As I sifted through the bag, I recognized every piece of clothing. Still too stunned to speak, I lifted the lid on the bankers boxes. More and more of my stuff, stuff fromGabe’sapartment.
Some boxes were full of photo frames and paintings, yearbooks and scrapbooks. Others had underwear, socks. Most bizarre of all, a kitchen box full of Gabe’s nicest utensils — including his expensive German knives.
“These aren’t even mine… how did you… even know where he lived?” My mouth had been hanging open the entire time.
Leo let out a sigh, leaning against the doorway. “He’s not a hard guy to find. Just looked for guys named Gabe who came into a hospital with fight wounds. Traced everything back. Snuck in, grabbed your stuff.”
Shaking my head, I glared at my two angels. “That’s a crime.”
“Only if we get caught.” Spencer smirked. “Get changed into something comfortable, Bunny. We’ll be in the living room when you’re ready.”
In the silence of my room, the act really hit me. All I’d had to do was tell Leo one time how much I missed having my things. And these two had snapped their fingers and made it so.
But as I got changed, slipping on the loose sweats I’d had since I moved out of Maura’s house, one thought wouldn’t leave my mind.
They know how to break and enter. How to steal hospital records.
Even if they had wings on that tattoo of theirs, they weren’t angels.
I swallowed my nerves as I trodded down the stairs.
There was no use in getting too comfortable here — even if Leo and Spencer seemed hellbent on making this my home much to Dom’s annoyance. Spencer and Leo were nice enough, but Dom was a goddamn monster waiting for her first chance to sink her teeth into me. My saviors might be able to fend her off for now, but I wasn’t stupid. Dom’s “kindness” of letting me stay here wouldn’t last forever.
I couldn’t live like a caged tiger forever. I needed to start making other plans so that when Dom finally kicked me out, I might land on my feet. And right now, more than anything, I just needed to stretch my fucking legs.
I passed through the long hallway at the base of the stairs, keeping my eyes ahead as my ears listened out for any signs of life. Despite the growling in my stomach, I never made it to the kitchen.
As I passed the door to the living room, my eyes caught on Leo first. She sat on the left side of the couch with one arm draped over the back, the other elbow pressed into the arm while she propped her head up with a fist. She was dressed in a tightblack t-shirt with the sleeves cuffed to reveal her tattoos and a loose pair of green joggers.
Beside her, Spencer was sprawled across the right side, one long leg draping down the front of the couch while the other propped up on the vintage coffee table. Her heather gray muscle tee drooped low at the armpits, hiding very little.
A week with Spencer was enough to tell me that that was exactly her intention. Her skin was bare, no sports bra in sight, but as she grasped the back of her neck, it wasn’t just bulging muscle that she revealed. There was a delicate tattoo along her ribcage, too hard to make out from the doorway, but?—
“Stare much?” Spencer laughed, flicking her hungry gaze up and down my body. “If I knew you liked to watch so much, I would have put on more of a show.”
I crossed my arms, ignoring her as my gaze to the crystal bowl of Doritos on the coffee table. “Mind if I have some?”
Leo sat forward, lifting the bowl toward me. “Come. What's ours is yours.”
I crossed the room, plucking a chip from the bowl as I glanced over at the TV. “Cartoons?”
Scoffing, she held a hand over her heart. “Did you just callBojack Horsemana cartoon?”
I furrowed my brows at her before returning my gaze to the animated horse in the blue sweater grumbling on the TV. “I mean, what else would you call it?”
“Art!” Spencer piped in, patting her lap. “Come sit. It’s time you got an education in art history.”
I knew that the gesture was meant to fluster me, but I wasn’t going to let Spencer have that power. Popping another Dorito in my mouth, I plopped down next to her, close enough for our thighs to press. “So what’s this all about?”
“No, no no.” Leo swiped up the remote, clicking back to the first episode. “If we’re going to do this, we’re going to do it right.”
She returned her arm to the back of the couch just as the opening credits rolled. Even without touching, I could feel the warmth radiating off of her, could feel the draw to snuggle up into her arms.
It was crazy how comfortable I’d gotten with my captors in a few short days. But they’d already seen me at my worst the night they found me. And as far as first impressions went… I’d made better ones.
It was a whole lot easier to open up though when your reputation couldn’t sink any lower. Not that they ever made me feel judged for what happened that night. If anything, I’d wager they might be softer on me because of it.
That and the huge crush they were both harboring for me, against all reason. I’d tried telling them I was straight, but if they wanted to be masochists about it, there wasn’t much I could do to stop them.
