Page 25 of Orlando
This situation really was fucking complicated, wasn’t it?
* * * *
LIAM WAS RELIEVED THAThe finally had the answers to some of the questions that had been plaguing him.He didn’t know everything, and he doubted Orlando would tell him every detail he wanted to know, but this was a good start.
He still wasn’t quite sure what to think of Orlando.He couldn’t understand how someone could train to kill people for a living.Orlando had refused the job when it had been offered to him, and Liam understood that he’d been trying to prove something to himself, but still.He’d gone into it knowing what he was expected to do.
But he had said no.Thatwas what Liam needed to focus on.Yes, Orlando was trained to kill people, but as far as Liam knew, he’d never killed anyone.He could ask to be sure, but he was afraid of the answer, and he wasn’t ready for it.Hopefully, this mess would be over soon, and then he could ask Orlando for more details.
He grabbed the pot from the sink and moved toward the stove.Orlando followed, clearly curious about how Liam was going to cook the cauliflower.
“I grow them at the community garden,” Liam explained as he turned the heat on.“That’s how I know how to cook them.”
“The community garden is important to you, isn’t it?”
“It’s the thing that I’m going to miss the most.”Since Liam was in hiding, he couldn’t go back to the garden.It would be stupid, considering that was where Cynthia had found him the first time around.Liam wasn’t eager for a repeat ofthat, so even though he wasn’t happy about not going to the garden, he knew he didn’t have a choice.He liked his heart still beating, thank you very much.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever eaten cauliflower,” Orlando confessed.
Liam frowned at him.“It’s a common vegetable.”
“It scares me a little.It’s so big and white.”
“It’s avegetable.It won’t hurt you if you try to cut it into pieces.”
“I wouldn’t be too sure about that,” Orlando grumbled.
Liam had no idea what to make of his mate.Orlando was supposed to be intimidating and mysterious.He was a professional killer, after all.Instead, he was sweet and kind of goofy.He was fiercely protective, but it didn’t take away from the lightness in him.It was a lightness Liam sorely needed, and he was glad to have it.
Eventually, Orlando moved away from the stove and got distracted by his phone.Liam decided he needed to warn his mother that he wouldn’t be staying in his apartment for a bit in case she decided to come around.Besides, he had something massive to tell her.
He wasn’t supposed to tell anyone about the assassins, but he trusted his mother.She wouldn’t tell anyone if Liam asked her not to.She’d be worried sick, but hopefully, the fact that Liam’s mate was involved would help.
It hadn’t helped Liam, but there was still time.
“Shouldn’t you be at work?”his mother answered when he called.
“Well, hello to you too, Mom.Yes, I’m fine.There’s a reason I’m not at work, and I’m about to tell you, but I kind of wish you’d said hello first.”
“Hello,” his mother said dryly.
Liam snickered.Even when he was terrified and in hiding, his mother always managed to make him smile.“Seriously, though, thereisa good reason for me to be home.Well, I’m not home.I’m staying with a friend.”
“A friend, or afriend?”
Liam sucked in a breath.“With my mate.I’m staying with my mate.”
The silence on the other side of the phone was absolute.Liam lowered the phone to check that he was still connected, and he was.He’d managed to shock his mother into silence, a feat he hadn’t realized was possible.
“Liam Portman,” his mother started.
Liam almost winced at the name.Even though it was his name, it was tainted by everything that was happening.When he thought about it, he couldn’t help but wonder what the other Liam Portman had done that had earned him a target on his back.The council wanted him dead, and from what Orlando had said, they usually had very good reasons to want people dead.Was he a murderer?Maybe something worse?
“You’ve met your mate, and you didn’t call me right away?”
“I was a bit busy almost getting killed,” Liam murmured.He was sure that Orlando could hear him and would listen to the conversation.He’d stop Liam if he didn’t want him to talk about all of it.He probably knew Liam was on the phone with his mother, anyway.
“That’s not funny.”
