“You’re welcome. Are you doing okay?” I ask.
“Yeah… just tired. And… thinking about the people who know about me. And what will happen when they come for me.” He’s wringing his hands and I notice Leland is fixated on them.
“We’re not going to let them take you,” Leland assures him. “Batilda and Maple won’t let them touch you.” He pulls out two guns and kisses them both. “The way you’re looking at me… is that jealousy? Would you like a kiss upon your head like Nathan did to his son?”
“No, the look is obviously a ‘What the fuck is happening’ look! Good night!” He hurries inside before Leland can tease him anymore.
Leland appears to have enjoyed the teasing, and it seems to rejuvenate him since he smiles, proud of himself as he walks into our bedroom. I can tell he needs something to distract himself because the only thing he can focus on is why the man at the estate was interested in him.
“How much was set up by that man?” Leland asks. “Like washethe one who told Teo about us?”
“I do wonder,” I say.
“He knew we’d be there, so was he waiting for us? Did he work with Teo and know we were going to be there? Or did he flash us in front of Teo so he would try to drag us in?”
“I don’t know the answer to that. We’ll be careful. We’ll make sure Waylon is with us at all times. I don’t want to see something happen that we could have avoided.”
“I should have shot him.”
“I… don’t know the answer to that. You can’t just shoot someone because they give you a bad feeling,” I say.
Leland gives me a “Sure I can” look.
I narrow my eyes, and he sighs before slumping against me and throwing his arms around my neck. “I know. I know.”
“I also have a weird feeling about it. I didn’t like how he was in control of the situation,” I admit. “Not to say that you weren’t. But I feel like he was confident that he was safe. Like he knew that you weren’t going to shoot him or that he wasn’t going to get hurt.”
“I got that too,” Leland says. “But how? Did he have a second person watching his back? Or was it primarily his confidence that made me feel like he was untouchable? I don’t know. I sent everything I picked up about him to Tucker. I’ll see if he comes back with anything. This guy knows my face. He knows your face… nothing good is going to come of this. But trust me, if he comes for either of you, I will have my bombproof human-sizedhamster cage ready for you and Waylon. You won’t get lonely with Waylon joining you.”
Why are we back on this? And why am I nowalsoin the cage? “You’re not putting us in a… hamster cage!”
“Would it make you feel better if I made it big enough to put the Mistress in there with you? You can cuddle her sleek interior and stroke her steering wheel every time you feel lonely. The contractor will be here bright and early to start on it, so we should get some shuteye.”
I try to peel Leland off as punishment for wanting to put me through all of this shit, but he hangs on tightly.
“You’re not getting rid of me.” It really comes out of him sounding like a threat.
“You deserve it.”
“For trying to keep yousafe? Honey. Love. My sweet Sasquatch… I will do what it takes to keep you safe.”
I grab his head and tilt it up so I can at least show him the look on my face. “Did you forget the talk we already had today?”
“Which talk? The one where we talked about how sometimes I want to smack your ass?”
“The one about working together.”
“Never heard that.”
“You sure did. Working together makes each of us…?”
“Horny?” he tosses out.
“Ooh, let’s see if that fits. ‘Working together with Tavish makes me horny.’ Do you think it fits? Your expression tells me it doesn’t. Let’s try again. Working together makes each of us…?”
“Irritated.”
“Working with Cassel makes me irritated. Does that one work?”
