“Fine, then be mad at him.”
Nox wished he had a reason to be mad at Isaiah.
Luca glared at him. “Yes, you do. Especially after what he said about us. He talked about you like you were a disease. And his bullshit story about me being a Cana—and I still don’t know what the hell that’s supposed to be. He probably doesn’t know because he hasn’t had the time to get his story straight and—” Luca cursed. “You’re just too nice.” The anger in his eyes turned to desperation. “Please be angry with me.”
“Why?” He held Luca’s face.
“Because someone needs to be.”
Nox caught Luca by the chin and pressed his lips to his mouth, slipping the tip of his tongue inside just enough to brush Luca’s. When Nox lifted his head, Luca had his eyes closed.
“Why don’t I hate him?” Luca’s voice trembled. “I should. I should and I don’t.” He inhaled a watery breath. “If neither of us hates him, then we believe what he said.” And the tone of Luca’s voice begged Nox not to believe Isaiah. “And we don’t. We can’t.”
Nox pressed a kiss to Luca’s forehead, and Luca buried his face in Nox’s shoulder.
At that moment, he wished every word from Isaiah’s lips had been a lie. Or at least a lie Isaiah didn’t believe.
While Nox couldn’t say for sure Luca was what Isaiah claimed, he couldn’t deny that Luca was special.
“Why don’t you go inside, lie down for a while?” Nox said
“We were supposed to check out an hour ago.”
“I’m going to pay for a few extra nights.”
“No, we should leave.” Even as Luca said it, he slumped against Nox.
He petted Luca’s hair and pressed another kiss to his temple. “I think we should stay. The bed’s more comfortable than the van, and a hot shower is way better than water jugs.”
“What if the shower door gets stuck again?”
“I’ll fix it so it won’t. And if I can’t, then you can take a bath.”
Luca sighed. “We can’t afford to stay.”
“We won’t run out of money.”
“You can’t keep stealing from ATMs.” Luca sat back. “You’re going to get caught.”
“I won’t.” In Phase, Nox was invisible to the electronic eye.
“And what happens when someone finally sees you? Or the van, or me?”
Unlike a camera, human eyes could see him until he entered Phase three, but that state took its toll on his memory.
The first time Nox entered Phase three, he’d returned in a near vegetative state that lasted days. He was sure the only reason Echols didn’t terminate him was because Koda had said Nox would come back.
“Fine, I’ll park a mile or two away from the ATM.”
Luca scowled. “How about you don’t steal instead.”
Then how would they get the money to stay?
Rain sprinkled the windshield. It quickly overflowed the clogged gutters, running the length of the building and splashing onto the second-level walkway.
No wonder it sagged.
“Maybe the motel owners will make a trade,” Nox said.