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It was exhausting.
At least Francine Pope wasn’t a lie to Taos.
I hadn’t exactly offered up that information—me being filthy rich—but I hadn’t hidden it, either.
I mean, he’d seen the house that I had paid off. He didn’t see me hesitate in buying whatever I wanted. And who the hell could buy five-hundred-dollar shoes like I’d bought with him and not blink unless it was someone that had the money to spend?
Sure, I had a shitty car.
But that was just because I didn’t want to hear my grandmother bitch and complain about the car that I chose.
In the end, I was using her own hand-me-down. She couldn’t complain about that if she was the one who originally picked it out.
“I know who she is.”
Mavis and I both shrieked.
My heart literally exploded out of my chest at the unexpected arrival of Taos.
By the time I realized that I wasn’t about to be assaulted, I was on the floor with my hands covering my head.
“Well, that was fucking stupid,” Mavis snarled at Taos.
“Shit,” Taos whispered.
I felt his hands then prying me off the ground and tucking me into his arms.
I couldn’t stop the shivers that rocked through my body.
There were just too many things going wrong lately for me to be nonchalant about the unexpected arrival of a man in my house that’d been locked.
Still knowing it was him should’ve been a relief to my hyperaware nerves.
It wasn’t.
Not yet, anyway.
The shock and the adrenaline that’d mainlined through my system was still holding control of me.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” He rocked me.
I heard Vlad shriek again and then Mavis say, “I’m sorry, buddy. I gotta get you a new spoon.”
That was because I was holding the other one in a closed fist and pressing it into my hair.
Even the thought of having to wash my hair again wasn’t enough for me to let it go.
I didn’t know how long either of us sat there. Him wrapped around me. Me pressed into his body heat, shaking and, later I’d come to find out, crying.
It had to be at least twenty minutes because, when I finally came to—panic attacks blew—it was to find the kitchen significantly darker, Vlad no longer in the room, and my sister glaring daggers at Taos who was quietly talking to her in reply to something she must’ve said or asked.
I let go of the spoon, which loudly clattered to the floor, causing the conversation between two of the most important people in my life to come to a screeching halt.
I brought my hands down to rest between Taos and me, and then turned my face so that I could inhale the familiar scent of him into my starved lungs.
I’d missed him over the last two weeks.
He’d said that he wasn’t going to have to deal with the murders anymore now that the FBI agent had arrived, but he’d lied.
When he wasn’t working at the gym, he was poring over the murder investigation.
Not that I could blame him.
But I’d missed him over the last two weeks.
Especially since I hadn’t had very much of my own time to myself.
Vlad and Mavis had practically moved in with me when Mavis and Vlad had been sick.
I wasn’t aware of the man wrapped around me moving until he tilted his head down and I saw the look in his eyes.
“Hey,” he whispered gruffly.
I swallowed hard. “I’m sorry.”
He shook his head, his eyes telling me how stupid he felt before the words left his mouth. “I’m sorry. That was stupid of me.”
I snorted. “My guess was you were really worried.”
He sighed. “I was. I saw that article in the newspaper and came right over. When you didn’t answer, my thoughts went totally sideways, and I just knew I’d come in here and find you…”
Dead. He thought he’d come in here and find me dead.
I sighed. “I’m fine.”
He made a humming noise in the back of his throat. “I think you should move in with me.”
I blinked, totally dumfounded by what had just come out of his mouth. Tilting my head back, I caught his eye. “Um, what?”
“I think that you should move in with me.”
I opened my mouth with something to say that started with the word ‘hell’ and ended with the word ‘no,’ but Mavis decided to put her two cents in, interrupting me before I could get the words out.
“I think that’s a great idea,” Mavis declared. “Seeing as this is your fault she’s on their radar to begin with.”
I sighed and pushed away from Taos’ chest. “It is not his fault, and you know it.”
CHAPTER 19
Be the reason someone drinks today.
-Text from Taos to Fran
TAOS
Mavis continued to glare at me, pissed as hell that I’d just caused Fran to have a panic attack, and not bothering to hide it.
“It’s somewhat my fault,” I admitted. “Last night, there was a reporter there, and I told her to go fuck off.”
