He’s right.
As much as he gets on my nerves, in all the worst ways and the ones I don’t want to think about too closely, he saved me.
Gave me somewhere to stay.
Gave me… more than that.
“Dex?” I call as I step into the apartment.
Marvel immediately pads over, rubbing against my legs, purring like nothing in the world is wrong. I pick him up, burying my face briefly in his fur, grounding myself in something soft, something simple.
“What, Tinker?” Dex asks from behind me, moving past me toward the TV like this is normal, like being snowed in together doesn’t change anything.
He flips it on, the local news already mid-broadcast, his attention shifting between the screen and everything else in the room, like he’s tracking more than he’s letting on.
“Thank you,” I say quietly. “For helping me.”
My voice comes out smaller than I expect.
He pauses.
Turns.
Just… looks at me.
Like he’s actually considering it, like he doesn’t quite know what to do with it.
Then he gives a single nod.
We both turn toward the TV.
“…residents are advised to remain indoors,” the reporter says. “Authorities warn that road conditions are rapidly deteriorating, with several closures already in effect. The storm is expected to intensify over the next several days, and a full shutdown is possible if conditions worsen…”
Outside, the wind howls louder now, snow hitting the windows in sharp bursts, the world beyond them almost completely gone.
Inside…
it’s just us.
And nowhere else to go.
CHAPTER 16
Dexter
The storm doesn’t let up.
I hear it before I’m fully awake, the wind dragging across the building, snow hitting the windows in uneven bursts, sharp and restless, like it’s trying to get in.
I stare at the ceiling for a second, listening, the weight of it sitting heavy in the silence.
It’s too quiet outside.
That’s never a good sign.
I push the covers back and sit up, running a hand over my face, trying to shake off the edge of it, but it lingers, low and constant. The room is dim, gray light bleeding through the curtains, the kind that tells you it’s morning without ever really becoming it.
I swing my legs over the side of the bed and stand, rolling the stiffness out of my shoulders before heading to the window.
