Page 37 of Red Obsession

She peeks up at me for a moment, before shaking her head. “No, I think he’s just nervous. If he was scared, he wouldn’t be filling the cart with random things.”

I nod my head. I don’t know why it gives me relief that he’s not scared of me, but it does.If he can trust me then she can, and then she won’t leave.

“Thank you for this by the way,” she mumbles, shifting on her feet.

“You don’t need to thank me.”

“I do. And before you say something, don’t. I don’t know why you came to that house. Maybe you were working with him, but you helped me and have been helping. I can’t tell you how much that means to me, but it’s the world. You not only saved me, but you also saved him,” she says, nodding her head towards Gabriel, who currently has his arms full of books.

“The blonde, her name is Aziza.” It should feel weird telling her something personal to me, but it feels nice. Like I can be Zion instead of The Butcher or Z. “She was, uh, one of my childhood friends, and her boyfriend, probably husband by now, knowing Killian. I grew up with them.”

“She seems young though.”

“Not that much younger. Killian, the other, saw her getting bullied when she was around six years old, and we became friends.”

“You became friends with a six-year-old when you were uh, uh. I’m not good at math.” She raised an eyebrow at me. Thinking about it now does sound weird, but then it didn’t.

“I was ten, Killian was nine. But yeah, I know how it sounds. She was more like a sister honestly, annoying, but funny. Killian was the grumpy one–”

“Grumpier than you?” That seems unlikely.” She laughs, and I find myself getting lost in her eyes. The brightness shines through, the way she’s slowly finding herself again.

“Even more than me. She nicknamed him popsicle, which is another long story. But she’s the only one who’s been able to save him from himself. Which that’s–”

“Another long story, I get it. I’m glad she made it, Zion.” There’s something bothering her, and before I can ask what’s troubling her Gabriel appears next to us.

“Okay, I need help.”

“What do you need help with, kiddo.” Izel laughs ruffling his hair.

“First off, I’m not a kid. Second, you’re messing the hair up.” Rolling his eyes, he places the books down on the shelves next to us. “What books am I getting?”

Izel pears over, looking over the books he has placed down. “Gabriel Hollow! Are thesesexualbooks?” she hisses, her voice dropping so low I can barely hear her.

“It’s not like you don’t know what sex is.” Gabriel rolls his eyes once more. “Come on help me, I can’t pick just one.”

“How about none, you don’t need to be reading about this.” Waving her hand towards the books, her face turns red as she is unable to look at me.Hmm interesting.

“Are we really going to talk about this in the middle of the store and in front of him?” He frowns, and for the first time he looks unsure.

“Get them all.”

Both Izel and Gabriel's heads whip towards me, while he looks surprised but gleeful. Izel does not, looking like she is moments away from removing certain body parts.Again.

“Really?” Gabriel jumps on his toes, trying his best to hold on to his excitement and that means more to me than anyone could know. I’ll buy the man a library if he wants.

“Of course, as long as it’s fine with your sister.” Because I do not need her removing parts of my body or trying to strangle me in my sleep.

“Little, big sister…” Gabriel smiles sweetly at her, and I can’t help the chuckle. Which only earns me a glare from Izel, and her arms crossed over her chest.

“As long as Zion doesn’t care, since he’s the one paying and it's his house,” she mutters, waving a hand towards us and walking away.

“Where are you going?” Gabriel calls out.

“I need razors!” she yells back, marching away from us.

Gabriel laughs, placing the last of the books into the cart. “Come on, knowing my sister she’s probably worried about me.”

Not giving me a chance to say anything, Gabriel walks off. I follow behind with a cart that’s filled to near the top of random shit. Sure enough, I find Izel looking over different types of razors.

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