Page 82 of Run From Me

“Oh goody. They’re home. Come on. Zeid will get you set up with access soon, I swear. But for the moment, well, don’t get locked out.”

I didn’t have a clue why I would get set up for anything here, but I followed, because the way my stomach seemed to flip and I got all nervous?

I had wanted Xander. I wanted him for that solid body that made me feel safe and protected. I liked looking at it. But something I hadn’t actually taken into account? I actually really liked his grumpy sarcastic ass around. I’d liked him hanging around the morgue. It felt safe, but more than that, he made me laugh.

Fuck.

Fuck.

Fuck.

He made the loneliness disappear.

TWENTY-FIVE

xander

“Fucking hell. This cat.”

I tore off the backpack and damn near ran into Rylee and Cali coming out of the apartments.

“Fuck. Sorry, ladies. Hold on. I unlocked the bag and slid it past them and closed the door with us in the garage and him howling and hissing on the other side.

“I think we give him a minute to chill out. I have someone bringing me some of the cat shit in a few, because that didn’t go as planned. So maybe we all just go hang in the shop for a bit.”

Cali looked up at me and damn if something in me didn’t break.

“Why are you crying?”

I pulled her to me and started to inspect every inch of my little demon. My hands slid over the shirt she’d grabbed from my closet. No winces, no recoiling.

“I’m fine, Xander. I… It’s nothing.” She wiped at her tears and gave a little sniffle, and like that, she was done. “Thank you for getting him. I’d hate for him to be homeless after only, like, twelve hours.”

I glanced at Zeid and Cas, but they looked at me just as confused.

“Right. Of course. You care about him, and I’m sure I will too, after I get past the trauma of catching his sneaky ass. Something tells me he was homeless by choice,” I said as I reached for Cali, pulling her into me. It had been too many hours without her. Too many hours since I’d seen her. Fuck. I sniffed her hair like some nut job. Yeah. I went there, and I wasn’t even sorry.

“You promise you’re alright?” I asked her as she stood there in my arms.

After a few too many heartbeats, she finally wrapped her arms around me and all was right in the world.

“Oh, hey. Zeid. Can you take this?”

Zeid took the knife I offered him.

“I’ll burn the holster later. Cas, I have some ideas for that knife. When is the next show anyway?”

Cali still held onto me, and I wasn’t moving.

“One week from today. I think we’ll have enough pieces with the haul from tonight.”

Cali lifted her head, but I wasn’t letting her go.

“What haul?”

Cas wandered over with Rylee under his arm.

“The guns from the fight. There were enough shots fired, better safe than sorry. Then there is Casanova here. Defending your honor.”

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