Amusement hummed in my chest.
Energy crackled, but it was different this time.
It was slow and sure.
A rumble of satisfaction as my chest pressed full.
My spirit singing that this was right.
Old guilt made a bid to drown it out. Ancient devotion that no longer quite fit.
That purpose fading at the horizon of my mind.
Grinning back at Salem who still wavered at the doorway, I carried the overnight bag she’d packed thirty minutes before. “Come on, let’s get you two settled.”
She’d refused to bring any more of her things. She’d insisted it was temporary, and she’d be back at Darius’ house soon.
Too bad every bone in my body shouted hell no.
Doubted there was a chance I would be able to let her go considering every part of me raced toward something I’d chalked up to loss.
A type of devotion pumping through my veins that I’d never thought I’d feel again.
But I guessed we’d cross that bridge when we got there. Think I was lucky enough to convince her to come here tonight for a sleepover, which was how she’d explained this little trip to Juni.
After what’d happened with Darius this afternoon, she was the one who’d started to have second thoughts. She’d tried to give me a thousand reasons why it was a bad idea.
I’d only had to give her one to change her mind: I have you.
I’d followed Salem to their house this evening to get their things. I had been wary of having another altercation with Darius, but he’d been nowhere to be found, so I assumed he was somewhere blowing off steam.
Mimi—that sweet thing—she’d been more than keen on the idea, even after Salem had flitted around, worried about leaving her alone.
“The heart knows when it’s time,” Mimi had whispered to her.
Emotion panged at the thought of it.
A void filling in the middle of my chest.
These walls no longer felt so lonely with Salem and Juni there.
I had to believe it was true.
That my heart was whispering it, too.
Juni was hot on my heels as I moved toward the bedrooms on the far-right side of the loft. I tossed open the guest bedroom door. “Here we go.”
Juni blazed around me. “What? You mean I even gets my own room? I loves it here.” She jumped onto the enormous bed, bouncing on her knees on the mattress. “I think I wants to stay for all the forevers. I thinks it’s a good idea because my best friend Gage only lives a little bit away and he can come here and play. Is that okay, Motorcycle Man?”
Warm laughter tumbled free as I edged in. “Well, since Gage is my nephew, and he likes to come over here and hang out with me every once in a while, that sounds like a pretty dang good plan to me.”
There I went, racing toward a destination I never thought I’d go.
“Jud.” My name was a plea coming from Salem where she’d edged up behind us. A warning filled her tone. Reservations she didn’t quite know where to place.
Be careful.
Don’t make promises we can’t keep.
I’m in no position to fall in love.
Turning around, I set my hand on her gorgeous face. “I have you, Salem.”
Thunderbolt eyes speared me.
Deep.
Intense.
Penetrating.
I brushed the pad of my thumb along her jaw, then I forced an easy smile. “Come on, let’s get you two fed.”
“Yes! I’m starvin’ like a martian, all the way up in the planets.”
I grinned back at Juni. “Seems like you’ve been spending too much time with Gage in the Cage.”
“No such thing, Motorcycle Man.” She hopped to her butt then slid off the side of the bed. “He’s my favorite friend, and we’re gettin’ married, and if you get married, you gotta spend always together.”
Right.
I cut an eye at Salem.
Joy washed through her expression.
Hope and belief.
Fuck.
I wanted to put that look on her face every day of her life.
“We’re gonna have to keep an eye on those two,” I said with a tease, angling down to drop a kiss to the side of Salem’s cheek as I passed.
“That’s your jobs, doncha know? You’re the adults.” Juni tossed it out, so pragmatic as she blazed back out to the kitchen.
A laugh tore free.
“I’ll be sure to remind you of that when you’re about fourteen.” I shouted it behind her as I turned in the direction of the master bedroom.
At my assertion, the breath hitched in Salem’s throat.
I turned to look at her from over my shoulder.
Salem had frozen outside Juni’s door.
She stood in my apartment like she’d become a part of the makeup.
A fixture on the floors.
A stroke of the paintings.
Permanent.
So goddamn pretty she knocked the air right outta my lungs.
A fantasy wrapped in a black, decadent bow.
“Could look at you all day.” The praise rumbled free.
Warily, Salem glanced around, fidgeting and letting her nerves get the best of her.