Page 91 of ILY
“Why are you here?” I demand, ignoring his first question.
“Michael,” he says, then spells it on his hand a little too fast for me to have picked up without seeing the word on his lips first.
I groan. “Fuck. Was he here?”
“He was in my yard,” Salem answers with his voice and hands. “I followed him over here, but he ran under…I’m guessing that’s your car.” He points.
“Yeah.” My eyes narrow across the driveway, but I can’t see movement.
Salem taps my arm, and I look over at him. “He’s probably gone.”
Passing a hand down my face, I let out a groan and shake my head. “This is getting out of hand.”
He nods, then takes a step back. “Where’s Leaf?”
“Sleeping. We were out with Robbie and Thom tonight,” I say, and Salem’s lips twitch like he’s holding back laughter. He probably knows what they got up to tonight. “I was the DD.”
His expression softens. “Are you and Leaf…” He trails off, his fingers twitching like he’s mumbling in ASL.
“He’s my boyfriend,” I say. It’s the second time I’ve used that word aloud, and it feels fucking good. My cheeks are a little hot, but I hope my flush isn’t obvious under the yellow porch light.
He sticks out his hand. “Like I said, I’m Salem. I have a little place down the road. Leaf and I aren’t really friends—he’s been a little stressed-out lately, dealing with Michael. But I try to help him when I can.”
I shake his hand. “By stealing his farm animals?”
Salem’s eyes narrow. “If you had seen what a bad job he was doing?—”
I let him go, and in spite of how I would literally kill for Leaf, I know Salem is in the right here. “No, I get it. Trust me. I don’t know if chickens are the best thing for him right now. Not until he solves this groundhog problem.”
Salem lets out a sigh. I can’t hear it, but I see it in the way his shoulders sag and his chest deflates. “I’ve been trying to come up with ways to help. I was worried at first that the thing might be rabid, but I think he’s just an asshole.”
I snort. “He really is.”
“I don’t really advocate for killing pests, but at this point, I’m tempted to tell Leaf to grind up some Lily of the Valley and mix it with some of the veggies that he keeps stealing.”
I don’t love the idea of killing the little fucker either, but I also don’t know another way to save Leaf’s sanity. “Well, I?—”
“Did you say Lily of the Valley?” The door flies open, and Leaf is speaking so loudly I can hear him out of my better ear almost perfectly. He lurches into me, and I catch him before he falls. “Did you…was that…”
“Babe,” I murmur softly as I help him stand upright. He’s still a little floppy from everything in his system, and he looks up at me with big doe eyes. “Why are you up?”
“The lights,” he says, waving his hand at them. He switches to sign. ‘Too bright.’
‘You need to go back to bed. We can talk about stuff tomorrow. Salem came to check on you.’
Leaf wrinkles his nose, but he plants a wet kiss on my lips, then waves a sloppy hand at Salem before stumbling back inside.
When I turn back to Salem, he’s frowning at me. ‘You sign.’
‘I’m new,’ I clarify. ‘I wasn’t sure I could trust you.’
He makes a motion with his lips, ‘peh peh,’ to let me know he gets it. “Should I keep speaking?”
“You should probably go back home. It’s late, and I need to go inside and make sure Leaf doesn’t start building a Lily bomb to kill Michael.”
Salem bursts into laughter. “Fair enough. Sorry I scared you.”
I don’t tell him I wasn’t scared. Creeping shadows haven’t bothered me in years. The only thing that terrifies me now is something happening to Leaf.
