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Hades looks down. “You comfortable?”

Her tail thumps once against the couch.

“Of course she is. She slept all night while we destroyed our spines.”

“I slept fine.”

I narrow my eyes. “Good for you.”

His mouth curves.

I should move.

Instead, I keep staring at him.

Last night comes rushing back.

The festival.

The mask.

Hades chasing him.

Coming home.

Hades checking the house and staying because I asked him to.

I felt safe in Hades’s arms. Not worried that a white mask would appear beyond the glass.

His thumb moves against my hip. “You okay?”

“Yeah.”

“You sure?”

I nod. “Thank you for staying.”

Something changes in his expression. “You asked me to.”

Like that explains everything.

Maybe to him, it does.

“You could've left after I fell asleep.”

“I told you I wasn't going anywhere unless you asked me to.”

My chest does that stupid aching thing again. “Most people say things they don't mean.”

“I don't.” He says it with zero hesitation.

I study him.

I barely know this man.

I know he has a younger brother he'd do anything for. I know they had a childhood bad enough that he describes it as something they survived. I know he keeps emergency clothes in his truck and reads dark romance when a woman in a bookstore tells him to.

I know he likes his coffee black.