Page 125 of All That Glitters

“Have I told you lately how much I missed your cooking?” She pouts.

“No, but as a thank you for helping me, I’ll make you a stack of those chocolate peanut butter cookies you like.”

“See, this is why you’re my favorite.”

“Hey, I heard that,” Amity yells out, making me grin.

“I’ve got to tell Midas.”

“I’ll order us some food and arrange for it to be delivered. Oh, wait. I need the address,” she admits, looking flushed.

I reel it off before heading downstairs, where I find Midas finishing up with a customer. I wait until he’s done before I approach. He must sense me because he whirls around and hurries over to me.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. The girls want to help me clear out my old apartment so I can hopefully get my deposit back.”

“I can do that for you?—”

I hold up my hand to cut him off. “I need to do this. I need to take back some control. Amity is calling G and getting him to send someone over to accompany us, plus Amity is a force to be reckoned with on her own, plus it’s the middle of the day.”

He stares at me, and I can see he doesn’t like it one little bit. I watch him fight with himself and find myself surprised when, instead of trying to steamroll over me, he backs down.

“Alright. I can’t come with you because Powers isn’t back yet, but I’ll head over and join you later.”

I tilt my head and stare at him. Who the hell is this man? “Okay, that works for me.”

“Good.”

“Good,” I echo, taking a step back.

I don’t get far before he tugs me forward and kisses me. I’m surprised at the move and freeze in his hold, not that he lets it deter him. He kisses me until I slowly give in and return it. The problem is that it’s harder to guard my heart against the man when he invades my senses like that. I pull back, needing to put some distance between us.

“Too much?”

“Yeah.”

“I’m not sorry. Not even a little. I’m fighting for my life here, Legs.”

I offer him a sad smile and swallow. “Me too, Midas. Me too.”

I don’t think about how this is gonna play out until we pull up outside my apartment. We all climb out of Lil’s car as Dice rides up beside us on his bike.

I give him a wave just as the bus pulls to the bus stop. “Guys, give me a second.”

I hurry over to the bus and wait for people to climb off before I step on and see Gene smiling wildly at me.

“Oh, I’m so happy to see you. I was getting worried you were sick or something.”

“I know, I’m sorry. A lot has gone down since I last saw you. I’m moving out for a while. I’ve had some trouble here, and I’ve gotta think of the baby.” I pat my stomach.

He nods, his face the picture of concern. “Absolutely. Well, thank you for letting me know. You take care of yourself, sweetheart.”

“I will. And thank you, for being the first friend I made when I moved here.” I lean over and kiss his cheek. He gets all flustered and waves me off. I chuckle and step off the bus and wave as he pulls away.

“Jesus, I thought you were trying to make a run for it, and I was going to have to chase the bus down on my bike,” Dice huffs from beside me.

I look at him and roll my eyes. “I think I’d need a better getaway plan than that. I was just saying goodbye to someone,” I tell him as the girls walk over curiously.