Dead Man's Deal The Asylum Tales - By Jocelynn Drake Page 0,46

my cheek. I could feel her wipe away something wet, but I refused to think she had made me cry as well as admit that I was a coward. The League of Men was going to come confiscate my balls at this rate. But it didn’t matter. Trixie was worth it.

“Oh, Gage, how could any woman hate you?” Trixie asked in a broken voice.

“Talk to Sofie or Bronx. I’m sure they could provide examples,” I joked but I couldn’t hold the smile on my lips. It wasn’t exactly the response that I was hoping for, but at least she wasn’t getting out of the car and walking out of my life.

I dropped my hands from her face and started to turn back in my seat to face front when Trixie tightened her hold on my cheek. She pulled me closer while she leaned across the remaining distance. She kissed me hard and I hesitated only a heartbeat before I kissed her back, getting lost in her soft lips, the warmth of her mouth. She broke off the kiss before I could pull her into my lap.

“First, I’m not happy with you but I understand your reasoning for keeping secrets,” she said in a hard voice. “Second, you’re not a coward. I’ve never known anyone braver than you. And third, I will never hate you because you’re a warlock. You weren’t one of the bastards hunting down my people. You chose to leave rather than be like them.”

I smiled at her, some of the tension easing from my chest. “There doesn’t happen to be a fourth thing you want to tell me?”

Trixie frowned and I pulled away from her, struggling to keep the teasing smile on my face. Yeah, I was definitely pushing my luck. It was enough that she wasn’t leaving. It was enough that she didn’t hate me.

I was reaching for the shifter when Trixie’s laughter rang through the SUV, jerking my gaze back to her face. “For fuck’s sake, Gage,” she said between giggles. “I feel like I’ve been throwing myself at you for almost two years. How could you not know that I love you?”

Releasing the shifter, I grabbed Trixie with both hands and pulled her into my lap. It was cramped and uncomfortable, but her mouth on mine made me forget about everything else. She wrapped her arms around my neck while I pressed her as close to me as I could. The world was burning around us, but I had Trixie in my arms and I would keep her safe even if it meant taking apart each Tower with my bare hands.

Trixie pulled away, her breathing heavy, but a smile was on her beautiful face. “How can you be so smart and so stupid at the same time?”

“I lose ten IQ points anytime we’re in the same room.”

Trixie arched one thin eyebrow at me. “That’s all?”

“Well, twenty points when you’re wearing leather.”

She chuckled again as she nuzzled her cheek against mine. “I love you, Gage. Don’t ever question that.”

I squeezed her, some of the tension easing from my chest. I didn’t know what this meant for us. I had never uttered those words before and I had never received them in return. For now, it meant nothing more than that someone was going to stick beside me through the mess that I was faced with, and I was grateful for it.

Trixie leaned back so she could look at me. “What are we going to do about the Towers?”

I jerked back as if she had hit me. The anxiety that had so nicely flowed away rushed back, squeezing my heart with fear. “We aren’t going to do anything. It’s the Towers, Trix. What could we or even I do about the Towers?”

She frowned. “You’re telling me that you’re going to huddle in Asylum and pray that it blows over? I don’t believe that for a second.”

I wanted to shake her. She knew me too damn well despite my tendency to keep secrets. “We aren’t doing anything. I am going to try to contact a couple of people and see if I can get a little inside information. Besides, I think we’ve currently got our hands full with our meeting with the queen tomorrow.”

Her expression crumpled as she was reminded of her own plight, which didn’t look much better than my own when it came to the Towers. We were in a world of hurt and we needed to start digging our way out of it if