Page 19 of Defend Me

“Oh, right. Um, so…”

Rolling my lips, I considered walking away. My mood was off today and I’d intended to go home to escape the world until tomorrow. Mondays suck enough as it is.

With a sigh, I latched onto his hand and threaded our fingers. He made a startled sound but followed as I continued walking toward the parking lot.

“W-what are you doing?” he asked.

“We’re going for a stroll while you work up the courage to talk to me.”

He looked like he was going to throw up, but after a minute, he gripped my hand. He still hadn’t gotten to the point of telling me what was on his mind, though.

We made our way through the lot and I broke into a grin when I saw Kai. I moved away from Tilian and walked over to where he was leaning against his car. He clasped my hand and pulled me into his chest.

“Hey, man. Headed home?”

I shrugged. “Maybe. Maybe not.”

“Ever the mysterious one.”

“What are you doing?”

The humor disappeared from his face. “Waiting for Sen. He ran back to the room to grab something. We’re headed to get a dash cam installed in my car.”

“Afraid of drunk drivers?”

“More like giant, problematic thieves. West stole my car again.”

I laughed and shook my head. “Crazy bastard.”

“Yup. If he manages to do it again, at least I’ll be able to find him. Or just have a record of what the fuck he’s doing.” His eyes traveled over my shoulder and narrowed. “Who’s this?”

“This is my pal, Tilian.” I grabbed his hand again and yanked him forward. He looked like he was going to die. “Tilian, this is Kai.”

“Yeah, I know who he is,” Tilian said quietly.

“Oh, cool. You’ve met?”

Kai’s head cocked. It wasn’t a friendly gesture. “He touched Sen on Halloween.”

I blinked, then looked at Tilian. “Really?”

“I was just being friendly,” he mumbled. “And I was a little… zooted.”

With a chuckle, I turned to Kai. “I’m sure he didn’t know your boo thing was off limits. You were still a secret back then.”

“Mhm.” Kai still didn’t seem keen on making Tilian feel comfortable.

“Well, catch you later. We have business.”

“Don’t forget about the game on Thursday.”

I threw up a peace sign, then dragged Tilian along. At this point, I was beginning to worry he’d have a panic attack because of some socialization. This might turn into one of those situations where the extrovert has to adopt the introvert and keep him from being a recluse.

When we reached my car, I pushed him up against it by his shoulders. He looked behind him, then at me.

“You drive this?”

“Damn right, I do.”

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