My spine went straighter than it had ever gone before.
We sat right next to each other all the time. Laid beside each other so many times by that point it meant nothing. We’d slept in the same bed a lot.
What was sitting on a lap? He’d said touch was important. I’d seen him be physical with others. With me too, I could admit.
Even though I’d been wrong about what he’d wanted.
But I still whispered, “Are you drunk?”
What had to be his palm settled low on my back near my hip. His free hand he set on his other leg. “Alcohol doesn’t do anything to me.”
“Then why…？”
“We can argue about it later.”
“We can argue about it now.”
The son of a bitch grinned.
I swallowed hard as I caught the faint smiles of the two members of the Trinity looking at me sitting there. On his thigh. In their street clothes. Robert had a T-shirt that said WELCOME TO MOAB on it. Alana had bobby pins in her hair.
And I was on Alex’s fucking lap.
All righty then. I could focus. If he didn’t think this was a big deal, why should I? If he got a boner, that would be another thing. I almost wanted to check. “Thank you… for helping,” I told them, not sure what to say since I could barely think with a granite-like thigh under me.
“You saved our little brother,” Robert replied. “You put your life at risk for him. We’re all in your debt.”
Oh.
“You can trust us. Your secret is safe,” Alana said in her warm, ethereal voice that reminded me of an angel… that could demolish your ass. “It’s family business now. We’ll help any way we can. Selene is already doing what she can.”
Family business.
I couldn’t help but nod.
I had been on my own for so long now that it was almost overwhelming to have someone else willing to help me. Especially when that “someone” was him. Them.
And if the ball was rolling now on getting something else done to make my life a little safer, that was a good thing. I was supposed to move on eventually. Why not sooner than later?
And if that made me sad, it was okay too. I’d been spoiled already being here. I was grateful for it.
A big hand settled on my hip, giving it a gentle squeeze and pulling me back to the present. Peeking over my shoulder, I found those purple eyes. I could tell what he was trying to say: that it was okay. That I could trust them.
Why did that feel so monumental?
I was kind of in a daze as I kept sitting there as Alex spoke about the cartel and then repeated what the family’s legal department had planned for me, which was basically sorting out whatever issues had risen from the loss of the house, my car insurance, and setting up a new identity. I was going to close my business account as soon as I got it, I decided, regardless of what happened with my translating work.
That was what I had too much hope riding on. If I could change my name, that might be enough to get under the radar for the rest of my life. It would be as good as it could be.
Then I could move on, like I’d promised him.
I was so hung up on thinking over the details of what they had planned that I was caught off guard when Alana eventually asked, “Gracie, have you considered reaching out to law enforcement?”
My whole body stiffened.
The hand on my hip moved to my back, and Alex gave it a long stroke upward, right along my spine.
“Umm,” I stuttered, already feeling like a chicken.
“With the right people, they might be able to help put cartel members away,” she said gently.
Oh, I knew that.
“She’d be putting her life at risk, hoping someone won’t sell her out,” Alex said, stiffly. “She’d have to have someone she can trust involved to make sure something wouldn’t happen to her.”
I reached down blindly and found his hand. I covered it with mine. “I… I’ve always thought hiding was the best option I had. My grandpa used to say that they would never quit looking for us even if they got their money back. When we were in the cell, they told me that my cousin had given them the information they needed to find me. I don’t know if that’s true or not, but if it is… if I can’t trust a family member I’ve never met, it’s hard for me to believe that there’s someone who’s never met me before, who doesn’t have any loyalty toward me, that wouldn’t sell me out for money. That was what that woman told me.
“I know I have to sound like a coward for not being willing to put myself at risk like that but…” I opened my mouth and closed it. “I can think about it. I don’t want what’s happened to me to happen to anyone else. But I’m scared to be a martyr.” My voice got shaky, and I swallowed hard. “I’ll think about it.”
Of course she would think about others. She would never hide. She’d never run.
Me, on the other hand…
The hand on my back went up, all the way up between my shoulder blades, before sliding back down.
“Gracie will do it when she’s ready,” Alex said.
I couldn’t help but peek at him over my shoulder, earning myself a serious nod from him like he really believed that one day I’d get there.
But his words must have been enough, because out of the corner of my eye, I saw both The Primordial—Alana—and Robert nod, something funny on their faces.
She changed the subject immediately. “Lexi, are you back to normal now?”
The leg under me tensed harder than fucking ever, and it was only because I was looking at Robert that I saw the confusion come over his features.
I guess the lack of reply was enough to make her features melt into a concerned expression. Even her voice changed. “You still can’t?” she asked.
She’d asked.
She’d just asked about his flying.
“Oh, Lexi,” she told him gently. “Did you ask Grandmother about it?”
The thigh under me tensed even more, but he didn’t beat around the bush as he said, “I haven’t tried, and I didn’t ask her. I did speak to Grandfather about it the other night. Everything else is almost back to normal.”
Everything else? I knew there had still been something off about him!
You could have cut through the silence with a butter knife. I hadn’t even realized I still had my hand on top of his, and I gave it a pat.
“Let’s try,” she suggested in a voice that reminded me of my grandma from how no-nonsense it was.
I moved my hand and set it on top of Alex’s knee, partially expecting him to whack it off. He didn’t though. He didn’t do or say anything. His leg stayed stiff.
“Might as well get it over with,” she said encouragingly, like she genuinely believed anything was possible. I totally understood how she was his favorite. She really did seem like an angel.
But if she was an angel, it was because her inner brightness had to block out old Grumpy Goose over here.
I squeezed his knee as his leg got even harder, feeling like concrete under my butt.
At my side, his chest expanded in a breath he didn’t need to take; then it deflated in what I knew was resignation.
And to my surprise, when he started to rise, he picked me up and slowly lowered me to my feet. A few fingers brushed against my palm in a gesture that took me about half a second to recognize.