“We won’t take it off,” Noah assured him. “Zoey is going to make sure no one can find us. You want to stay with us, yes?” Jonas nodded slowly. Lindsay could see the mental struggle going on behind his eyes.
“We’ll make sure no one can find you. If she finds you, she will take you away.”
“It stays on.” Jonas narrowed his eyes and glared at Lindsay, who was apparently to blame for any unhappiness. That was remarkably unfair, since Moore had only been able to collar Jonas because Noah had nearly destroyed him. Then again, fair had never been Jonas’s strong suit. “And I stay here.”
“That’s right.” Zoey seemed a little emboldened by Noah’s mastery of the situation. “You can keep it on. I can do that.”
“If she finds me,” Jonas said with painful lucidity, “she uses me. I told her not to use me. Now, I go in the cage. Make it be quiet so it doesn’t tell her where I am.” He sagged against the wall behind him, resigned to his fate.
“I will.” Zoey put her hands on the collar, watching Jonas warily. “I’ll ask nicely.” This time, it didn’t take long. A green light and a white light flashed, and went dark. The collar remained intact. “I got it,” she said, backing away slowly. “The tracking and data systems are all offline. I didn’t touch the rest. I think he would feel if I gave him back his magic. Maybe we should take care of the rest later?”
Lindsay hated the idea of someone being stuck in one of those things, but... “It’s up to Noah.”
Jonas trusted Noah, for whatever reason, and Noah had taken responsibility for him. Lindsay wouldn’t interfere with that.
“It’s not hurting him, and he’s docile. I’m not sure he knows why he wants it on, but I’m not going to betray him.” Noah straightened up and patted Jonas on the head. “I’m starting to believe he’s really this damaged. I don’t want to do anything that would encourage him to leave.” He looked down to where Jonas had a grip on his jeans. “Trust me. I’d love to get his brain in one piece.”
Lindsay nodded. He could accept that. “You can talk to him about it later, if you feel like it won’t scare him, but for now, it stays.” He turned to Zoey and touched her arm. “Thank you. You should get some rest, I know none of this has been easy for you.”
She glanced at Noah and Jonas, then back to Lindsay. “Thanks, yeah. I’m pretty wiped out.”
“I’ll send Ylli to look in on you later. If you need anything, let him know.” As Zoey headed up the stairs, Lindsay realized that Dane was gone, and he sighed. “It hasn’t been easy for any of us,” he murmured, turning back to Noah.
“He needs some time.” Noah gently detached Jonas from his leg and leaned over to talk to him. “Are you coming upstairs?”
Jonas shook his head vigorously. “No, I like downstairs.” He was obviously starting to make a real effort to talk like a normal human. “No one is looking down here.”
“Okay.” Noah crouched down to be at eye level with Jonas. “We’re taking a big chance, letting you stay here, because of everything you did before. If you’re lying, if you try to hurt anyone here, I will kill you. Clear?” His voice was calm and gentle, but the words and the intent were effective.
“Dane doesn’t get to kill me now.” Jonas nodded at Noah. “You do. That is over.”
“Fair enough. I’ll bring you food later.” Noah straightened up with a sigh. “Let’s go upstairs,” he said to Lindsay. “I’ll make you some tea.”
Lindsay headed up, checking over his shoulder to make sure Noah was following. “Are you all right?”
he asked as they reached the top of the stairs and walked into the kitchen.
“I will be.”
Noah pulled aside the neck of his T-shirt to show the bloody bandage that covered where the IV port had been. Back in the parking lot of the store where they’d stocked up, Kristan had cut the thing out and done a decent job of patching him up. Lindsay’s appreciation for her was well-established now.
“Apparently, my skin attracts scars,” he said dryly. “As for the rest... What can I do? If there had been any choice, we’d have done it differently. I’d like a drink, or ten or twenty, but I need to keep an eye on Jonas. He won’t be like this forever; he’s going to come around. I’d rather have him on our side when he does.”
The bandage was a sickening reminder that Lindsay had put Noah through hell. “I’m sorry. I never wanted you to go through any of that. I know—” He swallowed hard, coming close so he could rest his hand on Noah’s chest, below the bandage. “I know what it’s like, and I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be.” Noah cupped Lindsay’s face in his hands and pressed his lips to Lindsay’s. “Now that it’s over... At least we understand each other a little better, right? It can make things easier for you, if I felt it too.”
“I would rather have had to talk about it.” And Lindsay hated talking about it. He understood what Noah was saying, though, and that Noah forgave him. “But thank you.”
Lindsay leaned up on his toes and kissed Noah back, trying to show Noah how he felt—sorry, thankful, relieved, and more emotions he could hardly name.
“I told you it would be okay.” Noah pulled Lindsay in and stroked his hair, nuzzling against his cheek the way Lindsay often did to him. “It will be. You didn’t do it to me, they did.”
“Never again,” Lindsay promised. He turned his head and caught Noah’s lips in another kiss, slower this time. Noah was his, and he wouldn’t let anyone hurt him, not if there was anything he could do to stop it.
“I’ll do it if I have to.” Noah wound his fingers in Lindsay’s hair to tilt his head back a little, trailing kisses down his throat, the touch of his lips like fire on Lindsay’s skin. “Especially if I get to come home to you.”
“You can have that for as long as you want it.” Lindsay found the edge of Noah’s shirt with one hand and dragged it up to touch bare skin, hot and alive under his fingers. “You don’t have to... Not for that.”
“I should put the kettle on if you want some tea.” Noah stopped kissing Lindsay’s neck and pulled back to look at him. “Did you still want tea?” There was a little grin lurking around the corners of his mouth, but he did a decent job of feigning serious interest in the issue.
Lindsay couldn’t resist kissing that grin, letting the softness of Noah’s lips distract him from the urge to go find Dane that was burning in his gut. Dane deserved some time to himself, to cope with what had happened. He would come back when he was ready, and Lindsay would be here waiting for him.
He turned away and headed for the stairs, calling over his shoulder, “Tea, no. But I can think of some other things I might want...”
Noah laughed at him and followed, catching up on the stairs and giving him a swat on the backside. “I can’t wait to find out.” The next time, it wasn’t so much a swat as a grope.
“If I fall down the stairs, I’m making you carry me to bed,” Lindsay warned as he skipped ahead a few steps.
“That’d be embarrassing.” Noah managed to keep his hands to himself the rest of the way up the stairs, but not a moment longer. He caught Lindsay around the waist and pulled him back to kiss his neck.
“All that work getting in and out of military facilities and what trips you up is being too cute to resist.”
It wasn’t the compliments or the kisses that had Lindsay turning in Noah’s arms and kissing him fiercely, it was the reminder—again—of what Noah had done for him. He backed Noah up against the wall, hands on Noah’s hips skimming up under his shirt and in to find the fly of his jeans.
Noah yielded to him with a surprised little noise, then he was kissing Lindsay back just as fiercely.
The button yielded as easily as Noah had, and the zipper came down with a whine that seemed loud in the empty hallway. Lindsay slipped his hand inside and, fuck, Noah was hot. Hardening in his palm, and the way Noah sounded made Lindsay want to touch him more.