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“Lock it,” I said between sips “Put the chair back under the knob”

“Fucking A, Ari,” he said as he did as I’d asked Then he gently clasped my biceps and demanded in a low tone, “What the hell happened to you?”

His gaze roved my face I saw the shock and pain in his blue eyes Mixed with instant anguish

Shifting away from him, I set the tumbler on the counter and said, “I walked into a door”

“You fucking—Goddamn it!” His outburst filled the room “You can’t just say shit like that! Tell me, seriously”

I turned back to him “Why are you here?”

“What?” His brow furrowed “You haven’t been at the hotel in two days and Dane looks like … Christ” He shook his head “I don’t knohat the hell Dane looks like, but the best way to describe it is the walking dead He’s so … not there Even when he is” Another shake of his head Then he said, “I had to get up in his grill, you know? Demand to knohere you’ve been and why he looks all zo as hell What is it with that guy?” he added under his breath

I knew that expression he was talking about—the one where Dane was clearly someplace dark and scary in his mind “So, what … he told you?”

“Sort of” Kyle whirled around and slammed his hand on the counter “Fuck, Ari Your face”

“Stop looking at it if it bothers you,” I hissed “I didn’t invite you here”

His head whipped in er and concern “Hell, yes, it bothersoff a cut that ht actually need stitches Your skin’s sallow and you have the oddamn zombie boyfriend”

“He’s not my boyfriend” I returned to the sofa “Not anymore”

“Ah, fuck”

Kyle sank into the chair adjacent to ot all Rambo on the dude and he let me In orld would that happen?”

Ignoring that sentiment, I asked, “What’d he say?”