Page 59 of Run From Me

His hands were on my waist so damn fast I was pretty sure I had whiplash for real.

“You are to stay here. Something doesn’t feel right. So stay here.”

All I could do was roll my eyes as I put my hands on his. My fingers strained trying to get him to release me, and I resorted to digging my nails into his vice like grip.

“Look, if you’re going to be in danger, wouldn’t it be good if I was there to be a lookout or something? I have skills. Mostly with dead people?—”

He cut me off with a kiss, but it wasn’t the same as before. It wasn’t all masculine testosterone. There was something strange about the way his lips lingered on mine, not demanding but just feeling.

I didn’t want to like this. I didn’t want to like the way it felt to just be. Just be comfortable. Safe. He pulled away and moments ticked by as he just watched me and I couldn’t turn away.

“I need to go. Promise you’ll stay. Nothing has happened yet about Ripple, and I’m certain word got out that I fucked him up a little even before he disappeared. Things have just been too quiet in our world.”

I just nodded like a bobble head. Because something about what he said found chips in the walls I kept up around me. Theones that kept me from letting anything in. The ones that kept me in a place where I had nothing to lose.

“Fine, but I have to work tomorrow. Text after?”

Why was I listening to him?

I was still sitting up on my knees when I realized he was dressed and already heading for the door.

“Oh, hey. I made this for you. Or, well, I had Cas help me,” he called back from the other room.

I didn’t bother covering up, but I met him where he stood with a backpack in one hand and something metal in the other.

“It’s, uh, for you. That’s the knife from Ripple. The one he stabbed me with. The other stuff, the barbed wire, is from our territory as we try and clean up what we can.”

I’d seen some metal art at the reception, and Rylee had shown me some of the images of what she’d photographed, but this?

I blinked and blinked, trying to stop myself from feeling.

“This is for me?”

He nodded.

I reached for it and wrapped my hands around the base as I studied the details.

“The knife, it’s the stem of the flower? Cas needs a lot more credit for the shit he does.”

I looked up at Xander and caught a look I’d never seen before, and that was more terrifying than the black nothing.

“I designed it. He just helped me get it to reality.”

The metals weren’t just all silver. The barbed wire had to be painted to look the way it did.

“Did you…” I didn’t finish my sentence once I noticed the door closing.

He didn’t even say goodbye.

But he’d made me something.

I was so confused.

Something fuzzy ran against my leg and I jumped.

“Oh, shit. Sorry, O. I forgot you were here. Want some kitty food?”

He followed me to the little kitchen where the bag still sat.

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