Page 32 of Own

“He is.” Bones hadn’t retrieved the bags yet. “Give me a moment to clear the house.”

He didn’t wait for a response. Frankly, he didn’t have to. I waited close enough to use the car for cover. I also had my taserin the pocket of my hoodie. The night before, I’d gone to sleep with him wrapped around me. Different hotel, still with only one bed.

We hadn’t discussed how he’d held me or how he’d wrenched orgasm after orgasm out of me until I’d finally slept and slept deeply. Nope, we just got up and acted like nothing happened. I wasn’t sure whether he didn’t want to talk about it or if it wasn’t that big a deal or what.

Maybe I was being a coward, but I didn’t want to be more of a girl than I’d already been. He’d helped me. And ithadhelped. Maybe that just had to be enough. But when we got to the new hotel, we didn’t follow up then. He just wrapped around me and settled me in place and then—I was out like a light.

“Clear,” Bones said from the door and I sighed.

“On my way.” I detoured to the back of the car and opened the trunk. I’d barely gotten one of the bags out before he took it and the other from me. He whistled and Goblin came trotting back.

Inside it smelled like dried lavender, hints of lemon, furniture polish, and linseed oil. The furniture was sturdy wood and very clean. The curtains were closed, but they weren’t dusty. While it looked lived in, it didn’t look like anyone was there now.

“Whose place is this?” I asked, more to add some sound to the silence than because I wanted to know. Though, I wouldn’t mind knowing.

“A friend.”

Helpful. A direct non-answer. I had to admire it.

“Rooms are upstairs,” he said. “Three up, one down here. You can take your pick. Two full baths up there, just a water closet down here.”

Take my pick.

He set the bags on the old oak table in the corner, then moved around the kitchen taking an inventory. Someone hadstocked it with food. There was fresh looking items in the fridge too. The place had to have a caretaker of some kind. Made sense.

I licked my lips. “Do they have laundry machines?”

“They do,” he said, twisting to glance at me. “Good idea. Probably need to wash what clothes we have. I’ll take care of it.”

That wasn’t what I meant but he was on the move again. “I’ll go check the rooms…”

“Sounds good. I’ll start coffee soon. We have supplies for sandwiches.”

“I’ll make something when I come back down.” Not waiting for his response, I took the stairs two at a time. Goblin trotted right along with me.

As promised, there were three bedrooms upstairs. One of the bathrooms was an old school Jack and Jill with a door to the hall too. The third bedroom had an ensuite and it jutted out over the kitchen below but the ceiling seriously slanted on this side.

The bed was a queen. They were all queens. Like below it was clean, dust-free, even if the linens were a bit frillier than I would expect for the guys. Who said they had anything to do with the decorating?

Honestly, I didn’t care where I slept. I guess we wouldn’t have to share tonight and he probably wasn’t getting a lot of sleep with babysitting me. Voodoo would be here… so would Alphabet.

“You’re going to like that, aren’t you?” I asked Goblin. For his part, the dog sat there tail thumping as he watched me. I finally went for the ensuite because at least then I didn’t have to worry about running into someone in the bathroom in the middle of the night.

Yeah, that’s why you’re picking it. My inner snark was not impressed. Well, she could just shut up.

I took some time to wash my face and hands in the bathroom. Then I eyed myself. There were shadows beneath my eyes. Icould pack for a fortnight in the luggage I had there. My hair was more than a little wispy, and looked kind of sad.

The cut on my neck had mostly closed. The other bruises and bumps I had were fading to a sickly yellow-green or had finally begun to disappear. Hiding in the bedroom was not a good plan.

One, I already felt like a coward. Two, I really was hungry. So, Bones and I should talkbeforethe guys got here. Having sex with Voodoo and Alphabet when they both not only knew about the other but seemed very okay with it was one thing.

Bones and me? Well, that wasn’t a thing-thing. At least, I don’t think it was a thing. We were just starting to not hate each other. Goblin bumped my leg.

“Right, I’m circling. Let’s go find food.” The scent of coffee drifted upstairs. “Coffee too.”

Bones was in the kitchen, shirtless and with his gun holster prominently displayed. Coffee brewed and hissed. He had food set out on the counter—sandwich fixings—and he moved around like a machine getting things done.

“Can I help?”

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