Page 118 of Fool Me Twice

Rolling his eyes, JJ digs around in one of the many takeout bags on the kitchen table and hands her a few. “Here. Lucia said to tell you that their fish tacos are officially back in stock.”

“Nostringvadhaalive,my day is saved,” Ez says, peeling off a wrapper and tearing into one. “Where’s Desi?”

“Playing in her bedroom,” JJ says. “We think she’s trying to recreate the paratrooper on the church spire using her blanket fort and some wyvern plushies. I’m kind of excited to see how it looks.”

“That’s actually a good homeschooling activity,” Obie says. “I wonder if she has enough plushies to reenact the Cuban Missile Crisis.”

Ez snorts out a laugh. Just next to her, Roma gives them all what looks like a strained smile before clearing her throat. “So, um‍?—‍”

“Here,” Cass says brusquely, holding a second trio of tacos in her direction. “JJ said you like chicken. Hope he was right.”

Gratitude flashes across Roma’s face. “Thank you,” she says sincerely, taking them from him.

“Yep.” Cass gives her a tight smile‍—not unfriendly, but definitely wary.

Ez’s heart twinges. The last time he invited Roma into his home, it ended with her almost kidnapping JJ and siccing the Sanctum on Cass himself, and they both almost died from the fallout. Ez can only imagine how difficult it is for him to extend even the most cautious of trust towards her right now.

Luckily for him, though, Ez isn’t planning on letting Roma out of her sight anytime soon. Hell, she’s barely even planning on letting Roma out of arm’s reach. The woman gets into too much trouble when left to her own devices. “Here,” she says, scooching over to make room for Roma between herself and the armrest. “Sit with me.”

Roma’s shoulders relax. “Thanks, Ez,” she says, and she eases herself down on the couch, starting to unwrap one of her tacos. “You good?”

Ez shoots her a smile. “I am now.”

And she is. After all those weeks of slowly building a real relationship with Roma, after that one fragile night they spent together, after all the betrayals and all the sacrifices‍?—

After everything, she’s beyond grateful that they made it here.

Roma ducks her head, a smile twitching on her lips. “Before, you said that you still don’t trust me.”

“I don’t,” Ez admits, leaning back against the cushion. “Not completely. It’s probably going to take a long time to repair what we had, but‍—but I want to try.”

Roma’s eyes are soft. “Me, too,” she whispers. “Ez, I‍?—‍”

Unfortunately for Ez, whatever Roma was about to say next is cut off by a burst of purple-gold swirling through the air. “Well, well, well,” Sawyer says, her eyebrows approaching her hairline as she steps out of the rift. “Nice place you’ve got here.”

Cass scoffs. “I don’t slack off.”

Obie squints at him. “Excuse me.Youdon’t slack off? I own this place, Cassius.”

“Yeah, but JJ and Desi and I made it ahome,”Cass stresses, and he extends the last takeout bag towards Micah. “Here. We made some educated guesses for your orders.”

“Well, Tacos Near Me doesn’t really make anythingbad,”Sawyer says, peeking over Micah’s shoulder as he rifles through the bag. “Ooh, churros! I love churros.”

“I remembered that much, at least,” JJ says, settling himself in the armchair. Cass perches on the armrest next to him, his protective streak clearly still in full swing. “And that was a clever bluff, by the way. I almost believed you.”

“I think all of us did,” Obie says.

Gregorio rolls his eyes. “I didn’t.”

“That’s because you came up with the idea, babe,” Micah says.

“Still.”

“I think trust is in short supply for all of us nowadays,” Naomi says, and her eyes find Roma. “So. What made you defect?”

Roma flinches. Ez shoots a glare at Naomi. “Can’t you at least let her finish a taco first?”

“Actually, no,” Cass says, crossing his arms over his chest. “Because I want to hear this, too.”

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