Gravel crunched under my still soggy sneakers; I’d been trying to ignore the fact they hadn’t gotten a chance to dry. I was almost used to the squishing by that point. I had to close my eyes against the bright lights, sticking as close to his side as I could without seeming too clingy. Or at least clingier than I already was.
Someone was reclining against the hood of the car.
The sound of a door opening and closing had me tensing just as I spotted another figure coming out from the passenger door. Both bodies seemed long as they moved toward us, one slightly taller than the other.
I let go of his finger at the same time a voice—a masculine one—said, “Told you. You owe me fifty bucks, Selene.”
A feminine voice replied, “At least one of us isn’t going to die sad and alone.”
But then the strangers surged forward, and a split second later, most of Alex’s body disappeared in a cocoon of bodies.
I slipped my hand into my pocket and clutched the knife handle, watching the three of them. I couldn’t see much because the lights made my eyes water—but hey, at least I wasn’t totally dehydrated anymore—and I was groggy and still felt like crap, but I paid as much attention as I could. Their hands. Their arms. They were high around his shoulders, around his ribs, and I made sure they weren’t holding anything.
I peeked through the windshield to make sure no one was in there. I didn’t see any movement.
For what seemed like minutes, the three hugged.
Alexanderwas hugging people.I knew he wasn’t some heartless monster, but it was still fucking shocking. Just as quickly as I thought that, I realized a hug sounded nice.
It had been a long time since I’d had one of those. Sitting on his lap while I was sick didn’t count. Did it?
I crossed my arms over my chest and let that sink in for a minute, feeling so alone it almost hurt. You would have figured I was used to it by now.
No sooner had I thought that than those purple eyes I could have found in a dark room with a thousand other glowing eyeballs in them moved to me. I couldn’t see his mouth at all, but his words were clear. “Gracie, put the knife back in your pocket and come here. They can’t hurt me, and they aren’t going to hurt you.” His eyes glowed even brighter. “I promise.”
I held it a little tighter just to spite him telling me what to do, but I didn’t move.
“Tell her you’re not going to hurt her,” he demanded.
I could see both heads move from him to me and back again.
“Tell her,” he repeated. “She’s been itching to stab someone for a couple weeks now.”
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’tnottrust 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.
