“If you need me just call.” He says, pulling me into a hug.
“Watch the ribs man.” I overexerted myself earlier trying to prove to Hazel that I’m fine. Though, I wouldn’t take it back for anything. Being with her is a gift I don’t intend to squander.
“I’ll be back after the vet. Do you need anything?”
“Tacos!” Hazel calls from the living room. She’s sunk down on the couch with a fleece pullover covering her entire body as she watches some movie with a slasher. I smile, tucking that information away for later.
“You heard the lady. Tacos.” I tell Jenson.
“You got it.” He leaves, pulling out the long driveway leaving us to explore the place.
While Hazel watches her movie, I make sure to secure the perimeter. Setting up cameras and alarms to let me know if anyone is coming. I’d let my guard down again and I couldn’t rely on myself and my training when it comes to Hazel. She has a way of making me forget anything but her. Which is a deadly error if my brother ever manages to track us down.
We’re lucky it was only a raccoon waiting for us in the kitchen and not a hired gun. I shiver at the thought.
After the experience at the club, I know that my father and brother wouldn’t hesitate to take us out of the equation. Framing it for their own political gain. Acting as the bereaved party for my loss of life, when in reality, they would be celebrating a job well done.
Cameras and alarms secure, I walk Hazel through the security features.
“We should have a code word.” She says, looking at the computer screen,
“A code word?”
“Yeah, for if anything goes wrong. Or if I’m supposed to trust someone and you’re not around.”
I set my hands down on her shoulders from above, rubbing the tense knots out with my thumbs. She might be in a bettermood, but I know she’s been through an immense amount of trauma. Her body is evidence of it with how many knots it’s stored along her shoulder blades. Gathering in tiny bubbles of torture and holding onto her stress as if it were storing it for winter.
“Ugh, that feels so good.” She moans loudly, and I chuckle.
“Should I be worried that you don’t sound like this when I’m fucking you?” I ask, running my fingers down her tense muscles.
“Mmpff.” Is the only response she gives me as her eyes flutter closed.
“What do you want our word to be, baby?” I dig further into her muscles making her putty in my hands. She rolls her neck back to look up at me. The trust I see staring back at me is one that I treasure. She’s been hurt in ways I can’t even begin to understand, but her choice to place her trust in me after everything I put her through is a miracle in and of itself. I don’t deserve her, but I’ll do everything I can to make up for that, because I sure as hell won’t let anyone else have a chance with her. She’s it for me, and I’m it for her.
“What about… kumquat.”
“That’s a random as hell word.”
“Exactly. It won’t come up easily in conversation. I mean when was the last time you ever talked about kumquats?”
“Never.”
She smiles smugly. Her eyes dancing with mischief.
“I like seeing you like this.” I confess, running my hand down her auburn hair.
“Like what.”
“Content.”
She brings her bottom lip in between her teeth, a nervous tick I observe. I pull her lip free and lean down to kiss her Spiderman style.
When the kiss breaks, she sits up and spins the computer chair around to look at me fully.
“I think for the first time since I’ve been on the run, I finally feel a sense of peace. As crazy as it sounds, almost dying by the hands of the one person who I’ve been avoiding all these years lit something in me. Not only do I want to take him down, but I want to overcome my past. Face it head on. And I want you to help me.”
“How do you want me to do that?”
