Page 44 of Same Thing
“What’s wrong?” she asked quietly, afraid of keeping Nate and Delta awake with talking too loudly.
“Jackson shouldn’t have done that to you.”
She sighed, puffing air out of her cheeks, and scooted closer to Liam. Like it was the most natural thing in the world, he put his arm under her and pulled her in against him. She could feel the steadybum-bum, bum-bumof his heartbeat, and wished they didn’t have to talk about Jackson in a moment like this.
“That’s a problem for tomorrow,” she said, reciting the words he’d said before.
“I need a plan, Nory. It’s how I’m built. And while I’ve come up with three foolproof plans to get rid of him forever so he never scares you again, you’re different than me, and you have a different moral compass, so I’m asking you.”
“Asking what?” she whispered, looking up at him.
“To help me with the plan. Say what you need, and I’ll do it.”
She shook her head, confused.
“If you told me you wanted him to disappear, no one would ever hear from him or see him again. Do you understand?”
And she did. She could hear the gravity of his oath in his voice, and see his honesty in the steadiness with which he held her gaze.
“I would do terrible things to make sure you are safe,” he rumbled.
A long, low snarl rattled from his throat, and he closed his eyes and took three deep breaths. Nory pulled his hand from his stomach and kissed his knuckles there. “The plan is that you never have blood on your hands on my account. I’ll talk to Layla tomorrow and get out of my lease, and like you said, you will take off work and come with me to shop for apartments. I thinkmy boss will advance me enough for a deposit on a new studio apartment. I’m only two days away from getting my paycheck, and she’s known me a long time. We will find a place on the other side of town from Jackson. I already let Alese know what’s going on and deactivated all of my social media accounts until I can get in there and up the privacy on them.”
“You shouldn’t have to do all of this while he just gets to stay comfortable in that place. What’s to stop him from targeting someone else after you leave?”
“I don’t know, Liam. I’m winging this. I do think I should go back to police and add the new stuff to my harassment case against him.”
“Police,” Liam said absently.
“I know it’s not the way you do things here, but I still have my human world, and that’s what I know. Maybe I should run away to my mom’s for a while. Take a few weeks off work and just disappear. I don’t know.”
“Whoa, where does your mom live?” he asked.
“My entire family is in Boise.”
Trouble swirled in Liam’s lightening blue eyes. “That’s a drive. How long do you want to go for?”
She shrugged miserably. “I didn’t really want to talk about this tonight. It’s been a good evening. Everything just got so messed up.”
“In your world.”
She stopped talking, uncertain of what he was saying. “In this world, Jackson doesn’t exist. If you are determined to run for a couple of weeks, okay.” He inhaled deeply. “Run here.”
She looked around the room. “I can’t ask for that kind of hospitality from Nate and Delta. We can just focus on finding an apartment tomorrow. I made a list of some options while you were in the shower. Gah, this is so strange. I feel like I’m orbiting in outer space right now with no real anchor, and you mustbe feeling the same way. You’re having to rebuild your entire house.”
He huffed a laugh. “It is strange times for both of us.”
“Maybe if I find a new apartment, we just won’t tell them you will be visiting me there, or that you’re a werewolf, and we can do slumber parties.”
“Slumber parties?” he asked, skeptical.
“Yeah! We can do manicures on each other, and matching skin care routines. Maybe I’ll get wild and crazy and let you keep a toothbrush there.”
He tickled her ribs, and she let off a peel of giggles.
“I can cook you frozen lasagna,” he teased.
“And I can cook you—”