Page 3 of Cherish

He rolls his eyes but doesn’t argue, and we head back onto the busy sidewalk. We’ve only gone a block or two before Hudson suddenly steps in front of me, his shoulders tensing.

“What’s wrong?” I ask, trying to see around him as my heart kicks up in my chest.

But he’s too busy scanning the surrounding area to answer.

“Hudson?” I query when several seconds go by and he doesn’t relax his vigilance or his stance.

“Sorry,” he finally tells me, stepping back. “I thought I saw something.”

“What?” I look up and down the street as I take a few calming breaths. There are several college students in school sweatshirts outside an ice cream shop, men and women in business attire bustling to and from work, and a mom pushing her baby in a stroller, but that’s about it. At least as far as I can see.

“I don’t know. I just…” He shakes his head as he takes my hand again. “It was nothing.”

“I guess so,” I agree as we resume walking, but I can’t help glancing behind us, just in case.

As we turn and cross the street, Hudson asks, “We’re not really going to let Heather come with us, are we? She’s human.”

“Hey!” I make a face. “Don’t say it like it’s such a bad thing. I was human for a lot of years.”

“You know what I mean. I’m worried about something happening to her.”

“Me too,” I answer. “Which is why we’ll let her come along for now. But the second we figure out how to get to the Shadow Realm, I’m buying her a plane ticket back here.”

“Oh, she’ll love that.”

“I’ll make it first-class,” I say, sticking my tongue out at him. “And shewilllove it—certainly more than dying at the hands of the Shadow Queen or who knows what.”

“Good point,” he admits as we turn the corner to the diner, the shiny front door no more than ten feet away now. “Besides, you’ve already got one needy person to take care of. You can’t be dividing your attention too much.”

“Oh yeah?” I ask, brows raised. “Are you feeling needy?”

“Please.” He gives a proper British sniff as he holds the door open for me. “I was referring to Flint.”

I crack up, because he’s not wrong. But we’ve got this. As long as Hudson and I are together, everything is going to be okay.

I smile at him as I walk through the door and into the diner…and then straight into a very upset Jaxon and Flint.

2

Heart’s in the

Wrong Place

The second I realize who I just ran into, I throw myself at both of them. They catch me—of course they do—and one of my arms goes around each of their necks as I hug them as tightly as I can.

It’s been more than a month since we’ve been together in person. Now that Hudson and I live in San Diego and they live in Manhattan, we don’t see each other nearly as often as I’d like. And FaceTime may be the next best thing, but it just isn’t the same.

Flint laughs as he brushes a few of my wayward curls out of his face. Then he tugs me away from Jaxon and twirls me around a couple of times. “Looking good, New Girl.”

I fake-grimace at the old nickname, even as it makes me smile. Flint and his teasing never change—something I’m grateful for in a world that so regularly tilts beneath my feet.

“Wish I could say the same about you,Dragon Boy,” I shoot back. “That’s one hell of a shiner you’ve got there.”

But he just snickers. “You should see the other guy.”

As Flint and I continue to joke around, Jaxon clears his throat in a pay-attention-to-me kind of way. It’s Flint’s turn to grimace at me, even as we both pivot toward my ex-mate.

“You look good, Jaxon,” I tell him in a there-there voice.

---