close again, his arms wrapping around her. "You’re amazing, you know that?"

Chloe allowed herself to sink into his warmth. "I’m practical. There’s a difference."

"No, you’re amazing." His lips pressed against her forehead. "And I promise, no decisions without you."

They sat like that for a while, Chloe breathing in his cedar-and-clean-laundry scent. Her mind drifted to their strange situation. Other women would run screaming from a boyfriend who needed multiple girlfriends. But Chloe had spent her entire life making practical choices. Working until her fingers bled at the dry cleaners. Selling photos of herself online. Budgeting down to the penny.

What was one more practical choice?

"Can I see the rest of your apartment?" she asked, changing the subject.

Jordan seemed relieved by the shift. "Sure. Not much to see though."

He showed her the kitchen (clean but barely used), the bathroom (surprisingly well-stocked with skincare products), and finally his bedroom loft. His bed was made with dark grey sheets. A nightstand held a lamp, a half-empty water glass, and his phone charging.

"No desk?" Chloe asked, scanning the loft space.

"Downstairs. I try to keep work and sleep areas separate." Jordan gestured back toward the stairs. "Better for sleep hygiene, supposedly."

Chloe walked along the edge of his bed, running her fingers across the grey comforter. The room was sparse. Practical. Very different from her own space next door with its hidden equipment and carefully managed chaos. Her eyes swept across the nightstand, cataloging the contents with the same instinct that tracked every dollar in her budget spreadsheets.

Lamp. Water glass. Phone charger. And then—

A small gold box with an infinity symbol etched into its surface.

Her hand moved before she fully registered the action. The box was heavier than its size suggested, warm against her palm like it had been sitting in sunlight. The metal felt expensive. Real gold, maybe? The infinity symbol caught the light from the window.

"What’s this?"

"Nothing!" Jordan’s response came too fast. He moved toward her with the kind of urgency she’d seen from subscribers who accidentally left their webcam on after a session.

But Chloe had already lifted the box, turning it over in her hands. No visible seam. No clasp or hinge. Just smooth gold metal with that single symbol etched into the top. The warmth spread through her fingers. "Is this a jewelry box?"

"No!" That edge in his voice again. The same panic she’d heard when he’d almost said something about knowing her OnlyFans during their first coffee date. "It’s just... a trinket. From my grandfather."

"The inheritance grandfather?" Chloe studied the box more closely, searching for an opening. The infinity symbol seemed to pulse slightly, though that was probably just the afternoon light playing tricks.

"Yeah." Jordan reached out slowly, like he was approaching a wild animal. His hand closed over hers, gently taking the box from her grip. "Family heirloom. Nothing interesting."

He set it back on the nightstand with careful precision. The kind of careful that made Chloe’s investigative instincts flare. She’d spent months hiding her Calypso identity, cataloging which lies needed which supporting details. She recognized evasion when she saw it.

Jordan was lying.

Not about his grandfather, maybe. But definitely about the box being "nothing interesting."

Chloe considered pushing. Her fingers still tingled from the warmth of the metal. But Jordan was already moving past her toward the stairs, his body language screaming subject closed.

She filed the moment away in the same mental folder where she kept track of his other odd behaviors. The way he’d known too much about her during their coffee date. His sudden transformation from the invisible guy in Econ to someone who actually made eye contact. The mysterious way he always seemed to know exactly what would make her attraction to him tick upward.

"So." Jordan’s smile returned as he reached the top of the stairs, too bright and too quick. "Want to order dinner?"

"Sure." Chloe followed him back downstairs, glancing once more at the gold box on his nightstand. Whatever it was, Jordan didn’t want her to know about it.

And that bothered her more than she wanted to admit.

Back on the couch, Jordan pulled up the delivery app on his phone. Chloe watched his profile as he scrolled through options.

"Did you know," Jordan said without looking up, "that pad thai from this place is only sixteen dollars? And tom yum soup is nine?"

"Are you asking if I can afford it?" Chloe frowned.

"No." Jordan smiled, finally looking at her. "I’m saying it’s my turn to buy dinner, and it’s going to cost way less than a computer."

Chloe rolled her eyes but couldn’t fight her smile. "Fine. But I’m paying next time."

"Deal." Jordan’s arm wrapped around her shoulders again, pulling her close as he continued scrolling. "Want to share spring rolls?"

"Yes please."

As he placed their order, Chloe rested her head on his shoulder. The PC stuff still bothered her. The mystery box bothered her. The future girlfriends definitely bothered her.

But right now, with his arm around her and his voice in her ear asking if she wanted extra peanut sauce, Chloe decided she could let herself enjoy this moment.

The rest they’d figure out later.