“I don’t want …” He pulls tight to himself. “You to be … mad at me.”
Mad? At him?
It’s then that I realize my body language. My expression. The way I’m holding his upper arms. How close I’m standing.
I release him so he has some space. “I’m not mad. I was worried because I kept picturing the worst, but …” And this part is hard for me to say. “I trust you. Whatever choice you made, I know you did it for the right reasons.”
Ziggy reaches out and takes my hand, fingers slotting between mine. “Thank you.”
The wordsI love youare on my tongue, but I hold them back. I always say them too early. I always drop them without meaning. This time, knowing exactly how much they really do mean, it’s difficult to get them out. I don’t want to scare Ziggy off.
I want him to get there in his own time.
“I knew where he was,” Ziggy tries again. “Well, I had a hunch. And I was right. He took shelter in my home, and wetrapped him in there. I knew he’d be scared, so I wanted to get to him as soon as possible.”
“He was there the whole time?”
Ziggy nods, smile tilting upward. “You were right when you said you were hearing things.”
“Fuck me. He has definitely seen us naked.”
His chuckle is soft. “I really thought Lynx was going to kill him.”
“What happened?”
“He chased him down, tackled him, had the knife … I yelled at him to stop, and when he didn’t … I was going to take Lynx on.”
“You were?” It’s not that I don’t think Ziggy is capable, but he’s not a fighter. He’s like me.
“I couldn’t let him get hurt.”
“Did Lynx touch you?” I might not be confrontational, but if he so much as scratched Ziggy?—
“It didn’t get to that. Bob stopped him instead.”
“Wait. Thebobcat? The one that’s weirdly possessive of Lynx?”
“Yep.”
“Why?”
Ziggy shrugs his narrow shoulders. “Anyone’s guess. It was weird.”
I’ll say. The cat is the first to attack if it thinks Lynx is in danger, but then it stopped him from hurting a stranger?
With a sigh, I remind myself that I don’t care. Lynx, Sasha, the cat, Wilde … none of them matter to me.
Not like Ziggy does.
And he’s safe.
“You did the right thing,” I assure him. “But next time, maybe you could give me the heads-up? So I don’t feel like I’m about to puke and end up threatening everyone within earshot?”
His big eyes soften, and he squeezes my hand. “I’m sorry.”
“I know. We’re still learning at this thing, after all.”
“I don’t think I’ll ever get used to having a boyfriend.”
