I feel my lips stretching into a smile. I prop an elbow on the counter and lean my chin in my palm to cover my mouth.
Alfie chuckles again. “Alright, Maggie, don’t strain yourself. You don’t have to touch my room again.”
She shakes her head and grabs her mop bucket again, wheeling it out the kitchen. “Maybe the Valor can get some discipline into you, I sure as hell give up.”
The Valor. She’s just made her feelings for me crystal clear.
Alfie watches her leave with a look of adoration on his face, then turns back to me. “She’s a good woman, that one. Miserable as fuck, but she loves us.”
“I don’t think she likes me much.”
Alfie waves it off. “Don’t take it to heart. She’ll never be nice to you, but that’s just her. She shows her love in other ways. She says she won’t touch my room again every week. I’ll go upstairs and it’ll all be tidy. And again next week.”
I bite my lip. “You could just keep it tidy.”
He raises his brows at me. “You throwing out orders already?”
My heart plummets. “No – no, of course not–”
Alfie barks a laugh. “I’m kidding, princess, don’t panic.”
I let out a shaky breath.
Alfie comes over to me. “What would you like to do now?”
Sleep. Abscond. Lie down on a cold, hard ground. “I don’t know.”
Alfie studies me with piercing eyes, then his shoulders sag. “Go back to bed. I’ve got shit to do before Cade gets home, anyway. Go rest, and I’ll talk to Higgins about setting up a drip.”
I have no idea who Higgins is. I ease off the stool. “You’ll leave me alone? Thought you couldn’t take your eyes off me.”
“I’m not sure there’s much you can do to be a nuisance lying in Caden’s bed. Plus, you’ve seen the muscle here now. If you get up to anything, you know you’ll have Bob and Bruiser to answer to.”
That’s enough incentive to stay in the room. I nod and go to walk away, but Alfie takes my hand again, walking with me.
“I’ll escort you.”
There’s that foreign warmth again. It’s tight and secure around my hand and my chest. I’m not sure what to do with it.
When we reach the bedroom again, I turn to him, easing my hand out of his gentle grip. “Why are being so nice? Don’t you all hate me?”
Alfie’s tongue pokes out to run over his bottom lip as his eyes drop to the floor. He scratches the back of his head for a moment before saying, “Honestly, I don’t really have an opinion on you. I don’t know you. I was given a job to do and I thought if you can comply on your own, it makes both our lives easier. Brute force isn’t my thing, unless it’s in the bedroom.” His eyes flicker up my body before meeting my eyes. A brief flutter goes off in my stomach as he holds my gaze.
He clears his throat before breaking the stare again. “Anyway, as long as you behave, I’ll always be nice. I’ll say it once more: if you don’t step on anyone’s toes here, you’ll have a good life. Take that as gospel. Get some rest, I’ll check on you in a bit.”
He stalks back down the hall and I close the door. I wait for a moment to hear the click of a lock, the scrape of a metal bolt, but none comes. I’m free to leave this bedroom whenever I wish, if I want to get mauled by dogs.
I go over to the enormous bed. It could easily fit four people in it. It’s irrational. Now my head’s a bit clearer and my senses are coming back to me, I can take in the masculine scent that fills the room. Mixtures of colognes and soaps, mingled with the floral remnants of whatever was in my bath. It’s fresh and clean, but I suppose anything would smell like that to me.
I stare at the bed for a few moments before grabbing the black blanket that’s folded and laid along the foot of the mattress, and one of the fat pillows. Walking round to the side of the huge bed frame, I ease myself onto the floor, stretching out my skinny, aching limbs as the hard wood caresses my bones like a lover’s embrace. This is more like it.
CHAPTER 6
FIZ
It’s late when I get back to Caden’s house. Dropping off always takes longer than pickup for me. All the checking and incredulous looks and “You sure all the body parts are there?” No, dipshit, I’m risking my life just to give you half of it. Maybe my patience was a little thinner than usual, I was anxious to get back to the enticing little blonde Caden’s caught himself.
Seriously, he’s not going to run right fucking through that? So much fresh meat to explore, so much soft skin to mar.
