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Fuck my life!
Crossing my arms onto the table, I lower my head onto them and say a muffled, “What else did I do?”
Nox chuckles. Something about that chuckle I don’t like. I know I’m not going to like what I hear. “Well, you- uh- you sort of kissed me. Twice.” He says quietly.
Oh my fu-. This just gets better and better.
My face flushes brighter than red and I lift my face. Nox wiggles his brows at me looking all too pleased with himself, and I can’t help but laugh at my own stupidity. “Well, that sucks. My first kiss and I can’t even remember it. Figures. Was I bad?”
Nox’s smile falls right off his face. He looks stunned. Leaning forward over the table, he stares at me wide-eyed. “Never been kissed? What do you mean never been kissed?”
Oh man. Me and my big mouth.
Trying to shake it off, I shrug. “No big deal. I didn’t exactly have a lot of opportunities to meet people, namely guys living under the lock and key of my father now, did I? Just one of those things. So I guess I sucked at it, huh?”
Nox frowns, leans back and away from me. He looks up as if in thought. “No. Not bad. A little sloppy. But I couldn’t really judge because I stopped you both times after a few seconds. And I was tempted to take a photo of you molesting me as blackmail material, but I didn’t…because I’m a gentleman.”
At the gentleman part of his mini rant, I burst into laughter and it hurts my entire dehydrated and hungover body. “You are so not a gentleman, Nox! Whatever made you think that? You’re like anti-gentleman. You’re rough and scary and downright mean sometimes. You’re jaggedman not gentleman!” I guffaw.
He scowls at me but doesn’t say a thing. Immediately, I feel like an ass and try to soften the blow that I didn’t expect would strike him. “Look, it’s probably just because of the job you do. I’m sure you can be a gentleman if you tried, Nox. Really.”
Someone stumbles into the kitchen. We both look over at Boo who looks worse than I did this morning. Nox opens his mouth to say something, but she cuts him off with a swipe of her hand. “No.”
Boo glares at me. “God, you suck. Remind me never to drink with you again. You’re like a freakin’ bottomless pit. You just kept guzzling.”
I shrug. “I’m Irish.” I say that as if that should explain my drinking ability.
Boo cringes and hisses, “Ssshhhhhh!”
I chuckle quietly. I hadn’t even spoken loudly. Nox grins at her. “You better get your shit together today, Boo. I won’t let you sleep in tomorrow. You’re lucky I let Rock look after you today. He should be on ground patrol.”
Boo snorts. “Look after me? The ass is asleep, Nox. Didn’t lift a finger when I rushed myself to the bathroom to throw up, just snored and turned over.”
Nox scowls, “That fucker. He’s pulling a double this afternoon.”
Boo grins in victory. I love the relationship she and Rock have. It’s unlike any relationship I’ve seen or read about. It’s almost like they’re in constant competition with each other but never drastically, only playfully. It’s a sweet rivalry. I smile wistfully.
They must have a lot of fun together. Lucky them.
I’ll be lucky if I ever get a boyfriend. Knowing my luck, it’ll never happen. I’ll be the old, plump, spinster that knits covers for everything I own. Throw in a few cats for companionship and that will be my life. I mean, I can’t even remember my first kiss and it only happened last night.
Nox and Boo chat while she pours herself a cup of Joe. Unintentionally, I find myself looking over at Nox’s full lips and my brain wanders.
What would they have felt like? Rough or soft? Maybe he uses chap-stick.
I fight the urge to scoff out loud. Nox does not use freakin’ chap-stick, brain!
Okay, scratch the chap-stick. Did he kiss me back? Would his kisses have been sweet and gentle, or demanding and possessive?
Holy shit, I’m making myself antsy.
Well, he did say he stopped you after a few seconds. Why didn’t he stop you immediately?
Well…because…that…that is actually a good point. Why didn’t he stop me immediately?
Because he wanted you to lay one on him, of course!
No way, brain. You’re crazy. Which means I’m crazy.
