“No, she will definitely run and not look back, and we don’t have a job to lean on to convince her to see us again.” He fiddles with his hands, like he’s anxious. It’s not a look I’m used to from him.
I glance over at Nyx. She is intently organizing her books and placing them back on her shelves. She lingers longer over the books that are very damaged. I wonder if those are her favorites or if damaged books just hurt her heart in general. I need to go over and see what books are in the worst condition so we can replace them for her.
We throw a load of the surviving dishes in the dishwasher because we aren’t sure what they did to them when they were destroying things. I will handwash whatever doesn’t fit in here. Most of the surviving dishes are her plastic stuff. Anything breakable is in pieces on the floor. I walk over to the tall cupboard along her refrigerator and open it, hoping this is where the broom is stored. Grabbing the broom and dustpan to clean up all the broken dishes on the floor.
Everything on the floor is swept into a pile off to the side. When there is a knock on the door and I see Nyx make her way to the door. “Let me, Little Fox. I trust no one.” I glance over my shoulder at Hutch. “Got my six?”
“Of course.” He pulls his gun out from his holster at his hip before following behind me. His gun is tucked behind him. No need to scare the person at the door if they aren’t a threat.
Looking through the peephole, “it’s just the pizza guy.” I say. Opening the door, I put on a friendly face, or as friendly as I can, I greet him.
Setting our pizza and cheese bread on the counter, they both follow behind me. We each make a plate, pour a drink and head to the living room. I observe Nyx in her own environment. I can see the stress lingering in her shoulders, and I make a vow to myself to make sure she never has to stress like this again. I am not sure where this is all coming from, but I don’t hate it.
“So, Little Witch. Tell us about yourself.” I just shake my head at him. He is just diving right into the business.
“Well, growing up, my dad was in the police force, and I wanted to be like him. He wasn’t a fan of that idea, but I needed to prove to him I could. When I graduated from high school, I knew we couldn’t afford college or the academy, so I opted to join the army first.”
“What did you do in the army?” I question. This girl is definitely an enigma.
“I did 6 years as an Intelligence Analyst, I got out as an E6, and made the transition to being a civilian. I had just moved back to Michigan with my Dad, when he was killed on duty, so I joined the police force as a way to honor him, and I still wanted to prove him wrong. What about yourselves?”
“We are just Uncle Sam’s little killing machines, aka grunts.” I chuckle. I hold back the string of questions I want to ask. She just shakes her head at my comment and lets out a little giggle.
“That explains so much.” What could she possibly mean by that?
We finish eating our pizza, and we clean up the kitchen. Packing away the leftovers into the stainless steel fridge. Shemakes a quick comment about wanting to go take a shower before she leaves us in the living room. Most of the apartment has been put back together. Some things have been busted and will need to be replaced, but for the most part, it was undamaged.
Hutch is curled up in that damn reading chair, phone in his hand. He has that sly smile on his face like he is up to no good. He is in serious deep shit with this girl. Not that I have much to laugh at him for. I am in, just as deep. I walk over to the chair and plop down on the ottoman in front of him.
“What are you up to?” I cock one eyebrow up looking at him.
“I am putting in a security order for Little Witch. We cannot force her to live with us, but until we find out who this is, I can make sure this place is as secure as I can make it. This is what we do Dee, we keep people safe.” I can tell he is reeling, and the only thing he can do is take his experience and knowledge and put it to good use.
“What are you talking about?” Oh, fuck. I didn’t even hear the shower turn off, let alone give her time to get dressed. “What do you mean, force me to live with you?”
“Babe, you didn’t hear that right. I said We can’t force you to live with us-”
“Was that even a consideration?” FUCK.
“Graham, let me explain this.” I place my hand out to stop him from digging us a bigger hole than I have a ladder to get us out of.
“Little Fox, please keep in mind that we are very new to the possessive feelings that are stirring inside of us. We have always had a woman to fuck, not ones we want to keep around, let alone will lay our lives down to keep safe.”
“You’re not helping your case, Demon.”
“Goddamn it.” I rub my eyes with my thumb and pointer finger. “Ok, let me try this again. Earlier when we were cleaningup, there was a very brief conversation with Graham about how weCANNOT,” putting emphasis on that. “Force you to live with us, even though we really want to. Our house is massive. You could have your ow-”
“No, not happening. Continue trying to dig yourself out of the hole.” One eyebrow cocked up and her hands on her hips, waiting for me to respond. I take a deep breath and get up from the ottoman.
“Well, we both said we couldn’t make you do it, as I said. So we wanted to give you the options, to at least come crash with us tonight or have us crash here. Ideally, we really do not want to leave you alone while we have no idea who broke into your apartment and what they were after.” I see her body soften a little, the walls she built after mishearing us lowering slightly.
“I had started to pack a bag to go with y’all to your place because that was the plan originally.” She responds. “Can we start tonight and see where things go?”
“Of course!” Graham almost launches off the chair, so excited that she didn’t completely turn us down.
“Yes, Little Fox. That sounds perfect. We will head back to the house for tonight. Graham had told me that he is placing a security order so we can beef this place up a little bit. Will you let us ensure your safety while you are here?”
“I suppose that isn’t such a bad idea. Also, I don’t need Cap being worried that I am in danger, so we are not going to tell the police that my apartment was broken into. Captain Montgomery has taken over the worrying dad role since everything.” That is an odd suggestion from a cop herself, but for now I will follow her lead, unless I think we need help keeping her safe.
