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The important part was, I wasn’t about to let him die on me. He’d probably haunt me for the rest of my life if that happened, and that would be awkward. There were things I did in my bedroom that I didn’t want anyone else to witness.
“I’m always… aware,” he tried to claim. I couldn’t help it, I whispered, “Even when you’re snoring?” The glare I got….
I might respect him, but I didn’t love him, and with love, you could do anything. But when you didn’t love someone, it was harder not to want to wring their fucking necks when they got on your nerves. And oh, the son of a bitch got on my nerves.
“What are you hiding?” he asked again, taking his time with every word, staring at me while he did. I tried my best to look innocent. I couldn’t get too riled up. “A lot of things, mostly stuff in my nightstand.”
“If I wanted a partner, I could find a partner,” he grumbled. My nod was so serious, even I almost bought it. “I’m sure.” He was gorgeous after all. “As long as you didn’t actually open your mouth.” The Defender blinked, then dropped his voice. “You know from experience?” Oh boy.
“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.”
“Friends don’t let friends die. Everything’s gonna be fine. You’ve got something better than that knife. You’ve got me.”
“Tell her you’re not going to hurt her,” he demanded. I could see both heads move from him to me and back again. “Tell her,” he repeated. “She’s been itching to stab someone for a couple weeks now.”
“She’s all right looking.” I scoffed. He wasn’t wrong, and part of me couldn’t believe he’d noticed what I looked like, but…. “I can hear you,” I griped. “I wasn’t trying to be discreet,” he shot back. Oh boy. “I thought we were friends now!” I said softly, feeling betrayed. “Friends don’t lie to each other.” He sounded so damn serious too as he lowered his voice and said, “I made sure you didn’t pee on yourself. You’re welcome.”
“You’re not leaving.” He kept going in that steady, rich voice. “We made a deal, and you don’t back out on a deal, Cookie. Not with me.”
“You make it really hard to not like you.” I hadn’t seen that coming. I hadn’t seen that coming at all. His mouth went flat. “You say whatever the hell is on your mind, and you annoy the hell out of me sometimes.” And there we go. I blinked. “Don’t hold back.” Alex blinked right back. “You’re stubborn as hell, Gracie, but you make it hard to not like you.”
“What’s better than regular friends?” he asked. “You can be my best friend number 20. If you share the Cheetos with me, I’ll think about you being number 19.”
Alex looked at me for a long, long moment. “It annoys me when you’re fucking cute.”
“But I can do the protecting from now on, Cookie Monster. Bogeyman or not.”
I turned to Alex. “On the count of three, okay?” He nodded. “1—” I started shooting. “You fucking cheater,” he hissed under his breath. But was that a laugh I heard? “You snooze you lose, motherfucker.”
I opened wide and took the rest as he threw the plate away, dusted his hands on his jeans, then held the white cat toward me. I took it. “I’ll protect her with my life,” I promised. He put the bottle of water into his jacket pocket as he said, “It’s for you anyway.”
He held the stuffed animal out to the little girl. She gasped. “My girlfriend already has a Hello Kitty. Do you want this one?” he asked, the edges of a smile turning his mouth up into the biggest one I’d seen him make yet.
“Gracie, do you think there’s a future for you without me in it?” Why would that get his panties in a twist? “Do you really think there’s a future for me without you in it?” he asked that time, enunciating every word, his gaze blazing into mine.
“It hurts my feelings that I’m right here, that you’re right there, and you still think that you’re ever going to be alone again.”
