“Oh, no, not at all,” I said, amused as his eyebrows drew together in confusion. “I do think we should go out on dates. I just don’t think we should leap into being boyfriend and girlfriend the way we did. Because, really, we never did date.” I took a deep breath. “I want to see if we have more in common than simply being zombies. And great sex. Because, dude, if that’s the only reason we’re together, then that’s kinda fucked up, and can’t possibly end well.”
“Okay,” he said slowly. He reached and rubbed my shoulders. “I like you, too. A lot.” He looked like he was about to say more, but then apparently changed his mind and simply gave me a rueful smile. “I’d like to date. Get to know you.”
I tipped my head up and gave him a light kiss. “I don’t think I’m the same person I was three months ago. I’d like to get to know me, too.”
He looked a bit lost, so I pulled him into a hug. He gave a little shudder then relaxed against me. Part of me felt awful and sick, but at the same time I knew that this was the right thing. I deserved to be with someone who wanted to be with me, whoever the hell that was.
I gave him a squeeze then released him. “Call me tomorrow?”
“Will do,” he said, smiling again. It was probably fake, but he was putting in a damn good effort.
I kissed him again, sent him on his way, then turned to head back inside. Maybe he and I really would work things out. In fact, I realized that I rather hoped we would. But at least now I knew that it wouldn’t be the end of the world if we didn’t. I was stronger than I’d ever dreamed. And I had plenty of people in my life who had my back, no matter what.>“Correct,” Pietro said. “He is a very dangerous man.” A pained look flashed over his face. “I wish I’d thought to have him checked out sooner, but Kristi assured me that she’d investigated him thoroughly and that I could trust him.” He didn’t say more, but it didn’t take a genius to figure out that Pietro had used McKinney for some dirty work of his own.
“Yeah, well I ate his brain.” I leaned back and laced my fingers behind my head. “Motherfucker shot me. I couldn’t let that shit slide.” I killed a man. Shouldn’t it bother me more than this? Yeah, sure, he was a really bad man, but still…
I straightened abruptly. “Shit. What day is it?”
Marcus tipped his wrist to look at his watch. “Well, in about an hour it’ll be Tuesday.”
“Oh, whew,” I slumped back in relief. “I didn’t miss it.”
“Didn’t miss what?” he asked.
I gave a rueful smile. “My meeting with my probation officer.”
Ed snorted. “Seriously? You’ve just survived a secret government zombie lab and that’s what you’re worried about?”
“Exactly!” I shot back. “I just survived a secret government zombie lab, so it would suck pretty damn hard to go through all that and then end up back in jail because I missed a simple meeting, right?”
He blinked. “I can’t argue with that.”
“Don’t, man,” Marcus said fervently. “Don’t argue with her. It’s much better that way.”
I smiled and sipped my coffee.
Chapter 30
And then Marcus took me home. My dad and Ed had retrieved my car and someone had paid to replace the tires. Considering that the old tires had been dangerously bald, I was pretty pleased at how that worked out. I suspected Pietro had something to do with it, since I knew my dad didn’t have that kind of money. Also, miraculously, my purse and its contents were still in the car, which saved me a buttload of hassle.
Dad gave me such a long embrace that I wasn’t sure he was ever going to let me go. I didn’t mind.
“Someday you’ll tell me what that was all about, right, baby?” he muttered, voice rough.
I gulped and nodded. “I will. I promise.”
He finally released me and gave me a wavering smile, then lifted his head and looked to Marcus. “Thank you for keeping her safe and bringing her back.”
“She kept herself safe, Mr. Crawford,” he replied. “She’s a tough chick. All I did was give her a ride.”
“Yep,” I said as I rummaged through my purse to make sure everything was really there. “Just call me the Angel of Kicking Ass.” I gave him a wink.
My phone was dead, but as soon as I plugged it in it lit up like a Christmas tree with missed calls and text messages—almost all from Derrel, with the others from Nick and Monica. I skimmed through the text messages, confusion growing. From Derrel I had: Call me. And: Where are you? You need to watch the news. And: Call me! Where the hell are you? From Monica simply: Yay! I’m so happy for you! Then, from Nick: You’re late for work. And finally, from Derrel again: I’m going to kill you if you don’t call me!
The last text message from Derrel was from only twenty minutes ago, so I went ahead and called him back.
He answered with, “Don’t you ever check your messages?”
“Um, I’ve been a little busy. I was sorta out of town. What’s going on?”