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That left one place for me to look for him—Dash’s cottage. The Alexander big house was never really going to be home to Binx, this was always his home, just as I feared it would always be Dash’s home.
“Ariel,” Finn hissed as he grabbed hold of my elbow, jerking me to a stop.
I shrugged out of his hold, not interested in being touched by anyone who wasn’t one of my men. We weren’t the kind of friends who touched unless he wanted me to put my fist in his face.
I could get down for that.
Finn tried to reason with me, but it felt more like he was just talking at me and every word went in one ear and out the other. I wasn’t about to take advice from Finn of all people.
The front door was unlocked, which kind of bothered me. I had my key with me because I’d obviously thought I would need it, and Dash had never asked me to give it back to him. What kind of idiots didn’t lock their doors after their house had been attacked by hunters and lit on fire?
Did these boys never learn?
The inside of the house surprised me. I hadn’t been back here since before they’d started working on it. All the furniture had been removed, and the walls had been repainted in the living room and dining room.
I hated that for Dash. That he’d have to get rid of everything because it’d all been ruined by the smoke during the fire.
The entire kitchen had had to be gutted because that was where the actual fire had been. That was almost worse than any other room being destroyed because that was where the best memories of his father had come from. Though I guessed that didn’t really matter anymore, because he had his actual dad back now, and that was far more important than any memory of sitting around the kitchen table with your loved one ever would be.
The kitchen was now all shiny and brand new. New appliances, countertops, cupboards, and just new everything. The walls had been painted a very light gray color. The cupboards were black. The countertops were white and granite.
The table had yet to be replaced, and a look in the cupboards proved everything in this room was empty.
I hoped like hell it would stay that way unless it was solely for Romero living here. Dash potentially wanting to move back here was a problem for another day, but it still left an unhappy, heavy weight in my belly.
The goddamn cat was nowhere to be found on the main level.
Finn had finally shut his stupid mouth, thankfully. That didn’t stop him from watching me carefully with eyes full of concern.
Concern and maybe a little bit of pity.
I tried to ignore the looks and Finn entirely, but it was getting more difficult by the second.
“I’m going upstairs.” I pointed to the door that led to the basement. “You go check down there. Yell if you find him.”
I knew Binx wouldn’t be in the basement, which was the only reason I was comfortable sending Finn down there. I just really didn’t want to look at him anymore.
“I don’t even know what in the fuck I’m looking for,” Finn grumbled under his breath as he stomped toward the door. He grabbed the handle and wrenched the door open. “Fucking beautiful. Now I’m being sent down to the creepy basement to potentially be slaughtered. Haven’t I been through enough crap lately? Now this shit.”
Please.
We’d all gone through enough lately, and we weren’t whining at every dang turn.
I headed up the stairs and expected a sense of loss to fill me. It never came. This had been my home for a little while, and despite Chucky’s attack on Dash and myself, I still felt like this had been a safe home for me. I’d had so few of those.
Instead, walking up the stairs, I just felt like this chapter had finally closed for me, and I was okay with that.
Something pulled me past Dash’s bedroom and to what had once been my room. The room was completely empty now, barren even. The door to the coffin closet was open, and there was nothing inside. The walls had been painted a nice boring shade of white.
A blank slate.
A fresh start.
Perfect for Romero, but completely unnecessary for Dash.
I rubbed absentmindedly at my chest, directly over my heart. Goodness, but I needed to not think about him ever leaving me. I couldn’t take it.
I closed the door behind me on my way out. The cat wasn’t in there, and I didn’t need to leave the door open so he could run in there and hide from me. He’d do it too, just to mess with me. He didn’t usually treat me with that type of behavior, but I wouldn’t put anything past him. He liked to cause trouble.
