His eyes glowed for about a second before going back to normal. To plain beautiful, not unreal. I gulped.
Was that a yes then?
I’d take it. While he was responsive, though I knew I shouldn’t ask him anything, I couldn’t help myself. This was important. “Do you remember? What happened?”
His incredible glare gave me nothing at all.
Moving on then. Okay. There were a couple other things I could ask that weren’t too personal, one of them being the thing that had been sitting on my chest from the moment he’d first passed out. “Is there anything I can do right now? To help?”Please tell me to call someone. Please tell me to drive you somewhere so that somebody else can help you.
My prayers went unanswered when he gruffly said, “For now… nothing.”
For now.I didn’t miss that part. I tried my best to keep my face blank so he wouldn’t see how badly I didn’t want him here. “Are you sure there’s no one you want me to call?” I tried again.
His gaze flicked to the wall behind me again as he said in a crab-ass voice that sounded oddly resigned, “No.”
All righty then. I could do this. It wouldn’t be the first time I’d taken care of someone.
It wouldn’t exactly be hard to look at his face a while longer. I’d probably never get to see bone structure so perfect again in my life. Might as well appreciate it now.
His gaze moved around the kitchen and beyond. I knew what he was looking at. The worn table to his left was covered by an embroidered tablecloth that my grandma had made before I’d been born. It hid the dings and marks on it that had already been there when I’d moved in with just my suitcases and a few boxes. There was an old cat clock with a swishing tail on the wall behind me that I was pretty positive was what he kept focusing on.
The kitchen was small with Formica counters and cabinets that were a shade of tan that had been popular in the ‘80s. I’d never bothered replacing the checkered valance curtains above the one small window in the kitchen or the ones above the back door. Their faded Eiffel Tower pattern had grown on me.
Beyond the kitchen and the breakfast area was what could be called a minimalist living room but was mostly just me not having a lot of stuff. The couch was small and floral patterned. It had already lived a full life before I’d ever sat on it. The same could be said about the rest of the furniture in the house. Most of it was from the old owner, but a couple things I’d picked up at the nearest thrift store that benefited the local SPCA. It was mismatched and in decent shape, for the most part. Back when we’d moved around every semester, I’d slept on a blow-up mattress for years.
You didn’t buy expensive things that might have to be left behind if you had to take off on a moment’s notice. It was why I had four plates, two bowls, four glasses, and two coffee cups total. There was no point in having more.
Pushing aside the loneliness that suddenly rose in my chest as he continued looking around, like the walls didn’t matter—and maybe they didn’t—I focused back on what we had been talking about. “I fed you while you were asleep. I’m trying not to move you around, even though I’m pretty sure you need to have someone take a look at you. Do you think something’s broken?”
The Defender shifted his gaze back to me, the movement slow, almost too slow.
Fuck me then. “All right. Or you’ll be totally fine on your own. What do I know?” I trailed off with a side-eye.
He didn’t say a word.
A feeling of dread filled my throat, and my stomach went weird. Weren’t superior beings supposed to be wise and well-balanced? Nice? If not happy, at least at peace with themselves and the world? I’d always thought they would be likable. Kind. Maybe serious because of all that pressure on them to save the world. I thought they would be charismatic.
That they would be as cool as they looked when they were in the air above a structure, looking down at the world like Mufasa inThe Lion King.
But so far, that wasn’t the vibe I was getting. That wasn’t the vibe I was getting at all.
Because my gut said this man wasn’t a ball of sunshine. I had a feeling he wasn’t even a night-light.
What he was, was seeming like a pain in the ass, if I was going to be totally honest, and that made me feel like a criminal for thinking that of someone in the Trinity.
I was going to have to think about this.
For now… “I’ll make you a sandwich, and if there’s something else you might want, you can let me know. The grocery store isn’t very big, and the selection isn’t that great, but I might be able to order anything else; it’ll just take a few days to arrive.” More like a week, but… I wasn’t even sure he’d be here that long. I wanted to ask if he was supposed to have some kind of crazy regeneration, but all I had to do was take in his expression and the question died in my mouth.
The less I asked, the better.
He was back to watching me like I had tied him to the chair and was holding him hostage.
I’d always thought The Primordial would have a queen-like disposition. She used intelligent words and concise sentences. She was the epitome of classy and dignified.
I highly doubted she grunted at people.
But this man….
