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“Yeah, well, I didn’t have a new episode ofSuccessionto watch tonight. What else was I going to do with myself.”
The three of us stand there watching the fire curl and snarl up at the heavens before we hear the sounds of sirens approaching.
Time to go.
31
ELSA
I stir slightlyawake when I feel his weight sinking onto the bed.
“Shh. Go back to sleep.”
I grin, my eyes still closed as Hades slides in next to me and pulls me into his arms. Then my nose wrinkles a little.
I was expecting him to be coming fresh from boxing practice. And while he’s clearly just showered, probably inmyshower, it’s not the sweat of a workout I can still smell lingering on him.
It’s smoke.
Not tobacco smoke. Real, acrid, woodsy smoke.
I chew on my lip, thinking. Then I push it away.
I don’t need to ask about this. If he wants to tell me, he will. Yes, there are things about him that might scare me. But he is who he is, and I like that.
I like that, and him, so much. In fact, there are other words I should probably be using instead of “like”.
“What are you doing tomorrow?”
I turn in his arms to face him in the near-dark.
“Nothing, why?”
“I need you to come to the family and friends soft opening for The Banshee that Callie, Eilish, and Neve are throwing.”
“Oh?” I frown. “I didn’t know there was anything left to sign—”
“Elsa…” he chuckles, cupping my face.
“What?”
“Not as their fucking lawyer. As my date.”
I go still, our eyes locking in the shadows.
“You…you’re serious?”
“Very.”
“Hades, your whole family will be—”
“Yeah. That’s kinda the whole point.”
My lip catches between my teeth. “You’re really serious.”
“I really am.”
“And you’re sure that’s a good idea?”
