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Chapter Twenty-Five
Letty
I go back. Feeling guilty as I think of all the trouble Jordi will be in if I leave. So, I turn the car around and re-park it in the garage, slipping in through the bathroom window, all without drawing any attention to myself.
Stupid angel on my shoulder.
The worst part? Letting Pastor Braden down. He’s been blowing up my phone all day, and I keep ignoring each call and subsequent voicemail. I hate letting him down, but something Jordi said resonated with me. I’m sick, allegedly, anyway, and whatever Pastor wants from me couldn’t possibly be that important. Right?
I let out a shriek when the doorbell rings and quickly cover my mouth. I’m being silly, I know that. There’s no way Jordi knows that I got away from him. And came back.
I check the security system and curse myself for not switching the alarm back on, but it’s Shades. I quickly open the door with a smile that just as quickly fades. “Shades! My goodness, what happened to you?”
He gives me one of those sexy, crooked grins that heats me up all over.
“I came to see you, babe. Happy to see me?”
He raises his brow, but the effect is minimal as I take in his appearance. Bloody knuckles. Blood on his lips. Blood dripping down his right arm.
Blood everywhere.
“Get in here.” Ignoring the pounding in my chest, I yank him inside with all the force I can muster. “What happened?”
“Got into a fight,” he grumbles with a half-hearted shrug. “I’m fine.”
“You’re not dying if that’s what you mean,” I tell him and head back to the bathroom to get the First-Aid kit. “But you’re injured. Are these knife wounds?”
He nods. “You should see the other guy.”
“Do I want to see the other guy?” My heart pounds as I think about Shades killing a man a short time ago, and now he’s here with me. What, if anything, does that say about me? I’m cleaning his wounds, remaining mostly calm when there could be a man lying dead somewhere.
“Let’s just say he’s worse off than me. Fucker’s lucky he’s still breathing,” he grunts angrily, but his words have a strange, reassuring effect on me, and I get down to the business of cleaning and bandaging his wounds.
“Is everyone all right?”
Shades nods. “Everyone who matters is fine, sweetheart.” He wraps his uninjured arm around my waist and pulls me close. “I promise.”
I nod, accepting his words at face value. “Are you hurt anywhere else?”
His brows shoot up, and his mouth splits into a grin. “Are you trying to get me naked, Letty? All you have to do is ask.”
“No.” I blush. “I didn’t say that.” I try to take a step back, but his grip tightens.
“So you don’t want to see me naked, Letty?”
“Of course I do, but that’s not what I said.” But with all of this talk about being naked, suddenly, that’s all I can think about.
Shades laughs, and the sound is so welcome that I can’t help but smile in return. “Good to know.”
“As if there was any doubt,” I mutter under my breath.
“Still, it’s nice to hear,” he says and tugs me close, distracting me from the task of bandaging him up. “Did you miss me?”
I bite the inside of my mouth to prevent the truth from spilling from my lips and just nod. I can’t tell him about the pastor because Shades already doesn’t like him and is suspicious of him. I don’t want him to doubt me but keeping quiet is difficult. “Maybe.”
“I missed you,” he says in reply and nuzzles his face into the crook of my neck. “I still smell like you. Like us,” he adds, and I’m powerless to stop the shiver that rises up my spine.
I lean into his touch because what else can I do? But I turn too quickly and brush against his side, causing him to wince, and I pull back. “Sorry.”
