“Don’t do that sweet, doe-eyed shit.” It’s hard not to give him his way when he’s like that. Cillian is in trouble. I’m not even in love with the guy, and I can hardly tell him no.
“We just want you to be safe,” Ollie says. “We love you.”
“I’m always safe—well, as safe as this life allows.”
Ollie looks away, and I’m flooded with guilt. Sometimes I forget he’s not like us, forget how new all this is for him. Ollie struggles with the violence and danger of our world. “Sorry, Bunny. I’ll be safe.”
He grins, the brat. Of course he’d get his way.
“Is this intervention over? Can we talk about normal shit now?” I ask, trying not to be a dick, but feeling frustrated.
“How was school today?” Ollie asks.
“I skipped. Made lots of money, though.”
“Rory,” he complains.
“Let him be, Kitten. Pick your battles. Today that’s not the one,” Cillian defends me—well, kinda.
“They asked me if I could come into work tonight. I guess Shai called out.”
“Who the fuck is Shai?” Cillian asks, in unison with my, “She cute?”
Ollie rolls his eyes. “He. And he’s…very tattooed and pierced. He’s a new guy. I like him. We’ve been friendly. I think he’s been through a lot, and he seems lonely.”
My eyes shoot to Cillian, and sure enough, his jaw is locked. Before Cillian even utters a word, Ollie says, “Oh my God. Are you jealous?”
“No. I have no reason to be jealous. I know who you belong to. That doesn’t mean I’m not going to kill yourfriend.”
“You’re not going to touch him! I’m allowed to talk topeople, Cil! I don’t want him. In fact, he teases me because all I do is talk about you.”
Cillian’s features soften slightly. “I’m meeting him.”
“Okay…did you think I would care? You can meet him when we get back from Michigan.” Their flight leaves early in the morning.
Cillian’s gaze finds mine.When we get backisn’t good enough for him. He wants to know everything he can about this Shai person ASAP.
I give him a simple nod, telling him I’ll take care of it.
“You’ll have Rory look into him, won’t you?”
“Are you two about to have an argument?” I ask and get flipped off by Cillian.
“Yes,” he tells Ollie. “I told you I won’t lie to you, and I won’t, so yes, I’ll have Rory and maybe Dean look into him. Not because I don’t trust you, but we live in a really dangerous world, and it’s important that I know who you’re spending time with.”
Ollie’s brows draw together. “That’s not something I thought about.”
“I’m sorry,” Cillian answers.
There’s no doubt in my mind he’s being real right now. He does feel bad, but what he’s saying is absolutely true. We learned this lesson from what went down with Dean—not that we would have discovered his true identity had we looked into him, but it showed us how easy it is to be fooled. “It’s because he loves you, Bunny.”
“I know. It’s just…new.”
“I’m sorry,” Cillian reiterates. “It comes with the territory when you’re mine. And make no mistake, there’s not a chance I won’t make sure he knows who you belong to.”
Heat flashes in Ollie’s gaze, and he shifts on my bed. “God, I can’t believe you’re jealous,” he says, choosing tofocus on that rather than yet another way his life will change because he’s with Cillian. “And why is that so hot?”
I laugh. Bunny surprises me often.
