Page 109 of Need Him Like Oxygen

“Renzo?” I asked, brows scrunched.

“I don’t think so,” he said, carefully moving out, still paranoid, but his body relaxed as he reached back for my hand, pulling me into the hallway.

To see Joel talking to Lip.

“What’s this?” I asked, looking between the two of them.

“He has your phone,” Joel said, tone accusatory.

“I know,” I said, walking forward toward Lip, and taking it from his hands.

“You… oh,” Joel said, the wind leaving his sail.

“How’d you know?” Dav asked Joel.

“He called it earlier,” Lip explained. “I picked up. He told me where to bring it, so…”

“I appreciate it. It would have been a pain in the ass to get another new one,” I told him. “We were just going to order some food,” I told him. “Want to stay?”

“I…” Lip said, looking down at himself.

“We just cleaned up if you want to too,” I invited, waving toward the bathroom.

Joel looked at Lip, then me, then back again, sussing out the situation quickly. “I’ll loan you some clothes,” he said.

“I can’t—“

“Sure you can,” Dav interrupted him. “Trust me, you’re not gonna win against this one,” he said, wrapping an arm around my waist, and hauling me closer. “Better to save yourself the grief and just do what she wants.”

Lip’s cheeks went red, embarrassed for things that were out of his control, but nodded. “Okay. Thanks,” he said, walking toward the door Dav gestured to, and slipping inside.

It would probably be his first real shower in weeks. Months, even. I hope we left him enough hot water to really enjoy it.

“I’ll be back,” Joel said, looking a little fragile as he headed toward the hall to go back into his parents’ apartment for said clothes.

“You know,” Dav said when we were alone, heading toward the coffee pot, “I think you have two kids now,” he declared, making me shudder at the implication.

Yet, somehow, I found myself more intrigued than terrified by the prospect.

“It’s cool,” he said, shooting me that playboy grin of his. “I think I might have a thing for hot moms.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

EPILOGUE

Dav - 1 Day

I woke up early, wincing at the light streaming through Cinna’s windows thanks to some awfully placed cracks in her plastic blinds.

I stifled a grumble as I climbed out of bed, cursing her lumpy mattress as I ached in places I didn’t know could be sore.

Then again, some of that might have been from the whole going batshit crazy and bashing two guys’ skulls in thing.

The memories came back, and I tamped them down, not wanting those thoughts on my mind first thing in the morning.

It wasn’t that I regretted them. I didn’t. I would do it all again and more to save Cinna. I just didn’t want to focus on the dark shit when there was so much bright now.

Because while we hadn’t exactly made heartfelt declarations, Cinna and I had come to an agreement. We were doing this. To hell with the consequences.

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