Run From Me (Barbed Wire Hearts #2)

25. Xander

TWENTY-FIVE

xander

“Fucking hell. This cat.”

I tore off the backpack and damn near ran into Rylee and Cali coming out of the apartments.

“Fuck. Sorry, ladies. Hold on. I unlocked the bag and slid it past them and closed the door with us in the garage and him howling and hissing on the other side.

“I think we give him a minute to chill out. I have someone bringing me some of the cat shit in a few, because that didn’t go as planned. So maybe we all just go hang in the shop for a bit.”

Cali looked up at me and damn if something in me didn’t break.

“Why are you crying?”

I pulled her to me and started to inspect every inch of my little demon. My hands slid over the shirt she’d grabbed from my closet. No winces, no recoiling.

“I’m fine, Xander. I… It’s nothing.” She wiped at her tears and gave a little sniffle, and like that, she was done. “Thank you for getting him. I’d hate for him to be homeless after only, like, twelve hours.”

I glanced at Zeid and Cas, but they looked at me just as confused.

“Right. Of course. You care about him, and I’m sure I will too, after I get past the trauma of catching his sneaky ass. Something tells me he was homeless by choice,” I said as I reached for Cali, pulling her into me. It had been too many hours without her. Too many hours since I’d seen her. Fuck. I sniffed her hair like some nut job. Yeah. I went there, and I wasn’t even sorry.

“You promise you’re alright?” I asked her as she stood there in my arms.

After a few too many heartbeats, she finally wrapped her arms around me and all was right in the world.

“Oh, hey. Zeid. Can you take this?”

Zeid took the knife I offered him.

“I’ll burn the holster later. Cas, I have some ideas for that knife. When is the next show anyway?”

Cali still held onto me, and I wasn’t moving.

“One week from today. I think we’ll have enough pieces with the haul from tonight.”

Cali lifted her head, but I wasn’t letting her go.

“What haul?”

Cas wandered over with Rylee under his arm.

“The guns from the fight. There were enough shots fired, better safe than sorry. Then there is Casanova here. Defending your honor.”

She looked at me and gasped.

“How did I miss this?” She questioned the lines of blood along my jaw, tracing them with her fingers.

“Let’s just say that tonight was a loss for the Vipers. I think they’re down six. Seven if we include Ripple.”

The blood was dried and her fingers came away clean. I watched for panic to set in. I expected it. But the thing about her was she didn’t play by any rule I expected.

“So this isn’t yours?”

I gave a little shake of my head.

“Okay, then. And they’re gone and can’t be found?”

I nodded.

“Alright. Is it safe to go home?”

That one got an answer from me. I stiffened at the idea of her leaving.

“You are home,” I said, pulling her closer.

“Can you not squish me against whoever’s dried blood this is? And no, I am not.”

She started to pull away, like I was going to let her go.

“Yes. You. Are. And,” I ripped off the jacket with one arm letting the other sleeve dangle from the arm wrapped around her while I kept her in my grasp.

“I—” Her words were cut off as I pressed my lips to hers and made sure no more nonsense came from that perfect mouth.

It didn’t really matter what happened tonight. Everyone was in the loop as much as they could be now. I’d started a war with the Vipers, but the Vipers hadn’t known that until tonight.

When I finally pulled away, her cheeks were adorably flushed.

“You are home. I told you, you are mine.”

Her lips moved, but this time she was speechless. There was a knock at the external door to the alley next to the large garage door.

“That would be supplies for O.”

Zeid was already talking to our guy and grabbing the bags, a litter box, and then something I would have to assume was a bed.

“Great. Grumpy cat will have a place to sleep in no time. I’m actually impressed he didn't claw a hole through the bag when I jumped from your balcony.”

Her little gasp made me pause and question what I’d just said.

“You had to jump from the balcony? What the hell were you thinking?”

I grabbed her hand as she tried to hit my chest.

“I was thinking I had someone at home worth coming home to, so maybe I should avoid getting arrested.”

That got her attention.

“Arrested?” she asked.

Zeid was the prick to answer.

“Yeah. You have some real nosy neighbors for being in such a shit hole. I sat and listened to the scanners while Cas checked out the area for more Vipers. Romeo here made a bit of ruckus and got the cops called.”

She was looking at me a lot more intently now.

“So you avoided getting caught by jumping off my condemned balcony?”

I nodded and tried to pull her back in, but she pushed her arms between us and made that impossible.

“Sparky, you wanted the cat. He made things a little complicated cause he sucks, but look at us now. O is rescued and, shh,” I said and everyone paused. “The fucker’s quiet.”

She hit me again.

“I wanted O, but I could have had animal services pick him up tomorrow. You didn’t need to nearly break your neck and almost get arrested. What would I have done then?” she asked.

Her eyes were shiny as she blinked. Aww, hell.

“Sparky, I’m fine. My knees a little bruised, but it wasn’t the first time I’ve jumped off a building, and?—”

This time it was her lips on mine. Her mouth cutting off my explanation, and I was so fucking here for it. I wanted her to come to me. I just had no idea how much it would affect me when she did.

This wasn’t like before. No desperate attempt to get my attention or to get me to fuck her. No, this was deeper and different. Her lips were soft and patient. Like she just needed to know I was real.

Without breaking the kiss, I lifted her into my arms and headed for the living area, fuck the cat and fuck my brothers. I had things to figure out, and as I stepped into the apartments, so did O.