Well, I am having a conversation with my brain. I’ve officially lost it. Bravo, Nox. You win. I need to stop reading erotic romance. It obviously fills my head with sexual thoughts…all the freakin’ time.
“Lily?”
I shake my head and look up to see Nox and Boo both staring at me and looking concerned. “How long was I out of it?”
Boo grins. “A while. Been callin’ you for a solid minute, hon.”
Nox’s lip twitches and I glare at him as if this is all his fault. I tell him pointedly. “I am never drinking again,” then throw my head down on the table with a bang.
Chapter Thirteen
Your knife. My back.
Lily
It’s been weeks since I slept in my own bed, but every day I stop in at my old room to get a change of clothes. And today is no exception. Walking into my room, I stop dead in my tracks when I see a small white box on my bed. It’s pretty damn small, so I’m ninety-nine percent sure it’s not a bomb.
Sigh.
Shaking my head, I mentally chastise myself for being stupidly ridiculous. That’s the problem though. When you find out someone’s trying to kill you, you become suspicious of everything. And what with my dad’s paranoia rubbing off on me, suspicion plus paranoia equals cray-cray.
I walk closer to it and scrawled on the top in chicken-scratch writing is ‘Lily’.
Lowering my hand, I pick up the box when someone clears their throat behind me. I drop the box like it’s hot and spin on my heel to face the intruder. Nox stands in the doorway dressed in his regular uniform of black cargo pants, army boots, a tight, black ribbed tank, and a black leather belt.
All black for the dark and sinister man.
His hands grip the top of the doorframe making his muscular arms look veined and angry hot. He leans into my room, his face void of any emotion. His blue eyes look into mine, “Open it.”
Narrowing my eyes at him, then the box, I ask suspiciously, “What is it? And more importantly why did you get me something?”
He sighs, suddenly looking tired and drawls, “Well, it was your birthday and I didn’t say a thing…”
I cut him off, not wanting him to know that it did kinda hurt, “You forgot. It’s cool. It happens. You’ve got a lot on your mind, and I’m sure my birthday wasn’t nearly as important as the other things you’ve got going on.”
He nods in admission, “I did forget.” He jerks his chin to the box on my bed and says quietly, “That’s something you can use so open it. Please.”
Sitting on the bed, I put the small box on my lap and lift the lid. I gasp wide-eyed and whisper, “Is this fo
r real?”
I look up at him with my stunned expression and his lip twitches, “Yep.” He runs a hand down his face and says softly, “How did I know you were going to be excited about it, princess?”
Lifting the small three inch marble handled switchblade into my hand, I’m suddenly confused. My brow furrows and I ask, “Why this?”
Nox nods as if he’s mentally asking himself the same question, then explains, “That was mine. One of the first I bought. It’s light and easy to conceal. It’s one of my favorites.” Taking a step into my room, he utters, “I can’t be there all the time. In fact, I probably won’t see you again after this is all over. It would give me piece of mind knowing you have it. Just promise me something.”
Listening to his explanation has taken any fight I had out of me. I nod and he says, “You have to keep it on you all the time, even here at the house, and that if you ever feel you’re in danger, you use it. On whoever. No questions. Just do what you need to do to keep safe.”
I shrug and say quietly, “I don’t know how to use this, Nox.”
Smirking at me as if he was expecting me to say that, he tells me, “I’m going to teach you how to use it. You’ll have lessons with me. Every day.”
A small smile crosses my face and I tell him, “Okay. Cool.” I take him in a moment before I drawl teasingly, “You know, this is actually really sweet.”
Nox scowls and says, “Sweet? I just gave a twenty-three year old woman a weapon. A weapon that could kill a person. Not only that, but I’m going to teach her how to use it to kill a person, and how to harm someone well enough to escape a bad situation.” Shaking his head, he goes on, “Sweet? No, princess. I don’t think that’s very sweet.”
Smirking, I turn my back on him and whisper loudly, “Whatever you say.”
Totally sweet.
