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The man I’d watched stop a moving train made a sniffing sound and literally said one word. “Chicken.”
How he managed to tell me to fuck off with my turkey breast without actually moving his lips, almost impressed me.
Maybe he was feeling me out. Or maybe he was in a bad wittle mood over what had happened to him.
Right, Mr. I Am Stronger Than Every Human On This Planet.
To be fair, I had been checking him out. I wasn’t going to deny it, but he didn’t need to call me out on it. I was sure everybody gawked at him.
“I can’t even be a human shield because you’re bulletproof—” “Invulnerable,” he corrected me. I blinked. Oh boy. Excuse me. Maybe it was time I started playing Call of Duty again so I could get used to dealing with moody man-boys.
If I had holy water, I would have put some in a spray bottle and squirted him with it, just to see what happened.
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.
“I’m… not,” he cut me off. I swear it took everything in me not to roll my eyes. Fucking liar, liar, pants on fire.
When I was close enough, I held out my hand. “I’ll help you back in,” I offered. This motherfucker didn’t even think about it. “Fuck no,” he muttered before slowly turning on his own, going back inside in his pained, limping-shuffle, just leaving me there.
“Why are you crying?” the deep voice demanded from beyond my knees. “The house was small and smelled funny.”
He tried a different angle. “Could you… quit crying?” I wiped at my eyes even harder. “Anyone ever told you… that you cry ugly?” he fucking asked. If I thought it would actually hurt him, I’d kick him in the nuts. Instead, I slouched forward even more, squeezed my hands into fists so tight my nails dug into my palms, and gritted out, “I. Know. That.”
With a steady hand, I reached up, tugged the extra hair tie from my wrist—my faithful little black elastic that lived there—and in a way I’d practiced a hundred times out of boredom, I slingshot it across the room. And I only felt a small, itty-bitty thrill when his eyebrows dropped right before he leaned out of the way and the tie hit the spot where his head had just been. Those eyes stared at me just long enough for me to start to snort. Then he exploded from the floor.
“It was just a hair tie.” Plus, he was bulletproof. Give me a break.
“Because there is nothing… on this planet that can contain me.” Big fucking words from someone still struggling to sit up.
it would take a very special person to deal with you, huh?” That got me another world-class glare. I smiled a little more. “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?”
And that’s when he pulled the shirt up over his head and tossed it. It hit me in the face.
“Drink,” he ordered. “I’ve got you.”
“Here,” he replied, sighing again, sounding only a little exasperated. “Come here.” He crisscrossed those long legs and tilted his head back, raising dark eyebrows at me. Then he opened his arms wide, stretching the material clinging to his shoulders and biceps for dear life. “Come on,” he demanded.
I even set his hand in my lap. Like we weren’t damn near strangers. Like he hadn’t spent weeks glaring at me for some reason, and he wasn’t one of the most special people in the world, and I was… not.
“I’m sorry I’m holding you back.” His broad chest did that funny almost-hiccupping sound. “You should be; it’s annoying.”
“You can interrupt me now,” The Defender said.
Alexander’s eyes glowed. “No. Go inside and rest. You still look like shit.” I tried not to laugh because I knew it was going to hurt, but it happened anyway, just a little one. “And here I thought I didn’t look as bad as I thought I would. Thank you. Don’t let the Candyman come in through the door to get me, okay?” He sighed. “Go to sleep. Nothing is going to happen unless you keep annoying me.”
Because what the hell kind of code words were those? A hit and run? What’d he get hit by? A fighter jet?
“How do you know that?” “Because I’m listening,” he answered.
A nudge at my leg had me glancing down. He pressed the side of his knee against mine as he leaned forward, and he said the second to last thing I would have expected. “Friends don’t let friends die. Everything’s gonna be fine. You’ve got something better than that knife. You’ve got me.”
