Page 112 of X's and O's

I could see what Bliss meant. He hadn’t let me out of his sight once.

I found the supply cupboard well stocked and pulled out sprays and cloths and scrubbers. The men’s bathroom was closest, and I knocked, despite the bar not being open yet. I’d met Bliss’s other partners, Nash and Vincent and Scythe, and knew they worked here with her, andmaybe there were other men who did too. But nobody called out, so I let myself in.

I recoiled instantly. “Oh God.”

The bathroom was about what you’d expect from a dive bar that hadn’t had a cleaner for weeks.

In other words, foul.

I’d seen worse, but Bliss hadn’t lied. It definitely wasn’t great. But I wasn’t going to complain. I put the supplies down at my feet on the tiled floor that most definitely needed scrubbing and started rolling up my sleeves.

“I’ll take this room,” Levi said behind me. He plucked a pair of rubber gloves from the pile of supplies and pulled them on.

“Don’t be silly. If you really want to help, I’m sure the tables need wiping off. Or you can dust. You don’t need to do the bathrooms.”

He ignored me and picked up a toilet brush. “You think I can’t clean a toilet?”

I eyed him dubiously. “I don’t ‘boy clean.’”

“What’s ‘boy clean?’”

I loved Toby, but he was the definition of a boy cleaner. “You know, squirt a bit of disinfectant around with a rag and call it good.”

He frowned. “You do realize I’ve been in prison for the past six years. Who do you think does all the cleaning there?”

I paused. He had a point. I was sure they weren’t hiring people.

“Violet, this bathroom is disgusting. I’m doing it. Stand there and watch if you want. Or wipe a mirror or something, I don’t care. But I’m helping.”

Armed with his toilet brush and a bottle of cleaner, he got to work.

I watched for a moment, the control freak inside me rising swiftly, ready to tell him he wasn’t doing it right.

Except he clearly hadn’t been joking when he said he had skills. He didn’t blink at the dirty stalls or the urinals that reeked. He just got in there and scrubbed and wiped and scrubbed some more. Every time I moved toward a toilet, he practically growled at me and crowded me out, taking over and powering through the grime.

And worse, he looked cute doing it in pink rubber gloves.

Since I was permitted to clean the mirrors hanging on the walls over the sink, that’s what I concentrated on. Spritzing them with cleaner and then wiping it away in long, even strokes so they wouldn’t get streaky.

All while watching him in their reflection.

I hid a laugh when he silently gagged at the sight of one stall, but he got himself under control and got the job done. A mop and bucket came out next, and he shooed me out of the bathroom and went to town on the floors. I slipped into the women’s room, which was thankfully a thousand times cleaner than the men’s. It only took me fifteen minutes to whiz around in there and get the place nice again. By the time I came out, Levi was leaning on the wall, being smug.

I raised an eyebrow. “You’re all done, then?”

“All except the mirrors.”

I frowned. “I did them.”

He shook his head with a shrug. “Still looked kinda dirty to me. You missed a few spots.”

I glared at him and flung open the door to point at my handiwork. “I absolutely did not…”

Except one of the mirrors had cleaner droplets all over it. And in the spray, Levi had written two words.

I’m sorry.

He always had been better with written words than spoken.