“Never.” He shakes his head so hard it flutters his still-damp strands. “Never again.”
I believe him. Still, he seals his promise with a lingering kiss that softens the parts of me still coiled tight.
When we come up for air, I ask, “Reeve, what parts of your childhood were real?”
“All of them except for my father’s alcoholism and Mom’s cancer. Also, Quinn, as you might’ve guessed, didn’t die.” He presses his mouth against my collarbone. “The rest: her diabetes, ending up in juvie… That was all true.”
I twist my fingers through his wet locks, unraveling the strands, which I helped him shampoo and condition. I never thought I’d be the type of person who’d enjoy taking care of someone, but apparently that’s who I am.
“After Dad died, we left the organization but stayed in Boston. Mom got me a rescue Pitbull. Did I ever tell you about him?” At the shake of my head, he says, “His name was Cash. God, I loved that dog.” His wistful stare tells me Cash is gone.
It also drops my gaze to his shoes, to the piece of white leather bearing his dog’s name. “Your entire life was right there, drawn on your shoes.”
“In hindsight, I think I wore them so you’d figure out who I was. Unconsciously at first, and then consciously.”
“I would’ve killed you had I realized who you were.” I readjust his spiffy new glasses.
“I know, but I hated deceiving you, Electra. Especially once I got to know you.” A muscle jumps in his jaw. “I was so sure I could keep a level head. Keep sex purely physical. It had never been more than that before you. But when I took your virginity, it felt like I was taking something precious I had no right to.”
“My virginity was never precious.”
“To me, it was. To me, it meant I’d gotten you all wrong.”
I lean over and kiss his hard mouth. It’s short but not sweet. Before it grows into something more—like back in the shower—I pull away to ask, “So you lived with your mother and your dog…?”
“And Quinn. She came to live with us. For a while at least. It took her father almost a month to notice her absence. He came to collect her from the tiny walk-up Mom managed to rent thanks to her job as a cleaning lady. Sullivan was furious. He told us to leave his kid alone. Except he was the one who left her alone all the time.
“Quinn kept sneaking visits to ours but returning to HQ to sleep. One day, we were out in the junkyard, foraging, and her blood sugar crashed. She went into diabetic shock. God, I’d never been so scared.
“I should’ve called 9-1-1, but we were eleven and didn’t have phones, so I grabbed her and ran to the nearest drugstore. The place was closed—it was the middle of the night. I broke in and stole the insulin, grabbing all the injections I could before getting out.
“I didn’t get arrested, which of course made me feel invincible… Until the next break-in—again, because Sullivan Hayes was a selfish ass who couldn’t remember to get Quinn insulin. That was when I ended up in juvie.
“My poor mother… When she found out, the only person she could think to call was Dominic Caruso. That’s how we endedup back in the organization. Dom bailed me out, scrubbed my record, then offered us our old home back.
“Mom was so scared I’d break more laws, so convinced she wasn’t enough to keep me on the right track that she took him up on his offer before taking him up on his second offer—marriage. Even though she swore he didn’t force her hand, I preferred to believe that he did, because the alternative—that she could actually love him—somehow felt worse. My father had been Dom’s best friend.”
Reeve’s chest lifts with a sigh.
“Was Dominic nice to you and your mom?”
“Yeah. He was. Surprising, isn’t it? That the man who made your lives hell was capable of kindness. Unlike his psychopath son.”
“Trenton?” I ask.
He nods. “Hudson is just a useful idiot. He’s not rotten to the core.”
“So we shouldn’t kill him when we pick him up?”
Reeve tenses, then cranes his neck to look at me.
“You know we’re not going to stop hunting them, right?”
“Babe, as I told you yesterday and as I’ll tell you as many times as I need to for it to sink in, I have every intention of helping you bring down the organization. Especially now that the only Hunter I care about is safe.”
It’s ridiculous, but I can’t help the twinge of jealousy that travels through me at the mention of his love for Quinn. It must bleed over my expression, because he’s suddenly pinching my chin and twisting my face to his.
“Babe, I love her like you love Dorian.”
