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No one I can't walk away from.

My gaze moves to the open bedroom door.

Somewhere down the hall, Scooby-Doo plays quietly for a dog who apparently lives here now.

I almost laugh.

Then Callie's fingers curl against my chest.

But I don't. Because this doesn't feel funny anymore.

She's here.

Her dog is here.

His shit is here.

My house hasn't had this much life in it since I moved in.

And I don't want any of it gone.

“Roman?”

“What?”

“Don't disappear before I wake up.”

My chest tightens.

“Go to sleep, Chaos.”

“That's not an answer.”

Of course it isn't.

She's quiet for several seconds. “Roman?”

“I'm here.”

Her body relaxes against mine.

A minute later, her breathing evens out.

I stare at the ceiling.

I'm here.

Two words I've spent eleven years making sure no one could ever say about me.

And for the first time, I don't want to be anywhere else.

38

ROMAN

I wake up warm.

That's the first thing I notice.