We had several locks because I’m a paranoid nutcase who breaks into people’s homes for a living. We also had an alarm system that Vox keeps up to date for me, so even professional hackers would have a hard time breaching our system.
After sliding open the final bolt, I stepped into the house and sighed happily.
Home sweet home.
Passing the enormous gnome-shaped umbrella stand, I didn’t bother taking off my combat boots as I made my way toward the living room where Naomi was usually waiting for me.
We had lived in this townhouse for sixteen years. Cass had only moved out recently, but this is more or less where we grew up after we had escaped our mom’s house.
It was nice, with marble tile floors and white walls, and I had just paid someone to renovate the kitchen recently after Naomi had gone on a serious HGTV kick.
So now we had waterfall marble counters and Edison bulb pendant lighting, which seemed to make her happy.
We also had ashit tonof gnomes because both Cass and I had a habit of picking them up whenever we were out.
Gnomes for Naomi.
She pretended to hate it, but her eyes sparkled every time we introduced her to the newest addition.
Sure enough, I found her on the couch in the living room. She was curled around her favorite gnome-shaped Squishmallow and glaring at the sunkissed vampire that was my best friend.
Vox was at the kitchen table with his laptop set up, though he wasn’t staring at the computer.
He was glaring back at Naomi, his lips drawn in a tight line.
I frowned.
“Hey, kids, I’m home!” I declared, hoping to lighten the decidedly tense and awkward mood.
Naomi immediately abandoned her glaring match with Vox and beamed at me, which only made Vox narrow his eyes further.
“What’s going on in here? You two have fun?”
“Not really. Your friend is a joyless grump. Why’d you send him, anyway? I don’t need a babysitter.”
I shot Vox a quizzical glance, but he wasn’t even looking at me. He slammed his laptop shut and stood up, sliding the device into his black Jansport backpack.
Scowling, he stalked past me toward the front door.
“Hey man, thanks for watching out for her!” I called after him, but he didn’t look back; he just flipped me off and slammed the door behind him. I whirled to face Naomi, cocking my head to the side.
“What’d you do to piss old Voxy off?” I asked, though I was more amused than anything.
She rolled her eyes. “Oh,please.He showed up pissed off. It’s not my fault he’s shit with communication.”
I raised an eyebrow. “I’m not sure it’s his fault either. He can’t speak, I’m pretty sure it’s a trauma thing.”
She shot me a look that said, ‘Don’t make excuses for him.’
“You don’t need tospeakto communicate, Cal. He was being a stubborn ass.”
“Thatdoessound like him,” I mused, moving to the fridge to see if we had anything to drink.
“Whatever. I don’t want to talk about him. What are you doing home so early? I figured if you sent a babysitter, you were going to be out late.”
I grabbed an ice-blue sports drink and cracked the top open, slurping back a sip before turning and leaning against the counter to face her.
“He wasn’t ababysitter,Gnomes. I just hadn’t been home in a few days and wanted to send someone to make sure you were alright. I know you can take care of yourself.”
