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Aleks nodded “I, u a phone yet I know I should be after two years, but I was never allowed to own anything, so carrying so around with et my phone at home So cash in all my pants pockets just in case”

I felt a shard of pity go through me at his words He hadn’t told me about his past, but I didn’t need the details to know it had been horrific

Hell, that word probably didn’t even adequately describe it

“Anyway, I still have this fear that… that so to take me like when I was a kid It’s stupid, I know—”

“It’s not,” I cut in “It’s absolutely not”

Aleks heldsomeone will take me and if I don’t have my phone or they take it froain and they’ll take me away… so Dante had this bracelet made forin it that makes it so he can always findat it”

I nodded in understanding He was talking about a tracking device It hat Jace had used to find s’ house

“Hopefully so of his shoulders

“There’s no shame in it even if you do,” I said I’d told Aleks aboutwhen he’d asked about the scars on ed And while iven me some alternative ways to cope with stress, I still foundI could have the security back that cae would fade, but probably never fully go away There was always the potential that the strangest thing could trigger the behavior, so I understood where Aleks was co from

I gladly agreed to the topic change when Aleks asked about Mav and Eli and how their honey My brother and his husband had elected to spend a month on Mav’s Harley They hadn’t had any particular destination inAs of that , they were somewhere in New Mexico

While I was talking, I felt a prickle of unease go through , but when the hair on the back ofstood out at first as I scanned the dozens and dozens of faces But as soon as I widened my search, I felt my stomach drop out