AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Huh?” she asks. “What do you mean?”
“Super formal,” I tease. “Logical reasoning for everything, instead of just… ya know, floating on love or horniness or whatever other normal human emotion someone might possess. You were awkward when you felt uneasy.”
“Awkward! I’m never awkward.”
“Your awkwardness is endearing as fuck,” I tell her. “I hadn’t realized you’d stopped doing it, but now we’re on the phone instead of face to face, and you’re lonely and emotional and sad, so you speak to me with your doctor brain instead of the one that dragged me into a courthouse and threatened marriage or an ultimatum.”
“And I forgot how utterlyMaloneyou are when you’re feeling smug. When are you coming home?”
“Do I have a home to come to?” I counter. “Now that I’ve annoyed you?”
“Temporarily. Our fight is inside the box still. But when you get back, we’re smashing it open and getting to the bottom of the fact you left the city without taking me with you.”
Surprise leaves me momentarily silent. Stunned. “Would you have come with me?”
“To New York?” she asks. “Of course. In sickness and in health. Malone drama and vigilante illegalities, remember?”
“I don’t recall agreeing to that last bit. In fact, I’m pretty sure you promised never to kill anyone again, because I promised to put them away instead. The legal way.”
“Uh, no. In fact, the words you used that day went something along the lines of, ‘Marry me, Minka. If we’re going all the way on this—as in, you help me anddon’tstand in my way,then I want you to go all the way with me—as in, I sign a contract that says I’ll have sex with only you for the rest of my life. Plus, we get spousal privilege, since you can’t be compelled to testify against your wife in court. Then you ended it with ‘No more running’—which, by the way, is ironic, considering your cross-country dash yesterday, when you didn’t even have the balls to tell me you were leaving.”
Damn if she’s not quoting me almost verbatim.
“Your memory’s pretty good, huh?”
“I don’t forget. What time is it there?”
She startles me with the change of subject, but pulling the phone away from my ear, I check the time, then bring it back again. “Almost seven o’clock. Still early in the night, I guess. But I’m exhausted.”
“Get much sleep last night?”
I shake my head like an idiot, considering she can’t see. “About three hours, I think. Then Felix woke me up and started my day of bullshit in the most annoying way possible. Will you call me tonight when you go to bed?”
“WhenIgo to bed? You’ll be asleep way earlier than me, Archer. You sound beat, and it’s still afternoon here.”
“I’ll crash for a little bit soon.” I open my mouth wide and let a yawn take me. The sound rolls along my chest and out so she can hear, then I smack my lips and let my eyes droop for a restful moment. “I’ll catch a couple of hours, but I’ll leave my phone on so you can call later. By then, I’ll have rested, so I can chat with you till you’re sleepy.”
“Or,” she argues, happily, “I can just let you sleep. Ya know, seeing as how you’re in danger over there and need all your wits. If you get hurt because you’re talking to me instead of resting, do you think I’ll be happy?”
A quick scoff rolls along my throat. “You should video call me and show me what’s under your top. I’ll touch my dick, and then we’ll both be happy. Then, if I die tomorrow, at least I got to come one more time.”
I’m aiming for funny with a side ofI miss you so fucking much, but all I get in response is the click of our phone call ending.
Shocked, I pull the device from my ear and study the screen. Blank. Black.
“She’s gone?” I growl out loud. “What the fuck?”
In my hand, the phone trills once more. This time, it’s a video call that manages to make my cock stand up at attention and my heart go pitter-patter in my chest.
Swiping to answer, I can’t help the wide grin that stretches across my lips. “Fuck.”
The moment the call connects and I see her face, something dark and dangerous snaps in my chest. It’s called purpose. And selflessness. And devotion. It’s a promise I’ll do whatever, whenever, to keep her safe.
“You’re so beautiful, Minka.”
“I’m not calling you so you can touch yourself.” She purses her lips, unimpressed, but that only makes my smile widen. She’s outside somewhere. On the street, but not moving. Her back is pressed to a wall that might belong to the George Stanley, her cheeks flushed with warmth, and her eyes, though shadowed with exhaustion, dance with playfulness. Love. Kindness. “Where are you?”
“In my father’s backyard.” I pull the phone a little further away to give her a view of the trees that line the property. The cabana I’ve drank under. And kissed a girl under. And spent hours and hours whiling away a day with nothing to do except revolt against my father’s wishes and become the first son he would eventually order to die.
