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He wandered off, hands going to his waist. Maybe someone wasn’t feeling as great as he’d thought.
More than once, I’d wanted to cry and tell him to leave me.
Not only was my home gone, but so was my wallet. I had no money. No computer. No key to my safe deposit box.
What the hell am I going to do when this is over? I had no one. No place to live and be safe in. No money. No identification.
I had nothing. Just about nothing.
“Stop it, Gracie,” the stern, demanding voice called out. Another sound cramped in my throat, and I pinched my nose to keep it inside. “Stop it,” he repeated.
“Why are you crying?” he asked again, that time in an almost gentle voice that was hard to ignore.
Another poke came at my side, followed by a “Gracie” that was so deep I couldn’t ignore it. “There’s nothing for you to be afraid of.”
I was so alone—so goddamn alone—and so overwhelmed, and I wasn’t sure how the hell I was going to get through this next chapter in my life.
I don’t want to die alone. Not like this. I’ve got no loved ones, no one who gives a shit, no one to—” Alexander tilted my head just a little bit farther back, and his face got that much closer. So close I could feel the heat of his forehead just shy of mine. “Stop.”
“You’re right about some of that.” He paused. “You are fucked.” No shit. I just about snorted at the oversimplification before really taking in the sober expression on his face.
I knew it was bad when he was telling me it was bad.
“Not again. Calm down,” he told me in his bossy britches tone. But I didn’t care. I was going to have a panic attack. No, scratch that, it was going to be a straight-up shit attack. I gagged. He cursed. “Stop.”
“You’re so dramatic,” he had the nerve to say because his life wasn’t over. Everything he had tried to keep a secret for, oh, his entire life, hadn’t just gone into the shitter. Mine had.
“Calm down,” he ordered in what was definitely his superhero voice. I didn’t give a fuck. I shook my head. “No!” He groaned. “Please.” That got me to peek at him.
“You haven’t been thinking things through, but I have.” He had? “Take a damn breath and listen.” He almost sounded patient. But my body shook again anyway. “Gracie,” he enunciated my name in a way I’d never heard before.
“My people… we take life debts seriously.” He didn’t exactly sound happy about that. “That’s what I owe you. My life. Time and time again.”
“The life you knew is over. Any alias you’ve lived under or were planning on living in the future, isn’t an option anymore. They went through your whole house. They opened and looked at everything. You’re good at erasing your browser history and keeping your tracks covered, but they took your laptop. You have to expect them to find something. They are going to go to the ends of the earth to find you.”
He whacked me in the back almost too softly. “I’m not done. What I was saying is that when we get through this, when we get to where we need to go—” The lean muscles in his cheeks flexed, and his voice went slightly tight, it wasn’t anger but maybe resignation? “—you can live with me until we can figure out a safe, long-term solution.” I hadn’t heard him correctly, had I?
“But… you don’t even like me.” There, I’d said it. It wasn’t like that was anything new. There was literally no hesitation in his response. The son of a bitch even shrugged a little bit. “You’re all right.”
Me. Gracie Castro was all right. Half the shit that came out of his mouth was rude, and he had the patience of a toddler, but I was all right?
Then he gave me more of that personality, that reminder of who he genuinely seemed to be. A grumpy man who saved people.
I needed to survive any way I could. This would be the same as lying to protect other people. As keeping to myself. As wearing my wig and carrying pepper spray and religiously clearing my browser and cookies every single day.
Then again, I was suspicious about everything with him. Why he had suddenly started to talk to me. Why he had gone out of his way to hold me while I’d been sick when he could have easily just let me lay there, miserable.
Watching him carefully, I slowly lifted my hand and held it out toward him. “Friends?” I offered slowly, expecting him to laugh or scoff or something. Those incredible eyes moved from my hand to my face and back.
You can use me as a human shield, really, even if I’m not dead. But I hope you won’t. Because that would kill me.” His face was remarkably calm.
Then those long, almost cool fingers and that big, smooth palm met mine. Alexander shook my hand as his eyebrows rose… and was that amusement on his face? A little bit of it?
I lowered my arm, rubbing my fingers against my palm. I’d felt a light zap on my skin from the contact.
“You’re ruining it by being smug.”
His voice was low, serious. “You’ll be under my protection for the rest of your life. You understand?” The rest of my life? “You mean until we figure things out?” He shook his head, gaze intent. “They’re never going to stop looking for you, Gracie.” He nailed that coffin shut. “You laid on top of me to save me, even though you knew nothing they could have done would hurt me. For. The. Rest. Of. Your. Life.”
I wasn’t alone either. I had this butthole. My new friend.
Life was never going to be the same again, and I just had to deal with it.
It could have been a hell of a lot worse to have someone else feel like they owed me.
Honestly, I had a newfound respect for cowboys. Alex was no damn horse, but I still had no idea how the hell those men and women could ride all day. They were my new heroes.
A nudge had me peeking over at him again. He’d spread his legs a little. His head tipped to the side. Toward him? Was he gesturing me to…? I raised my eyebrows. “I can hear your teeth chattering,” he grumbled. “Are you going to come over here or are you planning on getting pneumonia again?”
I smiled, not needing him to tell me twice to get on him. I sniffled as I turned, ready to crawl onto his lap when his arm slipped around my lower back and he scooped me up and onto him. He’d raised his knees a little as he lowered my butt onto one thigh and hip, my own legs still curled up so that one side was tucked against his stomach. On my back, I felt him reach to the side and lift the backpack over my head before handing it to me.
“Crack open that Snickers,” he murmured, his voice gruff, almost tired. I wasn’t the only one still healing. I couldn’t forget that.
Alex—Alexander—leaned forward, took a bite, then gestured for me to take one too. Over his. And I did. Then I held it up for him and watched as he took another bite.
When the hail started to fall, when I was half asleep from exhaustion, Alex raised his other arm and wrapped that one around me too.
I didn’t just owe him a little; I owed him big time, I’d decided. And he wasn’t the only one who repaid their debts.
I wasn’t even a little surprised either when he slipped a hand around my elbow and helped me up the porch stairs. He’d done that a lot lately, leading me places. To the creek. To a comfy tree.
I would’ve been damned if I’d complained. He didn’t, and I wouldn’t either. I had one job, and that was to not make a shitty situation a shittier one.
I wanted to fucking hug him. Because the truth was, I didn’t think I could handle getting on his back again any time soon.
We were past me being shy about shit now. Earlier today I’d peed with him standing three feet away from me while he pretended not to see and hear me.
We’d gotten away. We were… safe.
“Is that… was that… your first time, you know, being captured?” Alex had leaned back on his palms, head tipped back and aimed up toward the darkening sky. “Yes and it’ll be the last.”
Did he know what had happened to him, then? He didn’t seem all that concerned about it anymore. He wasn’t focusing on the sky like he was scared of something in it.
If it had been me who had gotten hurt the way he had, I’d be fucking terrified. So why would he be so nonchalant about it?
“Say, Alexander….” I peeked at him to see what he thought about me saying his name. The side of his mouth might have tweaked a little.
I’d almost had a panic attack taking a shower, but every great adventure left some scars. I had a bunch of scratches that I was pretty sure were going to leave their mark too.
