“Sorry,” Wylder said, wrinkling his nose as we tramped up the steps in a stairwell that smelled like stale beer.
“It’s fine,” I said. “If it wasn’t for you guys, I’d be sleeping in an abandoned warehouse or something.”
“It was the best I could find where I was sure no one would notice the sudden occupation,” Gideon said, scanning the hall we came out into.
The apartment itself was a bachelor, the whole thing about the same size as just the living room and kitchen in the other place. A plain bed stood at one end—“I changed the sheets for you,” Anthea murmured to me. A shabby love seat squatted in the middle, and a table that’d only seat two stood in front of a short stretch of counter, fridge, and stove that looked like they’d been transported out of the ‘70s.
I glanced into the bathroom and found that it held only a cramped shower stall squeezed next to the toilet. At least the showerhead emitted decently warm water. I grabbed soap and shampoo out of my bag and headed in. “Time to get all traces of this dead asshole off me.”
Rowan took out his phone. “I’ll leave the anonymous tip to the cops about the arcade. If we’re lucky, they’ll get it taken care of tonight.”
As I scrubbed myself off in the shower stall, scarlet swirled into the water around my feet. I worked shampoo through my thick hair two times and even gargled with soapy water a few times. The I rubbed more soap all over me again and again until the water ran totally clear. I stepped out to grab a fresh change of clothes in a much better mood that wasn’t at all dampened by the mildew creeping along the grout between the tiles.
When I came back out, Anthea was just finishing unloading a couple of bags of groceries into the kitchen cupboards. Gideon glanced at me over the top of his tablet. “I’ve got the new cameras up and running. I’m trying an experimental program that will hopefully alert me if a form similar to Xavier’s moves past them. I’ll probably get a lot of false alarms, but better that than missing him.”
I went over and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. “I already feel better knowing you’ll be watching over me.”
Rowan ran his hand through his hair, meeting my gaze and then jerking his away. “Everything’s set up with the cops,” he said.
Something was definitely bugging him. I didn’t think he was likely to tell me in front of the other guys, though. Rowan had worked very hard to present a certain kind of image in his new role. I wasn’t going to try to undermine that, not when I understood where he was coming from so well now.
Gideon cleared his throat. “Are we going to continue having someone with Mercy at all times? I could take this shift.”
I grinned at him. “As much fun as I’m sure we’d have, I think it’s actually Rowan’s turn.”
Rowan startled, but he quickly caught himself. “All right,” he said, looking solemn. “I didn’t have anything to take care of back at the mansion tonight.”
Wylder looked from him to me with a speculative expression, but thankfully he didn’t let his possessive prick do the talking. “Sounds like everything’s settled. The rest of us had better move out before anyone starts wondering too much about where we’ve been.” He leaned in to claim a quick but demanding kiss. “We’ll be seeing you soon.”
“I’m counting on it,” I said, swatting him.
As she headed out with the guys, Anthea squeezed my shoulder. “Rest up. You need it after today.”
No kidding. All the running around from the last couple of days was beginning to catch up with me. My body ached from being constantly on the alert.
Anthea had left a bottle of what looked like nice wine along with the food, I couldn’t help noticing. When everyone had left, I grabbed that and a glass out of the cupboard. I was going to need a little help relaxing.
“Do you want anything?” I called over my shoulder to Rowan.
“No,” he said, his voice oddly tight. “I’m fine.”
When I looked over at him, he was pacing the room, his gaze averted. I took a sip of the wine I’d poured and went over to join him. He stopped when I reached him, but his posture stayed tensed.
Whatever was bothering him, it’d started with the fight in the alley. I cocked my head, waiting until he met my eyes. “You know, you were pretty impressive out there tonight.”
He raised his eyebrows. “You think so?”
“Yeah. I mean, it’s not how I’d have pictured you when I knew you before, but that’s understandable. You’ve changed a lot since then.”
Rowan’s mouth twisted. “I have. More than you’ve even seen yet. You know as well as anyone that you can’t get into this kind of life—can’t survive it—without a certain amount of ruthlessness.”
“Well, maybe that’s not totally different,” I said. “You let the ruthless side of you come out to protect me. I know you’d have done whatever you could to defend me back when we were teenagers too.”
A new intensity came into his deep blue eyes. “I’d have done anything for you, Mercy. You’re right. That one thing hasn’t changed.”
Something in his tone sent an eager quiver right down to my pussy, but I didn’t think we’d gotten to the heart of the matter yet.
“Not just that,” I said, and went to my bag to dig out the little sketch of the kitten he’d drawn for me. “There’s a lot of the Rowan I fell in love with in this too.”