Page 116 of Kill for a Kiss

I feel the beat of his heart rattling my spine. Sterling’s bracing, holding me back. So I stay still, but my fingers dig into his forearm.

“Not so fast, Ocean Eyes,” Stan calls from across the way.

Lix turns his head.

“You bring anything else with that invite?” Stan asks. “Pills, maybe? Bottle of Kys to keep you compliant?”

Lix doesn’t blink. “I was told to deliver the card. That’s all.”

Stan’s voice lowers. “She gets in your head, doesn’t she?”

Lix responds quietly. “I don’t remember anything else right now. I don’t want to.”

Those words in that voice sinks deep. I recognize that numb clarity, that hollow certainty. It’s the same fog I used to walk through before I remembered how to feel again.

Stan must see it too. He steps forward with more care now. “You did your part,” he says. “Giving Elle that card was the job. That’s all. You don’t have to do anything else.”

Lix doesn’t answer. But I see the slow blink. The way his body turns toward Stan again.

Stan places a hand on Lix’s shoulder. “Why don’t we sit someplace for a while? I’ll keep you company.” He smirks. “You look like you’ve been through it. Hell, I’ll even let you stare at my face for a bit. Free of charge.”

Lix doesn’t give a reaction. But he also doesn’t walk away.

Right behind me, Sterling whispers, “He’s stalling him.”

I nod. “He’s distracting him.”

“He’s risking everything,” Sterling adds, and there’s a tremor in his voice he doesn’t try to hide. “For you.”

“For us,” I whisper back.

He doesn’t say anything else. But he lowers his face into the curve of my neck and holds me tighter, arms banded around me like he won’t let me go. Like I’d ask him to at any point soon. I’d stay here forever if I could. And so I stay right here, still grounded in Sterling, and listening to Stan carry the moment with nothing but his charm and that impossible grin. It’s working.

“You ever do anything besides brood and reload?” Stan asks casually. “Or did Clo pull you out of her lab, slap some Kys into ya, and program you to look hot and homicidal?”

Lix tilts his head again, a twitch in his brow.

Stan grins. “C’mon, you’re cute. You can laugh.”

Lix’s gaze drops to the card Stan is still holding.

“Oh, this old thing?” Stan tosses it over his shoulder without looking. It flutters through the air and lands in the dirt. “Oops.”

And then, so casually it looks like a stretch, Stan lifts one arm behind his back and adjusts his shoulder. A flick of two fingers follows.

“Stan’s signaling,” Sterling whispers. “He’s taking the target off-site.”

Out in the clearing, Stan keeps talking. “You like bikes, Lix? I’ve got one better than that squeaky thing you rode in on.” He turns toward the other end of the woods. “C’mon, let’s ride.”

Lix stays still. “What if I’m not allowed to leave?”

Stan leans in a little. “You already left. Just not far enough yet.”

He taps Lix’s chest once lightly. Right over the heart. And like a miracle, Lix follows. One step and then another.

Stan leads them toward the trees, too far from us to hear clearly what he’s saying about s’mores for dinner and demanding more tattoos on pretty boys.

But I stand there, shivering in Sterling’s arms, in shock and awe. Stan’s walking off with a stranger in a helmet and a gun, taking the danger with him like it was his to carry away.