Page 336 of Wicked Brutal

“Will you go with me?”

“Every time.”

“What if it’s nighttime?”

“We go at night.”

“What if you’re sleeping?”

“Wake me up.”

“What if I’m at school?”

“I’ll come get you and we go.”

Tobias lifts his head. “You’ll leave school? What if you get in trouble?”

“I’ll deal with it.”

“What if you’re with Penny?”

X looks at her. Penny drops down beside him. “Then I’m coming too.”

Tobias looks back at X. “What if you’re doing something important?”

“Doesn’t matter.”

“What if you’re fighting?”

X doesn’t even blink. “Then some asshole gets lucky and I leave.”

Tobias stares at him. Even with his face red and swollen and covered in tears, I see it. That tiny flash of awe. Because of course that’s the one that convinces him. Xander would stop a fight for him.

“Really?”

“Really.”

“What if—“

“Toby.” X adjusts him until Tobias is looking directly at him. “You don’t have to find a reason I won’t come.” Tobias goes still. X sees it. So do I. “There isn’t one.” Tobias’s lip trembles. “Ally has my number. You need your mommy, you tell Ally.”

“I call him,” I whisper.

“And I come.”

“Right away? No matter what?”

“No matter what.”

“What if it’s Christmas?”

“I come.”

“Your birthday?”

“I come.”

“Penny’s birthday?”