How was I supposed to reconcile the file folder filled with the facts written in black and white with the man in front of me who was the very definition of gray?
How had I fallen so fast—so hard—in such a short amount of time? How had my completely organized and clean-cut world become so chaotic?
I knew I had to tell him everything, but I was loath to do it. Not because I thought he couldn’t handle it. Even though every fiber in my being wanted to protect him, I understood my little hazard was not weak. I was thankful for it. There was no place for weakness in this life, and I had no intention of living any more of it without him.
But I coveted his innocence. Incorruptible in a world overflowing with corruption. How guileless those blue and green eyes remained.
What if this was his downfall? What ifIwas his downfall? What if the answers I promised to give turned him from a stammering innocent into a dissimulating skeptic?
My kill count was high, but butchering that part of him was something I could not live with.
“Why are you so smelly?”
The question snapped me out of the downward spiral, and I glanced down at the man in my arms. His entire body moved with an exaggerated sniff, and as he exhaled, he shifted back, nose wrinkled. His chin tipped up, but before our eyes could collide, his hand caught on the gun stuffed into the waistband at my back.
He froze, eyes darting up then away. I stepped back, but it was already too late. Haz yanked the gun from beneath my jacket and stared at it filling his palm.
“Oh my God! Did you kill someone?” he demanded. Leaning in, he sniffed me again, his eyes blowing wide. “Is that stinky smelldeath?”
I snatched the gun from him, irritated that it looked so large in his slight grip, and put it away with my other weapons before closing the door. “You can barely walk, but you can find a secret room of guns,” I muttered, completely annoyed.
I already had one shitty thing to tell him. Now I had two.
“It was obvious,” he stated.
I crossed my arms over my chest. “Obvious, my ass.”
“Well, your ass is obviously nice.”
“Hazard,” I barked. How dare he try and distract me from his snooping with compliments to my ass?
An ass he likes.
“The wallpaper was peeling up,” he said, pointing to a spot near the floor. “It was totally sus. A man like you would never put up with such imperfection.”
Observant little shit.
“I’m taking a shower,” I declared, brushing past him to head toward the primary bathroom.
“But I want answers,” he hollered, scrambling after me. “Ahh!” The sound was breathless and followed by a scuffle and then a thump.
I spun back to find Haz in a heap in the center of the hall, the carpet runner flipped up on one side.
“Where did you even get this carpet, deathwish.com?” he said, sitting up with a grimace. “I’ve tripped on it like five hundred times. It’s givingFinal Destinationvibes.”
He would like that movie. “Where did you get your feet, ineptbodyparts.com?” I countered even as I lifted him into my arms.
“You smell so bad it’s making my eyes water,” he complained, wrapping his arms around my neck.
My eyebrows rose. “Would you care to walk?”
“Of course not. How about you answer a question while you carry me?”
“No.”
“Where did you go?” he asked anyway.
I didn’t answer.
