Slowly, he pulled me toward him, towardthem. Then he did the last thing I ever would have expected.
Alexander, The Defender, the hero, the icon who dropped f-bombs, huggedme.
His chin went to the top of my head as he pulled me into him. One arm went around my shoulders, the other around the middle of my back, and he hugged me tighter than I’d ever been hugged before. Plastering my front to his. Folding me up in those strong limbs.
It shocked the hell out of me more than his admission about having some alien ancestor had.
He was hugging me.
And nobody was threatening him to do it.
Maybe it was because he knew I was terrified or because I’d almost died or because he felt bad for me.
But I didn’t give a shit.
With a deep breath, knowing what I was being given and wanting it so bad it should have made me feel guilty, I snuck my arms up and wrapped them around his waist. We weren’t really, really friends, I was aware of it. We were strangers stuck together by circumstances and genetics. We’d become acquaintances due to necessity. Friends to form a bond that made us both slightly more trusting.
We’d survived this with each other’s help. We had almost died together, or at least I had.
I owed him. I owed him big-time. Especially more after this.
I tucked my forehead into his neck, closed my fingers to grip the clean sweater he’d put on, and let out an exhale so shaky that I was pretty sure a bone might have rattled itself loose somewhere in my chest.
“No one is going to get you,” he said straight into my ear, his voice that low grumble.
I wanted to believe him. I wanted to believe him so bad.
One hand slid off my back, and the next thing I knew, he was gently prying the knife away. I let him. And he was still holding me, huggingme, as he slipped it back into my pocket and gave it a pat. He dropped his voice again and said so quietly I barely heard him, “You’re safe.”
My limbs locked up.
“Say it.”
I swallowed the knot I hadn’t even realized had formed in my throat. “I’m safe,” I muttered, my voice raspy and low.
His breath brushed my ear. “I won’t let anything happen to you.”
I didn’t even mean to, but I balled up his sweater in my hand.
“Say it, Gracie.”
Squeezing my eyes closed, I said it, “You won’t let anything happen to me.”
He hugged me closer. Even tighter. I’d be a lying son of a bitch if I didn’t admit that it touched me more than anything else he’d ever done.
Plus, this wasn’t about me. This was about him. He was back with his… whatever they were. He’d recuperated, or at least mostly. This whole experience had been something for him too—his injury, his weakness.
It was that, that was enough for me. That had me taking a step back to give him some space, and I lifted my chin. I focused on the strangers, telling myself that everything was going to be okay. That I was safe, at least for the time being.
I made myself focus on the bigger one first.
Even in the night, I could tell his hair was short, thick, and dark. His cheekbones were sharp, lips full. He was handsome.
And I mean very, very handsome.
So handsome it took me a second to realize he looked almost identical to Captain Not-So Crabby Pants over here.
The corners of the man’s mouth twitched, his eyebrows shooting up his forehead, just as I held out my shaky hand. He took it instantly. His palm was cool too, just like Alex’s.
