After unlocking the door, I pushed it open, and Haz raced forward. I caught him by the neck and pulled him back. He let out a strangled sound and twisted to look up at me.
“I’ll go in first,” I said.
“It’s literally our house,” he retorted, but his face fell immediately. “Isn’t it?”
He really was a hazard. A hazard to my heart.
My grip on his neck softened, turning into a four-finger caress. “Of course it’s our house, baby doll.” I assured him. “Yours and mine. But we just left a meeting with the mob. I’ll go in first in case there is trouble.”
“But Uncle Enzo and Uncle Gio said we were safe!”
My patience was strained. “You can’t trust someone you just met.”
“But I just met you.”
The devil is testing my murderous inclinations. “I’m your exception,” I told him, more aggressive than I intended.
“Am I yours?”
The devil has nothing on you.“You are,” I admitted softly. “The exception to my very existence.”
Puckering his lips, he rose on tiptoes. Unable to resist, I met him halfway. What was supposed to be a simple peck turned into more as our lips rubbed and parted, my tongue sweeping in to lazily explore his mouth. Peace I hadn’t known since the last time we’d kissed smoothed out the worst of my edges, and the way his tongue pushed back against mine gave the me from last week the middle finger.
The loud clearing of a throat interrupted the little escape from reality when Haz lifted his head. Irritated, my lips chased his. My greed for him knew no bounds.
Haz came back, and I kissed his smile, but then he was gone again.
“Doc, thank you so much for coming. How’s Ghost?”
He started forward, and I anchored my arm around his waist.
“If it wasn’t safe in there, I think we would know,” he said.
I still wasn’t letting go. I didn’t want to. He couldn’t make me.
Even though I said none of that, Haz smiled faintly and laid his hand over mine where I grasped him before turning back to Doc.
“Ghost is stable,” he told us as we entered the apartment.
The doctor continued speaking, likely updating us on Ghost’s condition, but I didn’t hear. My attention instantly veered to the stuff all over the island.
A bloody shirt, a few water bottles, and the keys to the SUV. An ice tray. A bottle of pain reliever and a bloody towel. There were shoes scattered on the floor with Ghost’s bloody leather jacket.
A shrill whistle pierced the room, and I followed the sound into the kitchen where the kettle was boiling angrily, steam shooting out of the spout.
I gazed around for the person who put it on the burner and then walked away, but of course the kitchen was empty.
My eye twitched as it continued to whistle. Just as I reached for it, Rett appeared, bare feet slapping over the floor.
“I got it!” he said, sliding it to another burner. Turning to me, he explained, “I was going to make tea, but then I wasn’t sure if you had any. And then doc said I could go see Ghost. I forgot about the water…” His words trailed off, but I continued to stare.
Hazard rushed in, opening and closing cabinets. When he found the one with mugs, he made a sound and then hoisted himself onto the counter so he could reach one.
I glanced back at the front door. Surely, this wasn’t my home. This was a fucking zoo.
“Doc, do you want tea?” Hazard yelled.
“Tea would be nice,” he called from somewhere in the condo.
