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“I’d be a lot more comfortable if you told me what I’m in for,” I said.

His flash of teeth looked feral in the moonlight. I didn’t think it was a good thing that he didn’t answer me, instead shutting my door and going around to his, but the way he limped made me wonder if he was in any condition to be doling out punishment.

The nurse in me took over as he dropped into the driver’s seat. “Regardless of what you have planned for me, I want to look at your ribs when we get home. Don’t think I missed the way you’ve been wheezing.”

He sent me a saucy wink. “You just want an excuse to get me topless.”

“Always,” I shot back. “But seriously, did you hit your ribs?”

He put the car in drive and eased out of the parking spot. “You just steal my breath away, Aly.”

I nearly groaned. That wasn’t a no. “Josh, if you carried me with a cracked rib, I’m going to punish you right back.”

A wicked grin split his face, and I knew from the mischievous gleam in his eyes what was coming next. “Kin-”

I clapped a hand over his mouth.

He swirled his tongue over my palm, all the warning I had before he bit down. Hard.

I yelped and pulled my hand back.

“Ky,” he finished.

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Chapter 24Josh

To quote one of my favorite TV shows, “Everything hurt, and I was dying.”

Okay, so maybe not literally, but it felt pretty close. My shins throbbed. A deep, pulsing ache radiated from my right shoulder to my elbow. Despite the way I’d sidestepped Aly’s questions, I’d definitely hit my ribs.

I probably wasn’t in any position to teach my girlfriend a lesson about breaking her word to me, but was I about to tell her that? Hell no. The way she kept jumping every time I moved too quickly, like she expected me to pounce any second, was far too satisfying.

I reached for her front door handle a little faster than was necessary, and she flinched so hard that she almost fell sideways into a planter. Oh, this was too good. So good that I was starting to think it was better to delay the punishment I had planned and focus on mental warfare.

“You doing okay, babe?” I asked, fighting the urge to grin. “You seem kind of jumpy.”

She sent me a disgruntled look that had no business being so adorable. “I’m just impatient to get inside.”

Right. As much fun as it was to torment her, we couldn’t linger out here. Our clothes were still damp, and we needed to get out of them and check ourselves over for any injuries that might require treatment.

I slipped my key into the lock and opened the door for Aly, indicating she should go first. She passed me sideways, eyes narrowed and body tense like she was bracing for an attack. The urge to lunge was strong, but I held it in check. We’d been through hell tonight, and the last thing she needed was another rush of adrenaline when her flight or fight response kicked in.

A high-pitched yowl hit my ears as I closed the door behind us. Fred came skittering out of Aly’s bedroom with his tail held high and mouth wide open as he announced how pissed he was that we’d left him alone. Maybe it was time to start thinking about getting him a little brother or sister, someone to keep him company while Aly and I were working or having Mommy-Daddy time.

Before meeting Aly, I’d never let myself think about what having my own family might be like – I’d been too afraid of passing on my genes to contemplate it – but it felt like I was already forming one with this woman. Now that I trusted myself around small things, I couldn’t get the idea of a fluffy little kitten out of my head. It seemed like the next logical step, and I could already see it now: the four of us snuggled together on the couch, Aly sipping wine, and me rubbing her feet while we talked about our days, the cats curled between us.

Ahead of me, Aly leaned down and scooped Fred up. “We weren’t even gone that long.”

Fred headbutted her in the chin hard enough that I heard a low thunk from the impact.

I let them have their moment of reunion while I shucked off my jacket and unlaced my boots. By the time I reached them, Fred was purring loud enough to wake the dead, eyes closed in bliss while he made biscuits in Aly’s shoulder.

I ruffled the fur between his ears, grinning when he rewarded me with a little chirrup of welcome. “He’s probably just clingy after all the upheaval of the past few days.”

Aly hugged him closer. “Poor baby.”

“I’ll go start the shower,” I said, leaning in to kiss her temple. “We need to get cleaned up and warm.”

She turned to me, pupils dilating, cheeks flushing, and I knew she was thinking about the last time we’d been in a shower together.

I nearly groaned. More than anything, I wanted to be inside her again. I’d spent half the night terrified we were about to get caught and I’d have to watch my girlfriend get put into handcuffs. I needed the reassurance that she was safe, that she was okay, and nothing could give me that like having her wrapped in my arms, moaning my name.

“Don’t take too long,” I said before striding away from her.

I put my phone on the bathroom counter before starting the shower. I’d turned the device’s volume as high as it went because I was paranoid after Brad’s break-in and wanted to hear if any of the freshly tuned alarms I’d set for the doors went off. I didn’t love that Aly’s family had the keys to her place. They seemed as bad with boundaries as I was, and I didn’t trust their intentions. Maybe I could convince Aly to change the locks if she wasn’t already set on doing it. From the wary looks she’d given Junior on the ride back to the warehouse, she trusted him even less than I did.

I left the door cracked as I pulled off my damp clothes and set them on the tile floor. A glance in the mirror stopped me in my tracks. Deep purple was starting to bloom along my right side. I knew enough about first aid to realize it wasn’t a great sign, so I dragged in a deep breath to see how bad it was. My ribs pinched with discomfort, but the pain wasn’t as intense as the time Dad kicked me in the side with his steel-toe boots, so I didn’t think any were cracked.

I lifted my gaze and nearly flinched. I’d been so obsessed with Aly recently that I’d skipped my last haircut, and between how long it had gotten and the dark circles beneath my eyes from exhaustion, the resemblance to the monster who fathered me was uncanny.

Unable to look at myself any longer, I jerked my gaze away and got into the shower.

Fuck, what a night. I had no idea how I’d kept it cool inside Brad’s place for as long as I had. If not for my need to wipe Aly from Brad’s hard drive, I doubted I would have even made it to that computer.

The sickly-sweet smell of decomposition had plunged me into one of my most haunting childhood memories, and I’d spent the whole time in Brad’s house breathing through my mouth to avoid it. I swore I could still detect a hint of decay clinging to my skin, and, needing to be clean, I grabbed a nearby soap bar and started scrubbing it off.

I was still scrubbing when Aly slipped into the shower with me, and as much as I wanted her in my arms, I couldn’t make myself stop.

“Josh?” she said, placing her hand over my wrist.

“I smell it on me,” I blurted.

From the way her face crumpled, she knew without having to ask what I was talking about. She took the soap from me and stepped close, putting her nose into my chest. “You smell clean.”