He wasn’t wrong, but he almost embarrassed me saying that out loud.
“We would never hurt each other or you,” a male and female voice said at the same time, their words layered on top of each other.
But that didn’t really make me feel any better.
“Come here,” The Defender said after a moment.
I hesitated before taking a step forward and then another.
I didn’t trust him-trust him, but I didn’t not trust him either. At the same time, he hadn’t let me down yet, had he? As long as I didn’t forget that no one would ever take care of me better than me, that was what would keep me alive.
I couldn’t forget that.
I wouldn’t.
But it still didn’t mean I couldn’t do this one small thing. For one of the rare times I could have someone to have my back at least a little bit, I would.
He’d let me hold his finger because I needed it.
If I had to choose anyone to trust… if I could, it would be him.
He was the closest thing I had to someone who cared about me. And if that was sad, it was what it was.
So I took it. I took his fingers, then skimmed mine until I touched his palm.
Slowly, he pulled me toward him, toward them. Then he did the last thing I ever would have expected.
Alexander, The Defender, the hero, the icon who dropped f-bombs, hugged me.
His chin went to the top of my head as he pulled me into him. One arm went around my shoulders, the other around the middle of my back, and he hugged me tighter than I’d ever been hugged before. Plastering my front to his. Folding me up in those strong limbs.
It shocked the hell out of me more than his admission about having some alien ancestor had.
He was hugging me.
And nobody was threatening him to do it.
Maybe it was because he knew I was terrified or because I’d almost died or because he felt bad for me.
But I didn’t give a shit.
With a deep breath, knowing what I was being given and wanting it so bad it should have made me feel guilty, I snuck my arms up and wrapped them around his waist. We weren’t really, really friends, I was aware of it. We were strangers stuck together by circumstances and genetics. We’d become acquaintances due to necessity. Friends to form a bond that made us both slightly more trusting.
We’d survived this with each other’s help. We had almost died together, or at least I had.
I owed him. I owed him big-time. Especially more after this.
I tucked my forehead into his neck, closed my fingers to grip the clean sweater he’d put on, and let out an exhale so shaky that I was pretty sure a bone might have rattled itself loose somewhere in my chest.
“No one is going to get you,” he said straight into my ear, his voice that low grumble.
I wanted to believe him. I wanted to believe him so bad.
One hand slid off my back, and the next thing I knew, he was gently prying the knife away. I let him. And he was still holding me, hugging me, as he slipped it back into my pocket and gave it a pat. He dropped his voice again and said so quietly I barely heard him, “You’re safe.”
My limbs locked up.
“Say it.”
I swallowed the knot I hadn’t even realized had formed in my throat. “I’m safe,” I muttered, my voice raspy and low.
His breath brushed my ear. “I won’t let anything happen to you.”
I didn’t even mean to, but I balled up his sweater in my hand.
“Say it, Gracie.”
Squeezing my eyes closed, I said it, “You won’t let anything happen to me.”
He hugged me closer. Even tighter. I’d be a lying son of a bitch if I didn’t admit that it touched me more than anything else he’d ever done.
Plus, this wasn’t about me. This was about him. He was back with his… whatever they were. He’d recuperated, or at least mostly. This whole experience had been something for him too—his injury, his weakness.
It was that, that was enough for me. That had me taking a step back to give him some space, and I lifted my chin. I focused on the strangers, telling myself that everything was going to be okay. That I was safe, at least for the time being.
I made myself focus on the bigger one first.
Even in the night, I could tell his hair was short, thick, and dark. His cheekbones were sharp, lips full. He was handsome.
And I mean very, very handsome.
So handsome it took me a second to realize he looked almost identical to Captain Not-So Crabby Pants over here.
The corners of the man’s mouth twitched, his eyebrows shooting up his forehead, just as I held out my shaky hand. He took it instantly. His palm was cool too, just like Alex’s.
“Hey,” he said, that twitch of his mouth turning into a straight-up smile. “Leon.”
I looked back and forth between Alexander and this Leon person, realizing they were… were they fraternal twins? Just enough was different about them to not be identical, but it was close. Really, really close.
What the hell?
“Hi,” I greeted him back, suddenly feeling shy—and still cautious no matter what anybody said—as I pulled my hand away and fought the urge to palm the knife again.
“I’m Selene,” the voice to my left spoke up, pulling my attention toward the woman just an inch or two shorter than Alexander. Her hair was a lighter color, maybe blonde, and she was really pretty.
Her hand was already extended.
I took it too and said, all shy, “Hi.”
A huff had me snapping my head toward Alex, who… why the hell was he side-eyeing me like that for?
“What?” I blurted out like I hadn’t just been on the verge of hiding behind his indestructible ass.
The son of a bitch smirked. “That’s all you have? ‘Hi’？ After you were ready to gut them?”
Oh hell. “I wasn’t ready to ‘gut’ anyone. I just wanted to… protect myself. Protect you,” I hissed at him in a whisper, embarrassed. To be fair, I was ready to shank people, but he didn’t need to say anything about it. He knew what we’d been through. They didn’t. “Just in case,” I insisted, barely loud enough for him to hear.
He didn’t believe me. “We talked about this already.”
“We did, and remember what I said about trust issues?” I asked.
That got me a sigh before he shook his head and focused on Selene and his almost doppelg?nger, Leon.
Who were these people?
“Can we go?” he asked them. “We’ve got a long drive.”
Long drive? How long?
It didn’t matter, did it?
This was the start of the next phase in my life.
Homeless. Penniless. Exposed.
But it was a new chapter. Maybe even a new book.
I had no idea where we were going, and I couldn’t find the right time to ask.
We’d been in the car for hours, and I’d spent most of the time staring out the window pretending to think… but really, I was listening.
Alex had caught everyone off guard when he’d gotten into the back passenger seat. I’d seen their faces; I knew they hadn’t expected it. I got into the back seat before either of them beat me to it. The man named Leon shot the woman a look, and they’d both smiled before she got behind the wheel and he took the front passenger seat.
Alex hadn’t exactly talked nonstop, but he had told them a lot more than I’d expected. From what I was starting to pick up, it was only me he was hesitant to talk to. That, or he was in a really, really good mood. I wasn’t sure which, but since I was curious about everything, I wasn’t going to complain about him being a chatter bug.