Page 9 (2/2)

He sniffed h me "Holden…"

With him on top of me, I didn’t have to question whether or not he wantedback a reminder of the kiss we’d recently shared One more time he lowered his mouth towards est anything else He withdrew, placing one last kiss at the corner of my lips, then rolled off me

"Sunrise," he whispered huskily

Had he really been cleaning that long? I let out a wobbly breath I hadn’t knoas holding Who knew the sun would be the ulti into my ribs

When I rolled over to lessen the pressure, ainst Holden’s with a comical hollow thonk I don’t knohich of us had the eh to i awake

Meanwhile I had discovered the culprit behind the pain inin my ribs or are you just happy to see un I’d wornso with a loaded weapon was a bitwe’d slept through sunset and right into night Itout of time to live up to Lucas’s selfish, one-sided threat

"I have to see Desmond," I announced

It wasn’t necessarily meant for Holden, but he was the only other person in bed with me, so he took it as an invitation to respond "And tell hih you broke up with ainstto kill hi threats about the future of someone he once claimed to be best mates with How far off can a death threat be?"

That made a chilly lump form in er

Oh, fuck it What did I really know about what Lucas would and wouldn’t do? I’d thought he was a goodhard choices Maybe he had been, once Now? They say heavy is the head that wears the crown Lucas’s head was plenty heavy, and it had turned his spine into Jell-O His big, bloated, ego-saturated head

"I have to go," I repeated

"Do you want ine that conversation would be, I think I’ alone"

Holden propped hirinned at s"

I whacked hiative conditioning doesn’t reinforce positive behavior," he reh the cotton

"Keep it up and I’ll show you real negative conditioning"

I pulled the pilloay, and he was still s like an idiot "I think I’d like that"

"You would too"

Chapter Eleven

Holden leftme time for my much-needed cold shower

By the tied it was after ten It would have taken less ti closet organization less than twenty-four hours after he’d fixed it I settled on clothes fro a low-cut short-sleeved red shirt with my dressiest jeans--the ones with cute nautical button details on the front

Not exactly the fiercest ass-kicking ensemble if another pack of olves came after me, but I was still armed My New Year’s resolution had been to not putharder to live up to than I’d hoped--who could account for bayou solves, really?--but I was doing my part

My part involved wildly expensive silver bullets and lots of them

Since my shoulder holster would have shown in stark contrast to the red top, I threw onthe femininity of the outfit about three notches Oh well The jacket had seemed brand new a year earlier Since then I’d been stabbed in it, gone swiotten demon blood on it

Now it looked like it had been hard traveled through the front lines of World War II

Ballet flats did their best to add a bit of girlish char theh-heeled boots

Walking to Dese over half an hour, and it took another ten row a pair and walk up to the front door The building he lived in ned by Rain Real Estate, naturally Before living with me Desuessing after the wedding, Des any as I didn’t want to be in the same room as Lucas, let alone cohabitate with hile" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7451196230453695" data-ad-slot="9930101810" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true"></ins>