Page 113 of Fixed Asset

“Let’s get the fuck out of here.”

I had just enough time to step to the side before Pete barreled me over.

Mason was right, he did smell spicy.

“Is it too soon to change your nickname from Pete to Chili Pepper?”

Pete grunted. Then followed up with “Fuck off, Kitty Cat.”

That meant when I exited the building, I was smiling.

That smile grew when I saw Jack waiting for me.

“Ready to go home?”

Yes, please.

“Yes, and when we get there we’re turning our phones off and not leaving your house—”

“Our house,” he corrected.

“Our house for at least a week.”

“Anything you want, baby.”

Yeah, anything I wanted, Jack would give me.

“What is it that you want?” I asked.

“A week in bed with my woman naked—”

“My ears are bleeding!” Shep moaned.

Oops.

“Shep’s on comms,” I told Jack and pointed to my ear. “He heard about our plans for a naked week in bed.”

“With that, I’m signing off,” Shep told me.

“Wait. How are you getting home?”

“Don’t worry about me, Kitty Cat.”

Shep calling me Kitty Cat instead of Sphynx hit me square in the chest.

It was like with that, he’d erased our past.

I wasn’t sure I liked it, but I did like having Shawn back, and if that meant calling him Shepherd Drexel and him calling me Mason’s ridiculous nickname for me, then I’d take it.

“Be safe, Shep.”

“The proper send-off is ‘stay dangerous,’” he reminded me.

That hit my heart too.

I was right, somewhere deep inside Shep, pieces of Shawn remained.

“Stay dangerous.” I repeated the end-of-transmission farewell we used to use in the sandbox.