He told the strangers about being “hit in the back” and finding himself in my yard. I didn’t miss the tension in the car or the looks that all three of them shot one another through the rearview mirror. He told them about how I’d helped him, about how weak and injured he’d been the whole time. Selene and Leon asked questions, and I could tell that they knew… well, everything it seemed like. About him, I meant.
Neither of the strangers made a peep about how he had waited to contact them. No one touched on the topic of what might have possibly been able to hurt him, which just told me they knew exactly what or even who had done it. The fact none of them seemed overly alarmed about the injury calmed me down some.
Alexander had continued with the story, talking about the cartel showing up and taking us. When he skated over what they had done to me in the other room and about his back finally healing, you could tell they were surprised. He even mentioned how sick I’d been afterward. How sick I still was, as if they couldn’t hear the coughs I was still trying to muffle or how even though my throat hurt less, I still sounded like a cartoon character.
Except when he told the story, I realized just how sick I had been. He hadn’t wanted me to know, I figured out real quick, which I appreciated.
Alexander continued recalling the rest of our adventure, about us escaping and him running for days until we came across the first cabin, then how we had trekked the rest of the distance to the house.
They had put together the rest, I figured, because there weren’t questions after that.
We were safe now, I tried to convince myself again. He’d said so.
Closing my eyes, I exhaled and wondered, not for the first time, where we were going. It could be anywhere. The car was a rental; they had said that much when Alex had asked why they’d brought such a small car. We could be going to Chicago, or we could be going to New York. Maybe they were working on a fake passport.
Maybe one day…
“Gracie?”
I held my breath and looked at the pretty woman driving.
“Do you want us to take you somewhere?” the blonde asked carefully. I’d caught her looking at me a bunch of times. Not in a mean way, but more like when I saw someone wearing a shirt with a movie or a book I really liked. I couldn’t get a good idea on her age, but I was pretty sure she might have been in her early twenties. I’d been peeking at her right back too, but more to make sure she wasn’t going to pull over and throw me in the trunk when I was least expecting it.
But take me somewhere?
Before I could open my mouth, Alex answered for me. “She’s going back home with us.”
Leon’s head swiveled toward his maybe-brother, or maybe those superior genetics made him a cousin. At the same time, Selene’s facial expression went straight surprised in the rearview mirror.
He’d glossed over that little fact.
“She’s staying with me.”
“I thought you had said you weren’t…，” she started to say.
They knew he hadn’t wanted to meet me, huh? I gave her a weak smile. “I don’t have anywhere to go,” I tried to explain vaguely, not sure if I should bring up other stuff. I sure as hell didn’t want to, but reality was reality. There was only so far you could run from it.
The blonde woman blinked. Her head turned to the right, to Leon who was already looking at her. Even in the darkness, I could tell his mouth was formed into the shape of an O.
They both burst out laughing.
Why was that so funny?
“Both of you can fuck off,” Alexander muttered, shaking his head as he shifted beside me.
“I’m not trying to take advantage of him or anything.” Sure, this whole thing was ridiculous. Who was I to live with him? A member of the Trinity?
But I wasn’t chump meat.
And neither was he.
“He asked me to stay with him since the cartel might figure out who he is and come after me,” I explained, trying not to get irritated at them for laughing. Maybe being rude ran in their family? “It was his idea.”
That instantly got both of them to sober up. It was Leon who said, “We’re not laughing at you. We’re laughing at Alex.” I met his eyes when he glanced over his shoulder.
I held my breath. Did his eyes just glow blue? And had he really told me to call him Alexander to be more formal with me? To keep a distance between us?
“It isn’t you,” he tried to assure me.
I wasn’t sure I believed him. I also wasn’t sure I’d just seen two bright blue globes where his eyeballs were. But if I hadn’t imagined it, did that mean…？
The woman sat up straight behind the wheel and smiled at me through the mirror. She was beautiful. Something about her seemed so familiar too…
Huh. My stomach relaxed.
“Really,” she said sweetly, “we aren’t.”
She seemed… earnest. I snuck my hands between my thighs. “Is it because he didn’t want to meet me and now he’s stuck with me?”
The man, Leon, snickered before fully turning around in his seat to look at Alexander. “What’s wrong with you? Why would you tell her that?”
“What? Was I supposed to lie?”
Leon shook his head at the same time Selene did. “Ignore him. He’s lucky you’re so pretty,” she said.
I blinked at her random compliment, but beside me, the son of a bitch snorted. “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.”
He’d gone there.
Why did that surprise me? “Well, thank you very much for that, much appreciated, but I fed you after you hadn’t brushed your teeth in who knows how long, so I’d say we’re almost even.” I’d meant to whisper it, but it came out louder than I expected. Plus, I was still in his debt. We weren’t even at all, but with that “all right looking” comment…
Alex blinked, then he spoke a little louder too. “My body doesn’t excrete fluids the way yours does. My nose is more sensitive than yours is.”
Really? “Maybe your sweat isn’t stinky, but I think you’re overestimating the freshness of your mouth.”
“I didn’t hear you complaining when you slept on top of me for days.”
“You put me there.”
“Exactly. I didn’t see you crawling away from my breath then,” he said, sounding fucking smug.
I swear…
I almost laughed.
What was wrong with me? How the hell had I ended up here? I was arguing with one of the Trinity about body odor. I couldn’t have even dreamed this shit up; it was so ridiculous.
What had the world come to?
But that was the thing, wasn’t it? He wasn’t just The Defender. He was… Alexander. He was a crabby, sarcastic little shit who wasn’t actually little. He liked arguing.