Page 36 of City of Salvation

He scoffed, dropping my box on the sofa so he could put his hands on his hips. “What freaky sex stories have you heard?”

“Oh, I don’t know,” I said, moving down the singular hallway that I assumed led to the bedrooms and bathrooms. “The one that, like, cosplayed as an Australian bird or some shit?”

The bark of laughter from behind me was contagious, and I fought cracking up with him.

“She wasn’t pretending to be a bird. She told me to attack her pussy like a magpie.”

“What the fuck does that even mean?” I called back, coming to the first of three doors.

“Didn’t ask. Didn’t care.”

I shook my head at his logic, but I couldn’t say shit because, honestly, I took the same approach when fucking someone. We weren’t together to get to know each other.

Eat me out and fuck me good—that’s all I cared about.

Dex’s voice bounced off the walls of the sparse apartment. “Also, you’re one to talk. Didn’t you fuck a guy because you needed a bank account?” I winced at the accusation. He had no clue how close he was to the truth. I hadn’t done thatyet,but only because I wasn’t interested in storing my money in any of the traditional places.

I walked through the first door. “Not a banker. He was some finance asshole, and I needed help with my stocks.” Another round of Dex’s laughter sounded from the living room.

“What’s his name? I may need his help,” Dex teased.

I flicked on the light switch, taking in the bathroom. It looked like it had been renovated at some point. The vanity was on the smaller side, but that didn’t matter. What I cared about was the giant glass shower that looked to have two showerheads and body spray.

“He was shit in bed,” I called out loud enough to be heard over the opening and closing of kitchen cabinets. “Plus, Ryan ran him off with a gun while looking like an extra from a horror movie.”

“He couldn’t find your clit?”

The corners of my lips pulled up in a smirk. This conversation was a mirror image to the one I’d had with Ryan the night said encounter happened.

“Not even if I shoved his face where I wanted him,” I said, moving on from the bathroom to find the bedrooms,hoping to snag the better one before Dex finished whatever the fuck he was doing. We’d been pretending that everything was normal since the meeting. Neither of us mentioned the elephant in the room. The most either of us had spoken about it was when I asked why we weren’t staying at the clubhouse. Dex had grumbled about not wanting to fight off a pack of rabid animals every time I wanted into a room. My apartment was out, too. We’d gone with the assumption that the Reapers knew where I lived, and if they didn’t, they’d be working on it.

So here we were, in some random safe house that Los Muertos owned.

I knew the questions were coming though. Dex would eventually tire of waiting on me to tell him why the Russians wanted me and demand answers. I just wasn’t sure I’d still be around to answer him.

The first room was pretty basic: a single window that looked out over the parking lot, its faded curtains drawn back to allow the natural light to filter in. A queen bed with neatly- tucked sheets took up the center, flanked by cheap nightstands sporting aged table lamps. As much as I wanted the shower, it looked like the hall bathroom was for this bedroom. I hoped the main bedroom’s ensuite was renovated too, because I could definitely put the detachable head to use. The last door was across the way, which wasn’t ideal. I’d have rather been on the other side of the apartment from my unwanted roommate, but I really didn’t have a say.

“What the fuck?”

Loud footfalls come barreling down the hall. “What happened, Nikki?”

“That’s what fucking happened,” I shouted at him, pointing at the door I’d just swung open, noting the fact that he had his gun drawn. The scent of leather and cologne hit meas he stepped closer, peering into the open door. He smelled so good I had to resist leaning in and rubbing my nose along the collar of his white T -shirt. Maybe I could convince him to do my laundry— my whites never looked that crisp.

“You don’t like the hall closet?” he asked, clearly confused as he searched for what it was that could have caused my outburst.

“No. I don’t like the hall closet that should be another bedroom,” I said, crossing my arms and stomping my foot like a child. The irony wasn’t lost on me that I had just been commenting about Dex throwing a fit. But my complaint wasmuchmore serious.

“What do you…” He crossed the hall, disappearing into the bedroom. Theonlybedroom. Before popping back out and barging into the bathroom. All while I stayed rooted.

“There’s only one fucking bathroom, too.” His shout echoed off the tiles, and then there was a muffled conversation. “Am I supposed to stay in the apartment next to her?” I overheard him say.

Please, god, let that be the case.

Maybe Ryan had forgotten to mention that we were going to be neighbors, not roommates. I mean, that could work. He would be right next door, and I could shout for help if something went down. Hell, I’d even let them put one of those puppy cam things if it meant I got some breathing room. Tension in my neck caused me to close my eyes and roll my head from side to side as I dug into the tissue with my fingertips, trying to work out the knots that riddled that area.

I needed to sit.

I looked one more time, as if the closet would magically transform into a bedroom, before making my way into the living room. It might not have been the furniture I’d have selected, but the couch was pretty damn comfortable.

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