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He nodded and walked away without another word. Not very friendly, that one.
Delphine’s gaze trailed after him.
“You like them dark and brooding and hard to find.”
She went red again. Way too easy with her skin tone. Smirking, I raised my glass to my lips.
Then I felt him, and the world seemed to slow down.
His aura was familiar and deadly, like a beloved sword in your hand. Calm in a way that could shatter at any time like a damaged crystal.
Putting the mocktail down on the bar, I shouldered my way through the revelers.
“I’ll be right back,” I said to my men as I passed them.
I pushed through Vee’s door. After the heat of so many bodies, the cold fall air hit me like an ice cream headache. Burying my hands in my jacket pockets, I strolled down to the corner and leaned against the club’s wall next to Ram.
His hands were tucked in the pockets of a long gray coat. He wore it open, revealing what looked like a Hawaiian shirt, except it was patterned with skulls and leaves. A far cry from his previous carefully neutral looks. It suited him.
“They let you out,” he said as a greeting.
I shifted a bit closer, so our shoulders were touching. “Thanks, in part, to you. How’s your arm?”
“Magical healers are the best, which is good, because I may have injured a cop when fleeing the hospital.”
Of course he did. “You going to stay on the run?”
Ram nodded, a strand of dark hair falling over his eye. Old Ram would never have let that happen unless by accident in a battle. “They’ve got too much dirt on me.”
I’d like to get dirty on him,my brain said. “One day, they’ll probably figure out I did a bunch more illegal shit too.”
He shifted as though uncomfortable. “I won’t let them.”
While I liked the idea of him protecting my ass for once, it was a terrible plan. “Don’t dig your grave deeper, Ram.”
He smiled, sly and slow. “What does it matter if my grave is six feet or twelve? I’m still in the ground.”
I wanted to protest because it was Ram talking and I liked to annoy him. But he was right.
“Be careful.”
“I never am.”
Neither were Juniper or I, for that matter. “Then don’t be a supervillain. I don’t want to take you down again.”
“I’m going to be decent… but not entirely legal. Civilian life is hard. Do you know people work at desks for forty hours a week and still can’t pay rent? Fuck that. I won’t snitch on Juniper, though,” he added.
I nodded and took my hand from my pocket, letting it hang between us. He dropped his hand to his side so our fingers brushed.
“I know you won’t. I don’t know how or why or if it’s stupid of me, but I didn’t think you’d snitch anymore.”
He took a deep breath. “I’ll try to forgive Juniper for your sake, Alyssa.” He took my hand, squeezing hard.
I laced my fingers through his.
“I’ll try to be the best person possible for you,” he added.
My heart fluttered like the wings of Juniper’s attack dildos. “Thank you for protecting Jag, Elliot, and Moe. And yeah, yeah, ‘it was all for you, Alyssa, etcetera.’ But… thanks.”
