Page 107 of Need Him Like Oxygen

“Damn,” Saff said, coming over to me to scrub at me with baby wipes. “I always knew you had great tits,” she said, shooting me a smirk. “But, damn. Congrats,” she added with a smile over her shoulder at Dav whose face was being wiped down by Elian.

Once we were reasonably clean, we slipped on simple black sleep pants.

Saff’s lips were twitching as Dav pulled his shirt down.

Please remember to spay and neuter me it said below an image of assorted dogs.

“Really, Saff?” he asked, shaking his head at her.

“It seemed appropriate, you hound,” she said with a smile as I pulled on my plain white tee.

“Alright,” Rico said, gathering our clothes and baby wipes, and shoving them into a black bag. “I need you two to go home and scrub. You know the deal,” he said.

“We can help,” I insisted.

“I can help,” Dav corrected.

“I’m fine.”

“You’re beaten to shit again.”

“Again?” Renzo growled, shooting a dark look at both of us.

“It’s not that bad,” I told Dav. I could deal with Renzo’s anger later.

“Both of you,” Renzo snapped. “I want you out of here. I’ll deal with you later. Do what you’re fucking told for once.”

Not wanting to make shit worse, we both silently moved out of the basement, carefully sidestepping the bodies and blood, trying not to touch anything on our way out.

If anyone heard the shooting or saw the comings and goings of strangers, they showed no signs as we walked down a few blocks before hailing a cab.

We sat silently in the back, each lost in our own thoughts as we made our way back to my apartment.

“Wait,” I said as we got onto the street, watching the cab pull away.

“What?”

“Lip.”

“He’s fine. Tried to call the cops for you, but they thought he was nuts.”

“I need to—“

“We can talk to Lip later,” Dav said, turning me, and leading me into my building. “I think we need to do what Renzo wants from us right now,” he said.

“We’re in a world of shit, aren’t we?” I asked as we slipped into the elevator.

“Probably. But there’s nothing we can do about that,” he said, wrapping an arm around my waist, and pulling me against his chest, his lips pressing into my hair. “I’m fucking sorry, Cin.”

“You have nothing to be sorry for,” I said. “I was the one to go off on my own.”

“No, I’m sorry you had to see that,” he said, squeezing me a little tighter.

“I’m not,” I told him. “I’m not saying I want to see those particular things again,” I admitted. “But I understand why you did it. I probably would have been just as unhinged.”

“Yeah?” he asked, hands sliding up and down my spine.

“Yes.”

---