“Don’t apologize,” Lia responded. Her hand moved from my shoulder to the side of my face, and I leaned against the touch. “It’s probably a good idea to get out of here before someone finds us, though.”
I couldn’t argue, so I pulled back, lowered her carefully to the ground, and fastened my fatigues. Lia straightened out her skirt, shirt, and hair before she took a deep breath and looked to her torn panties on the ground.
“I guess I’m going to have to keep an extra supply of underwear when I’m around you, aren’t I?”
“Yeah, sorry about that.” I wasn’t, but I figured it was polite to say. As far as I was concerned, she could just go without panties for the rest of eternity. I smiled a little at the thought.
“You’re really quite proud of that, aren’t you?” she said.
I smirked back at her, raised an eyebrow, and shrugged. Lia shook her head slightly as her hand reached up to fiddle with the quarter around her neck.
“Let’s get back to my place,” Lia said. “I have the feeling we should probably have an actual conversation here at some point.”
Lia reached out to take my hand, and we made our way down the street and back to the train stop. I wasn’t sure if I was looking forward to what kind of talk she had in mind, but I knew I wasn’t going to be leaving her side until she was far from harm’s way. I’d put up with whatever she wanted as long as I could keep her safe.
Nothing was going to keep her from my side.
Chapter 7—Desired Refuge
The apartment Lia had been living in was little efficiency in a crappy area. I might not have had cash on me for a CTA ticket, but there was no way I was going to let her stay here another night. There wasn’t even any fucking security on the building door. The inside was okay, just small and cramped. I had no idea what her financial situation was, but it was obvious from her accommodations that she wasn’t well-off.
I was going to have to change that—sooner rather than later.
Odin peeked around the corner of the bed, saw me, and jogged over with his tail wagging. I was beyond happy to see the big guy, especially considering I had a brief moment during my arrest when I thought they might have taken him out. I dropped down to one knee and took his shaggy head in my hands. I scratched at his neck and back and tried to keep my balance as he nearly tackled me and started to lick my face.
“Disgusting,” I told him with a grin. He sat back on his haunches and appeared to be smiling back at me with his tongue lolling around his face. Then he jumped up and ran back to the side of the bed to retrieve his rubber bone. There wasn’t really any room in the tiny place to throw it, but we made do anyway.
“I need to go to my apartment,” I said after a few minutes of fetch.
“It still has crime scene tape all over the door,” Lia said softly. “At least it did when I was last there.”
“Fuck that,” I growled. “If there’s anyone there trying to keep me from my shit, I’ll fucking kill them.”
The words were honest and genuine—far too much so. When I glanced up at Lia, she was biting her lip and had her brow all screwed up. I inhaled deeply and then let the air out slowly through my nose. I was going to have to start watching my words.
“Figuratively,” I said unconvincingly.
Lia continued to look at me with a lot of doubt on her face. Her legs were tensed like she was thinking of running out. When I stood and gave Odin’s bone one last toss, she took a step back.
“You afraid of me?” I asked.
“Not of you,” Lia replied. “For you, yes, but not really of you.”
“Not really,” I repeated. It wasn’t a slip of the tongue—she was starting to see who I was now that we were in my city, my element. “You don’t know me very well.”
“I know a lot. I’m still waiting for you to tell me the rest.”
I laughed. She had no fucking idea what she knew and what she didn’t know.
“So tell me,” she requested.
“No,” I replied quietly. I reached out and placed my finger under her chin, tilting her head up a little before kissing her lightly. “You don’t want to know all the shit in my head.”
“I do,” she insisted, “but I’ll wait until you’re ready.”
“Not gonna happen.” I moved my lips across her jaw and down the side of her neck, hoping to distract her completely from the line of thinking she seemed so hell-bent on. Her hands ran up my sides and gripped my back as I moved up her ear.
“I need to know,” she said quietly.
“Bullshit.”
“Evan,” she sighed and pulled back a bit. It wasn’t enough to let go but enough that I couldn’t keep distracting her with my lips. “Don’t you think I deserve a little information at least?”
“For what?” It was a stupid fucking thing to say, but I’m a guy and we say stupid shit like that.
“For what?” she snapped back. “Seriously? Let’s start with searching for you for months, finding out you’ve been through a ridiculously difficult time, and then when I finally find you, you’re in the process of trying to blow up an entire park! How about seeing you dragged off in cuffs, and the only thing you manage to do is apologize again, and then ask me to take care of your dog?”
Well, all right—she had me there.
I huffed out a breath, looked over her shoulder for a minute, and then looked back.
“You’re right. You want me to just take him and go now?”
“No, for goodness’ sake, Evan!” Lia pulled one of her hands back and slapped me slightly on the shoulder. “Do you think I’d come all the way here, do all of this, and then just leave?”
“You should.” Part of me hoped she would, but it wasn’t a part I wanted to acknowledge. Even as I suggested it, it felt like a hole was burning through my chest.
“Well, I’m not.”
“Maybe you need to think about it.” More words I didn’t mean, but there they were anyway.
“Is that what you want me to do?” she asked.
I hesitated but ultimately shook my head.
“I only want time to think about…about all of this,” she responded as she took my face in her hands and placed her lips to mine. My body was immediately lost in the feeling, but my mind continued to struggle.
“You need to just get out of Chicago…get away from me,” I said. Though my voice was sure and strong, my arms tightened around her as the words left my lips.
“I’m not leaving you alone,” Lia replied.
“You should.” Again, my grip on her tightened, and the feeling of her body pressed tightly against my chest was divine. “I’ll end up hurting you or…or worse.”
“You won’t hurt me.”
“You don’t know that.”
She pulled back again and glared at me.
“Did you really think I had no idea that there was something...not quite right? When I first saw you, you were in the middle of the desert, rocking on a front porch, holding the scariest gun I've ever seen. The hottest guy I've ever met in my life, sitting alone in a cabin, apparently for months, with his dog and enough paranoia to spare. I may not have your powers of observation, Evan, but I'm not blind!”
I had to admit, I hadn’t considered how all of that had looked. At the time, I had been more concerned about whether or not she had been sent from Chicago, and then later my concern was more about getting into her pants.
“I may not know what’s going on,” Lia continued, “but I know there’s a lot more here than it seems. At some point, you’re going to have to tell me.”
“Have to, huh?” I was trying hard not to be shitty, but she was hitting far too close to the truth for her own good. I was also fighting hard against the desire to tell her everything there was to know, even when the information would likely end up with her telling me to get the fuck out—not to mention some of the information could get her killed. It was too much for most people to handle, and I didn’t want to put her in that position.