Page 60 of Graves

He takes a step closer to me, cupping my face in his hands as he looks down at me.

“I didn’t ask if it was fine, I asked if you were okay.”

I pause for a moment before I eventually nod.

“Good, she wasn’t a good friend to you anyway,” he says as he presses a kiss to my forehead. “But you probably shouldn’t mention this to Zayden.”

Frowning at that, I pull back to look at him.

“Why?”

He levels me with a “seriously” look that has me turn my head to the side.

“Because if he heard anyone tell you that staying here with me and him will leave you broken, battered, and in the gutter, he’d string them up by their toes and skin them alive.”

I gulp at that, a small rush of fear tearing through me as I’m reminded yet again just how psychotic these men I’ve somehow found myself with are. I say men because, even though I haven’t seen Dominic kill anyone, I don’t doubt for a second that he’s every bit as capable as Zayden. He just has more self-control, a bit of a moral compass steering him right from wrong. Zayden doesn’t have such a device, and honestly, I think he enjoys it better that way.

“Hey,” Dom says softly, shaking me out of my thoughts.

I look up at him, and he gives me a sympathetic look as his thumb brushes against my cheek.

“How about a movie night? We can order in, whatever youwant, watch comedy movies, and forget this day.”

“It’s not even night yet,” I say, looking out to see the Seattle gray still intact, but it’s not raining, so that’s big for western Washington.

Dom shrugs. “It doesn’t matter, we can’t leave the apartment right now even if we wanted to, so we might as well do whatever the hell we want.”

I open my mouth, ready to ask all of the questions that have been bouncing around in my brain for days, weeks now, but I know it’s futile.

He seems to sense my resistance as he wraps me up in a hug, holding me tight, before whispering against my ear, “It’s okay, baby. This is all temporary, I promise.”

I can’t help but smile, just a bit. All he’s ever trying to do is take care of me, whether that is physical or mental. I swear I’m not sure the man knows there are much bigger things to life than constantly hovering over me. It’s different from the way Zayden hovers.

Zayden watches me like I’m the most captivating thing in the world. Like he wants to dissect me piece by piece to understand the fascination of it all before hoarding those broken pieces to himself. Dominic is just always there, silent and stoic more often than not, but always unmoving. He cares deeply, so deeply, you might not even recognize it if you didn’t know him. I do, though, and with him around, I’ve never felt so safe in my life.

Nodding to Dom, he gives me a quick wink before he’s pulling out his phone and calling in an order to our favoriteMexican restaurant. I cross the kitchen, heading for the upper cabinet, before grabbing the bottle I’m in search of. I cut a lime, grab the salt, and swipe two shot glasses to accompany the tequila before making my way back to the couch. Dom finishes our order a moment later and quirks an eyebrow at me.

“What are you doing?”

“Drinking. It’s better than just staring at a box like a mindless zombie, and I’ve already done enough of that for today, so next best thing, yeah?”

Dominic chuckles as he comes to sit beside me, his towel loosening slightly as he does.

“Alright, what are we doing? Just shot for shot drunk? Drinking game?”

I think about that for a moment before I grin.

“Truth or shot,” I say with a nod.

He seems to think it over for a moment or two before he slowly nods.

“Don’t you think you’re at a disadvantage? Seeing as I’ll be able to drink five times as much as you.”

“You’re big talk, Graves. That means I go first.”

He holds his hand out in an “after you” motion as he settles back against the couch, watching me with a hint of a smile.

“Alright. Truth or shot, did your parents actually die in a drug bust?”

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