Keeping my shit together and ignoring the GQ model beside me, I started shimmying the dress up my hips and unbuckled my seat belt. His dark eyes flicked over, but I ignored him until the skirt was high enough, then I snuck my hand up the outside of my thigh and carefully pulled the knife out from the band holding it down. Then my hand went back in and I slipped the multi-tool in the same spot. It wasn’t exactly an easy reach, but that was all right. It was lighter than the knife, but I’d keep checking it to make sure it didn’t fall out.
“You might be the most distrustful person I’ve ever met.”
“I don’t have a purse, otherwise I would have put it in there.” And I wasn’t really relying on the knife to save me but more as a backup plan if we got into a pickle. I was never going to leave myself unprepared again. I’d even taken a knife from his kitchen and stuck it between the mattress and base of the bed. I would put it back if he noticed. “Thank you. I love it.”
“I heard you the first time.”
I groaned, but it was his light huff that instantly reminded me he was just being a pain in the ass.
That he was joking.
This man who bought me a multi-tool to make me feel safer.
Oh boy.
“No crying,” Alex muttered in his Superbutt voice.
Time to change the subject then. “Is your mom going to hate me?” I managed to ask. “I don’t think your siblings liked me very much yesterday.”
He didn’t even think about it. “Yeah.”
My shoulders dropped.
“You don’t need to worry about it. I told you, I don’t think they like half our family either.”
Great.
There was a pause. “She only likes about five people, and I don’t even think I’m one of them.”
The snort came out of me before I could stop it. “Is that where you learned it from? Not liking people?”
He huffed, but I saw the corner of his mouth curve up. “I like more than five people.”
Excuse me. “Six?”
“I just expect the worst in people.”
Oh. I could see that. I squeezed my knees and eyed him quickly. “So why did you want me to come with you? So no one kidnaps me while you’re gone?” I joked.
“Nobody is kidnapping you.”
“I was kidding. What I was trying to say is that I thought you’d be close enough to your family to not feel that way. You said you liked Alana and The Centu—Robert. Selene and Leon too, I thought.”
It took him a long second to answer. “I do. I am close to them, but… it’s different.”
How?
“You’re still sick too. Being close by will help you heal faster.” He thought about it for a second. “You’re not bad company either. I like talking shit with you.”
I jerked in my seat. “I’m growing on you, huh?”
“Like an ingrown hair.” His gaze slid over to me. “Not that I’ve ever had one.”
I reached over numbly and grabbed his forearm, my eyes tingly, my whole heart starting to feel a little funny too. “I thought the multi-tool was my favorite thing I’ve been given, but I think… I think you saying you can talk shit with me just beat it. Not that long ago, you didn’t even want to make eye contact with me.”
Eyes with blue contacts slid to me. “A lot changed since then.”
I squeezed his arm.
