Page 67 of Dark Endures

Crazy old — “That woman…I think they called her Mrs. Wright…was she one of them?”

He grins. “So, you met her?”

“More like she found me, terrified me, and disappeared numerous times.”

I love Maddox’s laugh. It’s warm and real with a little bit of a rough rumble.

“That’s Louisella. She’s lethal and protective all at the same time.”

“I’d ask how to avoid her, but I’d bet there’s no way.”

“None at all.” His smile is contagious.

“You don’t seem sorry about that.” I cut off a piece of Char Siu.

“You can’t ask for a better person to take you under their wing.”

What would it be like to have a person protect me? To not worry about the world crashing down on me?

Moving Her

Maddox

Canyon turns on the ignition of the moving van we keep in storage when it’s not in use, which isn’t very often. Kids are always relocating in and out of The Street. “Ten to one, he isn’t half as pretty as Mindy said.”

Like I want to think about Mindy’s other boss, or about how good he looks. “Not a chance I’m taking that bet.”

“You’re thinking he’s going to be pretty.”

It doesn’t matter what I think. It matters what she thinks, and she seemed pretty sure of herself.

“No comment. Then answer this one. Why isn’t Mindy moving into one of the apartments on Willow Street?”

My hand flexes into a fist. Just the idea of Mindy moving in with this guy fills my body with rage. Why him? Why not me? “An employer allowing an employee to move in with them is a bad idea.”

“I wasn’t talking about her moving into your place, but obviously you were thinking about it.”

I’ve thought about nothing else since those words slipped out of her mouth.

She could have moved into any one of our empty apartments without any issue. Why didn’t I tell her that was an option?

She said she's not interested in a relationship, but she also described him like that. Does she want to be in a relationship with him?

“Are you trying to decide if you’re going to kill him? Cause I’ve got a great place to hide the body.”

Killing him? “Mindy wouldn’t appreciate me killing her boss.”

“Yeah, but you thought about it for a minute. Combined with her moving into your apartment that means this is more than an employer/employee relationship. You care about her.”

“She is my employee. It can’t be anything else.” If it went any further, I could open up a whole new can of worms that I don’t even want to think about.

“Then fire her and ask her out on a date.”

Fire her!

“You’ve already been dating,” Canyon mutters under his breath.

“We have not.” I have always treated Mindy respectfully.

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