I looked at her and smiled. She looked at me and smiled right back. Right then and there, I decided I liked her. I got a good feeling about her.
“Everyone knows,” I agreed.
He just looked at me.
“Except you, I guess.” I couldn’t help it, I laughed. Selene did too. My throat hurt, but I couldn’t stop. Closing my eyes, I settled in, wanting to give them some space before they regretted letting me hang out with them.
But to my surprise, they didn’t wait for me to fall asleep before they started talking again.
It was Selene who spoke first. “Did you make a decision then?”
“No,” Alex replied, “especially not after this shit.”
“I can’t believe it, Lexi. You think Mom knows? Do you remember how pissed she was when she did it to Achilles? I thought there was going to be an earthquake that day.”
His huff wasn’t a normal one; it was an irritated one. “Who the fuck knows, Selene.”
Who was “she” and what had she done?
I tried to keep my eyelids loose so that it wasn’t totally obvious that I was forcing them closed.
“I bet she didn’t tell Grandpa.”
So they were related somehow. Was it just her grandpa? Did they share a grandpa?
Had she said “Mom” earlier?
“Doubt it. I’ve done everything else they’ve ever told me to do. She crossed the fucking line, and she knows it,” Alexander said in a voice so controlled I knew he was actually really pissed off. “What she did doesn’t make up for it.”
“I get it. You know I get it.”
I wished one of them would drop a clue or three.
“I haven’t talked to Mom yet, but I will. You might as well let her deal with it,” Selene kept going with a little cackle at the end. “I’m going to get my popcorn ready.”
Alex’s answering grunt was low, maybe irritated too, the sound of glass on glass clinking through the room.
“Speaking of…，” she whispered, “why did you wait so long to call?”
It sounded like the leather of the chair he was sitting in creaked. He didn’t say anything.
Did the son of a bitch know ASL?
Before I managed to open my eye to see if he was signing, Selene spoke up again. “She’s pretty, Lexi,” she said in soft French.
He made a low sound in his throat. “She laid down on top of me to protect me from the people who took her.”
I froze. My written and spoken French were atrocious, but I could understand a decent amount. Not that they knew that. Suckers.
“Why would she do that?” he asked, his tone tight.
“I don’t know. I would’ve let you get beat up,” she said seriously.
Alex huffed. “She’s not what I was expecting.” There was another pause and another clink of glass. “She didn’t complain once when we were going through the forest. Her teeth were chattering, I could hear her gagging, I felt her crying from how bad she felt, and she didn’t say anything.”
“Is that why you’re letting her stay here? We could have dropped her off at Mom’s or even Alana’s. You know they would keep her safe.”
“When we were in the cell, I thought about it.”
“Now you changed your mind?” Her tone was full of disbelief, I was pretty sure. “After everything…？”
There was a huff. “I can’t leave her. She’s my responsibility.” I heard a deep breath. “She’s going to be in danger for the rest of her life because of me.”
There was another heavy pause. “You think they’ll figure out it was you with her?”
“I don’t know, but we’re never going to find out.”
I must have totally passed out because I almost jumped out of my skin when I felt myself being moved.
Being… lifted?
Lifted?
Cracking an eye open, I startled myself even more when I took in the jawline above my head. It wasn’t like I would have expected it to actually be anyone other than Alex, but it still surprised me.
“What’s happening?” I asked, alarmed. “Are you taking me out back and leaving me for the pigs?”
He didn’t even glance at me as he moved. My shoulder bumped his chest. The arms holding me up, shifted. For one brief moment, I worried about how heavy I was. Then I remembered who was carrying me.
That made my eyes pop open even wider.
“I don’t know where you come up with this shit,” he muttered, flicking a glance down at me, a hint of amusement on his sharp features. “I don’t have pigs. If I was going to do anything, I’d drop you in the middle of the Pacific. I’m putting you to bed.”
If he could fly. I wasn’t about to bring that up though. “Where’s Selene?” I managed to ask.
“In bed,” he answered, sounding distracted.
It was nice being carried. Really, really nice. And I knew I should tell him I could walk, but… who knew when the next time this would happen would be? Much less the next time someone who looked like him would ever hold me? Never, that was when. “What time is it?” I yawned, feeling pretty shameless.
“Late,” he answered, his chest was like a freaking wall against me.
“Want me to walk?” I made myself ask.
His answer was a grunt a split second before he turned into the bedroom that I recognized as the one I’d been given. Holding me up with one arm, pulling me even closer to him, Alexander tugged the comforter back before lowering me onto the mattress.
This was the first time since I’d been itty-bitty that I’d been put to bed.
And here he was.
“Hey.” I grabbed his forearm.
That handsome face stared down at me. He really did look so much better now compared to how he’d been when we’d first met. His skin almost glowed, highlighting all those incredible bones and tissues that made him up. It had to be those “superior genes” he was always bragging about.
Or magic. Since he was apparently out of this world. Literally.
“Did you cut your hair?” I asked him, finally noticing that it wasn’t at his chin anymore. When the hell had he cut it? How long had I been asleep?
He nodded.
It is hard to differentiate between Alexander and The Defender now, my brain thought.
I already knew there was more to him than the suit and the seemingly limitless power, but it really struck home big-time now. Here. In his house. With his mix of kindness and grumpiness. In normal clothes.
Who the hell was this person carrying me to bed, letting me hang out with him so I wouldn’t be alone?
“I know this situation isn’t your first choice, and you know, I wish I could say it wasn’t my first choice either, but”—I blinked up at that gorgeous face—“considering how shitty my circumstances are right now, I’m grateful for it.” I paused. “I hope you know how lucky you are to have people who care about you enough to go back and forth across the country to help you,” I told him quietly, that lonely little ache squeezing my heart. I could only dream about having the same.
Tears popped up in my eyes, and I could tell he was narrowing his in response, but I pushed through.
“I’m not crying, okay! It’s allergies,” I lied.