Page 7 of Demitri

“Yeah, I’ll try.”

“Maybe you should think about not staying home for a few days? At least until we can get something set up to keep you safe?” Grady offers.

Unconsciously, I flick my eyes at the bar. Mia’s standing there, talking to another customer, making a drink, completely oblivious about the possible trouble she could get into just for knowing my name.

“I’ll work on that. Let me know what you find out.”

“We would if we had your number.” Aiden smirks.

“You aren’t smart enough to get it on your own?”

“Guess we could always ask our favorite bartender for it,” Nate challenges.

“Fuck you,” I growl at him. “She stays the fuck out of this, understand?”

Nate looks at me, not offended at all, and shrugs his shoulders. We both know they will all come back here if needed to get in touch with me, now that they know Mia has my number.

“Give me a fucking phone.” I hold out my hand. Aiden, trying to hide his smirk, pulls his out and hands it over. I put my contact in and text myself. “There. Now one of you has my number.”

“I’ll talk to Aunt Linda in the morning and call you,” Daniel promises.

“Perfect,” I reply, unable to hide the sarcasm in my voice.

I stand from the table, leaving my untouched water behind, and sit on a stool at the bar.

“What’s going on?” Mia quietly asks when she’s standing in front of me.

“Seems like I have family drama.”

Her eyes widen, and she takes an unconscious step back.

“Are you in danger?”

“I don’t know, but until we can talk to someone tomorrow, they think I need to find a place to stay for a few days.”

“Is it that bad?” She chews on her bottom lip—her tell that she’s nervous, or afraid.

I shrug, not wanting to lie to her. Anything with my family is usually bad news. I watch Mia as she works something out in her head. She makes her decision, then reaches under the bar and pulls out a keychain.

“Go to my house.”

I’ve been working for a year to get an invitation to her house. It only takes my life being under threat to get that invite. Huh.

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, go to my house. I’ll close up here as soon as I can and meet you there.”

“Need to swing by my place and pack some things.”

“Whatever you need for a few days. It’ll be fine.”

Not sure who she’s trying to convince, but I’m not going to give her the opportunity to change her mind. I rap my knuckles on the bar and leave the way I came in—through the back.

This is gonna be interesting.

CHAPTER THREE

MIA

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