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Gavin tugged on my hand to look at me. “You mean like jabbing someone in the neck?”
“Yeah.”
He stared at me for a long time before shaking his head and laughing. “Jesus, D. I’m so sorry for your loss. Must be tragic.”
“They’re taking away all the fun shit,” I grumbled.
“Nah, I’ve seen you move in there. You’re still doing deadly ‘fun’ shit.”
“Yeah, yeah.” I tugged him along, ready to get out of the rain.
Gavin and I had spent a lot of time talking about the future. While he’d been set on interior design forever, I’d never had a plan for myself, and he was determined to change that. Since fighting was something I was good at that didn’t involve needing a degree, he’d encouraged me to check it out.
Truthfully, I thought he just wanted me to stop all the underground fighting, since the last time we’d gone, a guy in the fight after mine broke his leg in a pretty gruesome, bone-sticking-out way that left Gavin traumatized.
I was giving it a shot. Didn’t really matter where I was fighting, as long as I got to. Being with Gavin had given me a sense of peace I’d never felt before, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t still an aggressive bastard with an urge to knock out assholes. It just happened a little less now.
“Ooh, wait.” Gavin squeezed my hand as he caught sight of the Antiques and More sign. “Can we go in for, like, two seconds?”
I glanced at the shop door. “Seriously?”
“Yeah, it’s been forever with all my studying and essays. I promise I won’t be long.”
“That’s like me promising not to throat-punch someone in my legit MMA.”
Gavin drew a cross over his chest. “Cross my heart.”
I sighed and reached for the door. “Fine. You win. But ten minutes, tops.”
Gavin’s face lit up with a bright smile, and despite the gloomy day, it warmed my insides. “I can promise you five. I just want to check?—”
“I know, I know.” I held open the door for him. “Go and ask where they keep their compasses.”
He chuckled and planted a smacking kiss on my cheek, then all but ran inside as I stowed our umbrellas in the bucket by the front door. Not even a minute later and Gavin was back my side, towing me through the packed aisles. His excitement was palpable as we got closer to his destination.
“He said they’re kept in a glass case back here with the— Oh, right there, the broaches.”
Gavin came to a stop in front of an old dresser, and sitting on top in the center was a large wooden case. It had a glass lid showing off the items inside, and as Gavin scanned over each one, he was so quiet, you could’ve heard a pin drop.
“Oh my God!” He grabbed my arm, clasping it tight, as he leaned down closer to the box. “It’s here! I found it!”
I shouldn’t have been surprised by the strong grip he had, but as his excitement mounted, his fingers dug even harder into my skin, making me wince.
“Found…?”
Gavin whirled around on me, his eyes sparkling with joy. “The compass I’ve been looking for. The rare silver pocket sundial and compass by Michael Butterfield, Paris, circa 1700.” He spun back to the case again, this time gently lifting the lid. “Remember? I told you about it?”
Oh, I remembered. I’d filed that little piece of information away in my brain so I could have this very moment here.
“Now that you mention it, I think I do remember.”
“Yeah.” He gently lifted the piece out of the case like it was the Ark of the Covenant. “I told you about it on our first?—”
Gavin stopped talking when he spotted my smile, then he looked down at the piece in his hand, then back to me.
“Date.” I stepped in closer, needing to touch him when I said what I did next. “Yeah, I know. That day, something changed for me. I realized that being with you, around you, made me so much happier than being alone.”
“Daire…”
