Page 56 of Extraction Play

“I’m so sorry for wasting your night.”

Eva stopped midstride. “I’m the one who chooses what to do with my time, and I chose to join you. And who says the night’s wasted?”

Pixie swallowed hard, and when their eyes met, the vulnerability in those soft blues disarmed her.

“I’m not used to this,” she admitted, their steps slowing on the way to the car. “My mother having someone besides me to help her out. Someone by my side.”

“You’re aware I’m not the only one who would though,” Eva said. “Micah would’ve come in a heartbeat, same as anyone at Whipped.”

“I know.” Pixie’s eyes locked with hers, and they stopped still, right in the middle of the walkway. “But you were the first I let in.”

Eva’s chest tightened with the honor. Fuck, she was falling so hard for this woman it was ridiculous. The physical had always tangled with the emotional when it came to Pixie because something about her coaxed Eva out from behind her barriers.

“Thank you” was all she said.

“Let’s get on the road,” Pixie said. “I’ve got a few ideas where we could go if you’re up to it.”

“Absolutely,” Eva said as they reached the car. “I wasn’t lying when I said the night’s young. It’s barely dinnertime, and Parker and Micah are going to be busy back at the condo.”

Pixie snorted. “Probably best we spend some time out, then.”

“Sorry you’re burdened with my company a little while longer.” The sarcasm dripped from her lips, but it opened up those razor-sharp slices that had been carved into her over the years.

Pixie let go of her hand and faced her. “You are never a burden. I’m honored you chose to spend your time with me.”

“Likewise.” Eva blinked to hide her burning eyes. The way Pixie chose her, how she made her feel wanted when so few did—the woman had no damn idea what a miracle she truly was.

They both settled into the car. Pixie turned on the ignition and stepped on the gas.

“So, do you think she’s really okay?” Eva asked. Her gut was saying no, even though she didn’t have the history or knowledge to back it up.

“I don’t believe she’s lying about taking her meds, but changing her locks is a sign of the paranoia setting in. She’d calmed down by the time we got there, but I don’t know. I’ll have to check in a little more frequently.”

“Fuck, that’s a lot of weight on your shoulders.” Eva rested her palm on Pixie’s thigh. “What can I do for you?”

“Just be you. That’s enough.”

Eva tipped her head back and looked up at the ceiling. Her eyes burned, and she didn’t want Pixie to see how hard those words slammed into her chest. Years and years of hearing how wrong she was, of how no one would accept her as he was, and Pixie just…did. And that was a miracle in and of itself.

“You might be the only person who thinks so,” she murmured, her voice thick.

“That’s not true in the slightest.” Pixie’s tone was fierce enough to fight some of the demons in her head. Most of them still sounded like her mother. “Eva Abrams, you’re one of the best people I’ve ever met. Anyone who made you feel otherwise was dead wrong.”

Before she’d arrived in San Francisco, her foundation had been ruined, obliterated. But those words, Pixie’s attention, the way the crew here had welcomed her in so easily—they were the building blocks she needed to start rebuilding.

The car zipped onto the highway, the lights flying by as she soared.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Pixie drove toward a familiar spot unbidden.

She’d come here so many times when she’d needed to be alone with the sea, to escape the world around her.

Today, she was coming to be alone again—but with Eva.

Sutro Heights was a dreamy combination of flowers and the sea, two motifs that appeared in her art over and over again, so it came as no surprise she was drawn to this place. Tonight, she wanted to be by the Sutro Baths, a relic of a past time, and there was no one else she’d rather take with her.

She pulled into the Lands End parking lot, though they were going downward, not up. “Have youbeen here yet?”

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