“Oh, I see. How do you know Ella?” Jude asked, pleasantly enough, but there was a gleam of delight in his eyes.
“Spark,” Mateo answered, and I was pretty close to texting the Canceled Killer and begging him to just kill me already.
“Ah, I see.” Jude looked like he was going to burst out laughing.
Russo looked like he was going to punch someone in the face.
“Mateo?” Olivia chimed in, saving me. “Want to come in the kitchen? I’ve got a new pot of coffee on. And I made a batch of mochi donuts.”
Unlike our mother, Olivia could actually bake.
“I love coffee!” Spider-Man Mateo cheered. “And what’s a mochi donut?”
“Come on inside and have one.” Olivia beckoned him from the porch, and I wanted to hug the life out of her. I hadn’t even told her about Mateo, but she knew me well enough to know exactly what was happening at this moment.
“I’d love one, too, if that’s all right,” Jude said, sending a sly glance in my direction. Of course he’d follow Mateo. He wanted to get as many damning details as possible to ridicule me with later, and no doubt rat me out to Oscar. Not that my brother should care who I dated or not. Frankly, he should just be glad it wasn’t Jude. He gave Russo and me a nod as he trotted after my sister and Spider-Man.
As glad as I was to be free of them, I was also alone with Russo. An annoyed Russo.
I glanced at his steel-blue eyes. Maybe this wasn’t better.
“What the hell?” Russo asked me, shaking his head in disapproval. “You got all the Avengers in your bedroom? You got the Hulk and Captain America in there, too?”
“Hey, don’t kink shame me,” I joked. But Russo didn’t laugh. He didn’t even crack a smile. Instead, he took one step closer to me, solemn.
“This doesn’t have anything to do with what you do in your downtime. I shouldn’t have to say this, but you’ve got to be careful,” he warned me, voice low. “The Canceled Killer is here, and you can’t trust anyone. Spider Guy could be a suspect.”
“Spider-Man Mateo?” I squawked, appalled. I couldn’t imagine him murdering anything except a decent nine-to-five job. TGI Fridays was the third regular paying job he’d been fired from since we began hooking up six months ago.
“Right now, everyone’s a suspect,” Russo said. He blinked at me. “That nerd your brother’s friends with? Did you know he went to Chicago several times last year?”
“No,” I said. I knew about the cheese symposium. But that was one time.
“Everyone’s a suspect,” Russo reiterated. “Even you, kid.”
I snorted a laugh, but Russo didn’t join me.
“Me? You think I could strangle a man to death who’s double my weight?” I protested.
“I do, Miss Krav Maga junior champion. Plus, you know some of the victims were drugged first.”
“I amnotthe killer,” I said, getting worked up as my blood pressure rose.
“I know,” Russo said, waving his hand dismissively. “I’m just saying, this time, I’m not overlooking anything.” He fixed me with a sharp glance. I couldn’t blame him for that. I felt a flicker of guilt. It was my fault his investigation ran off the rails to begin with. “And you shouldn’t get complacent, either. Don’t let that guard down.”
“I won’t,” I promised.
Approval lit up Russo’s eyes. “Good,” he said, serious. “Because if anything happened to you…” His voice trailed off as he pressed his lips in a thin line. His blue eyes flashed vengeance.
My heart fluttered a little, his protective streak striking a chord with my inner cavewoman, who chose men based on their ability to fend off predators and build fires. “So, you see anything the least bit weird, the least bit off, you call me, okay? And keep your phone with you. Don’t ignore my texts or calls. Otherwise, I’ll think the worst.”
I nodded. “I promise.”
“Good,” he said. He glanced at me, holding my gaze for longer than seemed casual. “Got my room ready for me?”
I nodded. “You can have your pick.” I gestured toward the big white house. He smiled at me then, a genuine smile.
He fixed me with a serious blue gaze. “I’d rather have the one you’re in.”
