Landon bit his lip against a grin. He was clearly trying not to laugh when he said, “Just fine, Ms. Bedi. We were going to show my ex out. He’s trespassing.”
Ms. Bedi looked at me, perched on Geoff’s chest. Her dark brown eyes scanned my naked silhouette, and I sent her a friendly smile.
She clicked her tongue. “Well, you’d better suit up before you go marching our intruder through the halls with allthathanging out.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Before I could get up and get dressed, she shrugged out of her robe. Standing there in her nightgown, she held it out to me. “Return it when you’re done, sweetie.”
“Thank you.” I shrugged into the powder-pink robe and held out a hand to help Geoff to his feet. He knocked it away.
“You want to stay up here while I take him down?” I asked Landon.
After a swallow and what seemed to be hesitation over whether or not he was allowed to let me handle this, he nodded. Before Geoff could dart away, I grabbed him by the back of the neck and turned him toward the stairwell.
“I’ll be right back,” I called, shoving him forward.
As we made our way downstairs, I didn’t let go of him, even when he shrugged away and tried to duck out of my grip.
“Why would you—why aren’t you sticking to your own kind? You know he’s just a?—”
Whatever poison this viper was about to spit, I wasn’t having it. I jerked him around by the back of his neck, and when I pinned him to the wall, I braced him there with my forearm.
“You really are an ornery piece of shit, you know that?”
He just glared at me.
To be fair, I had a good few inches on him.
“First off,” I said, “Landonismy own kind. He is a bright spot in the middle of a lot of bullshit, and I’ve got bad news for you, bud. You’re the fucking cow pie. Second, he is amazing. It’s a godsdamned miracle that he had people like you around him and still managed to come out the other side so fucking amazing. If you can’t see that, you’re duller than I thought you were.”
He blinked, flushed and furious as he snarled through his teeth at me. “He’s a lap kitten.”
I snorted. “He’s my boyfriend, and the only reason you’re walking out of here today with all your parts intact is that I’m grateful to you.”
He jerked back so hard his head hit the wall. “What?”
“If you weren’t such an incredible asshole, he wouldn’t have come here. So, let’s get that box and you can get on your way, hm?”
When I got back upstairs, Ms. Bedi was still in the hall, rubbing Landon’s arm.
I was glad she’d stayed with him, that he had people who cared for him even when I wasn’t around. As soon as he saw me get off the elevator, he lurched forward. “Everything okay?”
Smiling, I nodded. “Just fine.”
His gaze dropped hungrily to the box in my arms. “And you got it?”
“Yeah. I only saw the top pieces, but they looked okay.”
Gently, he eased the box from my grip, and I let him. As much as I wanted to carry things for him, make his life easier, sometimes, I’d just have to let him make sure everything was all right on his own.
Didn’t mean I couldn’t be there to watch over him.
“You boys have a good morning,” Ms. Bedi said before going back into her apartment. I followed Landon into his, and he set the box on the counter before pulling the pieces out, unwrapping them one by one.
They weren’t broken. No chips, no shattered saucers. All a perfect ivory with an old-fashioned blue pattern.
“I didn’t think I’d get them back,” Landon said, his voice choked and rough with feeling. He looked up at me for a second, his eyes glassy.