“Fucking hell,” I shouted as the damn cat lunged for me and dug his damn claws into my pants and into my leg.

“O,” Cali said as I put her down.

“Get Satan off me.” I tried to detach each claw just for him to release me for Cali. “Sure, I save his ass, and that’s my thanks?”

“Looks like you have a fan club,” Zeid said walking through the doors and thrusting an armload of cat stuff at me. “And looks like you have competition. Now, I’m fucking starving, and since O is distracted, I’m tossing in some pizzas.”

I stood there with everything I needed for a pet I didn’t want for the second time today.

“Fucking hell. Come on, Sparky, let’s get O upstairs.”

Cali turned, and it was only then I noticed the slight sway to her steps. I looked at the table.

“Damn it, Rylee. Did you two get drunk while we were gone?”

Rylee shrugged.

“Don’t look at me. Look at your girlfriend. She’s the one that chugged, and I mean, like, three gulps and the glass was empty kind of chugged.”

I glared and then I paused. Girlfriend?

Was that what she was?

“Shut the fuck up, Rylee,” I said, and then Cas was flipping me off.

Girlfriend didn’t sound right. I didn’t date. But I had just impulsively brought Cali here, and as I followed her upstairs, catching her by the waist as she nearly fell over, I realized this was uncharted territory.

“Whoops,” Cali said on a giggle.

“Fuck, Calliope. Are you seriously drunk?”

I helped push her up the last round of the stairs and toward my apartment.

“Maybe.” Her hiccup didn’t help matters.

“Oh, Mr. O, aren’t you the snuggliest little kitty ever? You’re only prickly to everyone else, just like this big guy right here. Guess I have a thing for difficult assholes.”

The door opened and she walked in without a second glance, even as a can fell from a bag, leaving me to grab it up.

“What do you mean you have a thing for difficult assholes? Like you’re just the easiest woman on the planet.”

She hiccuped again and turned back around to me, reaching for the can I’d picked up.

“Oh, right. Me? I think I made it pretty obvious I wanted you from the moment you walked into my morgue. I asked you out and everything.”

I pulled out the bowl for O and let Cali put the food inside it before setting it on the counter. That seemed to make O calmer, and I took the opportunity to get the litter box sorted out. I looked up a moment later to find Cali staring at me.

“What?” I asked. “We can get one of those fancy self-cleaning ones later, but tonight he’ll be happy enough.”

Her eyes might have been glassy from the wine, or was it something else?

“Who are you really, Xander? Thug? Possessive prick? Cat lover?”

I stood and took a step toward her.

“All of those things, I guess.”

She took a step toward me.

“Are you? You can cover yourself in tattoos and kill anyone you want, but I don’t think I’ll ever believe you really fit any of those things.”

That made me laugh. “By definition, I think that’s exactly what a thug is. A psychopath who kills without remorse. I’m the man who creates the nightmares. Fuck, I star in them.”

She took another step closer, her little pink tongue darting out and licking her lips.

“Maybe. Maybe you are all those things, but not to me. Tell me, Xander. What are we doing here?”

The room seemed to have grown twenty degrees hotter and the air thicker as I struggled to breathe.

“What do you mean? I’m keeping you safe.”

She smiled a little tipsy smile I’d never seen from her before.

“Safe in your bed? You could have just helped me move to a different apartment. Helped me disappear. Maybe even not started a little war with the Vipers. But instead, here I am. In your space.”

She was right. I might have had other options. Maybe I should have thought about any of them, but I didn’t. I only saw her with me.

“So, tell me, big bad Xander of the Spectors, what are you doing with little old me?”

I reached for her, grabbing my shirt and pulling her the remaining inches into my body.

I couldn’t give her an answer she might have wanted. Not yet, because I still didn’t know.

“I’m owning you, Calliope. And in return, you own whatever part of my soul you’ve somehow reawakened.”

The world fell away when she was in my arms, and as I claimed her mouth, the here and now was all that mattered.

The scars of my past disappeared as her lips danced with mine. I ran my hands down her arms, stopping at the waistband of shorts that were in my damn way. I broke the kiss.

“When you’re in my house, I only want you in my shirt and nothing else.”

I kissed her as I pulled the shorts down, letting them fall to the floor. I slid my hands under her ass and lifted her onto the table.

“Whatever you want, Xander.”

Her hands fumbled at the waistband of my pants, and I ran my hand under my shirt, cupping her breast, loving the way her nipple hardened under my touch.

“You are so fucking beautiful, Cali,” I said against her mouth.

My cock sprang free and her fingers danced at the tip. I moaned as her fingers circled the head and then my shaft.

“And you’re so hard, X.”

I didn’t know when she’d started using my nickname, but something about it pulled me out of the moment.

“No, not X to you. That’s who I am for everyone else. Here? Just let me be your Xander.”

Her hand released my cock, and then both her arms encircled my neck, pulling me closer. Her legs were spread wide. I pulled her closer to the edge, the head of my cock pressing against her already slick entrance.

“Xander, fuck me like you own me.”

Own her? I was pretty sure she owned me, because I did exactly what she wanted. I thrust inside her, moaning at the stretching of her body to fit me, and as I sank deeper inside her, I kissed those lips of her against the hitch of her breathing and the stutter of her little cries of pleasure.

I never wanted to keep anyone before. I never wanted to have anything before. I lived for my brothers and the Spectors, but in this moment?

I wanted to keep Calliope all to myself forever.