Page 34 of The Human’s Heart

My eyebrows rose. “Seriously? You timed him?”

He shrugged. “We had a bet going, so yes.”

“What? Why wasn’t I asked to bet?”

Quinn waved me off. “You won three times in a row, so we decided to give someone else a chance.”

I threw another towel at him, making Arzu laugh. “That’s cheating.”

Quinn shrugged, giving me a shit-eating grin, and all I could do was shake my head at him.

“Oh, duty calls,” Arzu said, getting up from their seat and pointing at a table that needed to be cleared.

“Let me know if you need anything, okay?” I said, and they grinned at me.

“Thanks.”

After they walked away, I leaned in toward Quinn. “I like them.”

“Me too.”

We shared a smile before I went to help another customer.

By the time I finished serving them, Quinn was getting off his stool to head back to the front. He sent me a friendly wave as he walked by, and I returned it. But I couldn’t help but wonder if he was right about my viramore not wanting me to pet a grizzly bear shifter or whatever.

Sure, Zaos had saved me more than once by taking down the people who were after me, but surely, he wouldn’t hurt one of my friends just because I wanted to pet them.

What a weird fucking sentence to think.

But seriously, Zay was the sweetest person in the world.

He wouldn’t hurt a fly… unless that fly was trying to hurt someone he cared about. And giving grizzly pets was far from threatening.

…Right?

Chapter 10

Zaos

“Are you sure you’re okay with me going?” I asked Hugo for the millionth time.

He laughed and shooed me toward the door. “Yes, Zay, of course I am. You need to study. Go. It’s fine. Jett and Ward are coming over, and we’re gonna cook on the grill. They’ll still be here when you get back, so you won’t even miss our little cookout, okay?”

He’d assured me of this no less than twenty times. He was going to end up punching me if I asked him again.

Hugo scowled at me. “I would never punch you.”

“For fuck’s sake. I know that. It was just a figure of speech.”

“That isn’t a figure of speech.”

“It’s not?”

Hugo rolled his eyes and tugged on my hand. I easily moved into him, letting him pull me into a tight hug. After a few seconds of breathing each other in, he whispered, “I love you so much.”

“I love you too.”

“I would never ever, ever hurt you.”