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“Hell if I know. But you saved me.”
I shrugged. “All I did was give you a place to stay.”
“Eden.” He scraped a hand over his multi-colored hair. “I was barely surviving. I was even thinking of selling myself to one of the pervs who were always coming around the subway tunnels.”
My heart dropped into my stomach. “I didn’t know.”
“No judgment on the guys who do, but—” He closed his eyes, shook his head. “Anyway, I just needed to know someone cared whether I lived or died. And you did. You saved my goddamned life. Don’t you know that?”
I rolled my lips into my mouth. “Rio…”
He jabbed a finger at me. “Don’t cry.”
“I’m not.” I swiped at my eyes before the tears spilled over.
His brown eyes were suspiciously wet. He pointed at them. “See what you did?”
“C’mere.” I held out my arms again and he lunged. We enfolded each other in a tight hug, both of us sniffing. “I love you, you know.”
His arms tightened on me. “Love you back.”
We stayed that way for a beat, then he sat back with a lopsided smile. “Anyway.”
I grinned back. “Anyway.” I reached for my water and he handed it to me.
I drank and he put it back on the nightstand for me. “Something I’ve been wondering,” I said. “Why did Mrs. Park want me to have a switchblade in the first place?”
“She said that you should have a weapon, that she had a bad feeling about some of the people in this castle. Her nape was prickling, and that’s always a sign something was off.”
“Why didn’t she tell Twilight, then?”
“I think she did. Twilight was keeping an eye on you, wasn’t she?”
“I suppose so.”
“In the end, you helped each other, didn’t you?”
“Yeah.” My smile spread across my face.
“And guess what? Mrs. Park’s going to teach me some basic self-defense, including how to use a switchblade. I want to be able to defend you.”
“That’s nice,” I said, touched. “But I don’t want you to get hurt because of me. And you don’t have to defend me. Twilight’s going to teach me some moves, too.”
“That’s good, but it’s not up to you. And you’re not going to send me home, either. I have a contract, and I like it here. For now, I’m staying.”
I nodded slowly. Rio was an adult, and to be honest, in New York, he’d been the streetwise one, not me. Still, up until now, I’d thought of myself as his defender, not the other way around. Maybe not his savior like he seemed to think, but I’d definitely been taking care of him.
Still, it was odd, having him take charge like this. Like déjà vu, only in reverse. This was what it would feel like when my baby grew up.
I quirked a brow. “You think they’ll let Mrs. Park give you a switchblade?”
“Are you kidding?” He chuckled and sat back. “No one tells that woman what to do.”
After that, Olivia and I played cards, then I took another nap and went for a short walk, Jasper accompanying me around the castle courtyard. I was back in bed, reading, when Talon finally emerged from his vault.
“Olivia says you’re having nightmares.” He sat on the edge of the mattress, brows drawn together.
I wrinkled my nose. “I keep dreaming I’m back in that cellar.”
