Page 127 of Haze

“I need...” Her voice trails off again.

“This isn’t a one-and-done conversation, faolan,” I explain. Lena’s eyes fall back to meet mine. “I’m willing to negotiate with you anytime we’re levelheaded like this. No anger and snap decisions. If we can stop and talk calmly, we can negotiate.”

Lena seems suspicious in the way her body shifts and tightens. After a few tense seconds, Lena nods. “Okay.”

I fill the space between us and wrap my arms around her. Lena nuzzles in against my chest, resting her arms around my waist.

“I suppose, let’s get these done,” Lena says after a few more moments of our embrace.

Slowly, and begrudgingly so, I unwrap myself from around her. However, the little minx moves when I try to kiss her forehead, and I end up planting a kiss on her lips, which she intensifies. Her tongue slides into my mouth, and her hand slides behind my head, looping into my hair.

“Thank you,” Lena whispers after she breaks our kiss.

“Anytime?” I question.

She steps away from me back to the workbench. “I don’t know if I can do this. But I appreciate the effort that you’re putting in.”

Part of her sentence doesn’t come out. The words fall off, but it’s like she’s not trying to be suspicious about it. I don’t push for what she may mean. I let her have that bit. At least for now, she seems content to let me show her love.

* * *

Lena has a whole event planned out, and it takes a couple hours before the basement is finished to her liking. I don’t mind the work. It’s purposeful and something I’ve been missing since leaving home. Being dedicated to Lena is no hardship, but having something to do, together, is nice.

On the way up the stairs, Lena walks ahead of me, putting her ass in my face. I take the opportunity to bite the back of her leggings, and she squeaks.

At the top of the landing, the fun giggling of our flirting comes to an end.

A group of women is hanging about in the living room. They start almost leering at us, and Lena whispers to me, “Let’s go.”

“Go?” I question, not wanting to let them intimidate her.

“Lena.” The way one of them says Lena’s name makes me uncomfortable. “Hey, have you seen Deacon? Or maybe Finn wants to hang out? I mean, you too.”

“Oh.” I whistle low and come up with the first, albeit pitiful, excuse I can think of to get us out of the invitation. “Unfortunately, Lena’s left her SUV in town and asked me to take her to pick it up. Apparently, she doesn’t think I can drive on the correct side of the road unassisted.”

Lena shrugs, playing along. “It’s true. Can’t trust him to not get lost.”

“Oh.” One of the women bats her eyelashes at me. “Well, that’s too bad.”

Chapter 42

Finn

Before fulfilling Lena’s request to get out of the house, I set out to find Cade. He’s in his office with the door open. Deacon stands against the sliding glass door, looking across the deck at the tree line. When I knock, Deacon doesn’t even cast a glance over his shoulder, but Cade pulls his eyes off the computer screen.

“Finn, good to see you.” Cade doesn’t stand but closes the lid of his computer and motions to the large chair across from his desk.

Deacon says nothing.

I’m getting the cold shoulder? For what?

“We’re heading out, Lena’s feeling a little drained.” I advocate for her with words I hope she’d approve of.

“Then that means you’re here for keys.” Cade opens his desk drawer and pulls out a set of keys. Setting them on his desk, he takes a moment, drumming his fingers. He sighs. “She’s going to be really pissed at me for doing this.”

Cade pulls up his cell phone and, after a few taps on the screen, sets it down. “Scan this with yours. It’s the security software that I had Adam set up.”

“What would I need this for?” I ask, in no hurry to pull my phone out of my pocket.

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