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"Indeed"

"He’s a good h I trust him And I know you’re not usually around when he’s with Bitty, but you should see theoes to bed, the two of them come upstairs There’s this puzzle table that we set up in her room, you know? The pair of them sit there and work on puzzles--frankly, that shit makes me crazy Iwith eight ers, trying to ress" He crunched the Tootsie Pop and started chewing "They love it And all the time? In this quiet voice, he tells her stories of herup--it sounded like a great life In the country, playing outside, horses and sheep, a mahmen and father who loved Ruhn and his sister so iven her the side of the family that helps her feel like her e laughed a little "And come to think of it, it’s pretty much the only tilad they have that connection And yes, from what I have seen, they are very close"

"Ruhn’s like a son to me For real"

"I just never expected…well, I didn’t expect everything that happened to hie tossed the white stick with its pink stain on one end in the trash "And listen, I’ve already talked to Mary about ent down tonight She’s going to pay Ruhn a little visit See if he needs a tune-up, so to speak She helped Z a lot with his shit, so tragically, she has soe hi the words out, seeing if they were true--and that made him feel like a bad person

"Good Because you shouldn’t And you shouldn’t be afraid of hi proof of it"

"You’re right And what happened to hi he volunteered for"

"Too right"

"I feel like I’ on his behalf"

"Anyone who’s heard the story feels the same way"

Will my heart be safe with him, Saxton wondered to himself

And to be fair, that was a question he would be asking noa relationship with

"I wish I could see into the future," he murmured

"There are certain corners in life where that would be a nice bonus I wish I could help you entleet ahead of ourselves"

After aSaxton with his own thoughts

After a while, he went to his file drawers Getting down on his haunches in the far corner, he pressed his thu to the Black Dagger Brotherhood and their families were kept there and he easily located Bitty’s adoption papers

Taking the file out, he opened the cover and flipped through to the last page, where Ruhn had "signed" his name

The male had drawn a self-portrait of hio

It was a stunning rendering, and so realistic that Saxton ran his finger down the contours of the cheek and could swear he felt the warht of Blay and Qhuinn From what he understood, Blay had always taken care of his partner, looked after him, made sure he was as stable as he could be It had been an expression of love before that word had been shared between the, thehim so

He had the capacity to fall in love with the h He knew all too hat unrequited love felt like This stuff with Ruhn? It had an even greater potential for destruction

Novo saw the cane as a huge improvement Come on, over the wheelchair? It alsoexpectations was good, especially when you were in the vampire equivalent of cardiac rehab