Savage Vandal (82 Street Vandals #1) - Heather Long Page 0,55

heart doing that weird flip thing again, as did the way he winked. “Where do you think I got all this ink?” I hadn’t seen all of it yet, but I’d gotten a look at some. It was as eclectic as he was.

But after Vaughn left, Jasper slammed out of the room without a word. Kestrel had just sighed and made himself coffee to go. “Be good, Sparrow. I have a feeling today is gonna be a long day.”

He took Freddie with him, despite Freddie’s protests.

Then I was alone with Rome and Liam. Not that Liam stuck around. The twins never said a word to each other. It was kind of unnerving. Liam just bumped his fist to Rome’s shoulder and left. When I followed him with my gaze, he paused at the door and shot me a wink, then he was gone and it was me and Rome.

Rome who never talked.

“You done?”

The two words surprised the hell out of me, and I glanced over to find him watching me, head cocked to the side. He was dressed like he always was—dark jeans and a gray hoodie half-zipped. Most of the time, he didn’t have a shirt under it. Today he did. It was dark blue like his eyes.

I glanced at my empty plate and coffee cup, then nodded. I carried them over to the sink. As rundown as parts of the place was, at least they kept it mostly clean. The linoleum was probably thirty years old and the dirt so deeply ingrained it had become a part of it, but it always seemed swept.

“Leave it,” Rome told me as he stood.

“I was just going to rinse them out.”

“Leave it. The rats can clean up later.” He jerked his head to the door. “C’mon.” Then he headed out as if expecting me to just follow.

A part of me wanted to argue and be stubborn, but the rest of me was kind of curious. Rome had just said more words to me in the last five minutes than he had in the last three weeks.

Three weeks. Or that was how long I thought it had been. At least two since I’d made my abortive escape. A week or more prior to that I’d been here. Or was that two? It all seemed to run together. I hurried when I found Rome almost all the way down by the stairs going up. Usually, this was when we’d go watch movies or play games or whatever, but he took the steps two at a time.

“Do you have shoes?” he asked.

“Um…I guess. In my stuff.” Not that I’d looked. “Why?”

“Go grab them and a jacket.” He pushed open a different door. This one right on the other side of my room, and there was a door on the far side. One that looked like it went into the room I stayed in. The room itself was a wreckage. There were boxes and cans everywhere. The bed was also disheveled.

He glanced over his shoulder at me.

“Go on.”

Okay.

I went to the next door that I thought went into Rome’s room, but I guess it was Liam’s? Maybe that was why he slept here? Then again…

Whatever, I went into my room and found shoes, they were in the very bottom of the dresser under some jeans. I put on some warmer leggings and then the shoes. It felt weird to tie on the sneakers, and it took a minute with my arm still in the splint. I couldn’t find a jacket I could get over it, and when Rome appeared in the doorway, I held up the wrist.

He grunted, then disappeared again.

I managed to run a brush through my hair and brushed my teeth by the time he came back, this time holding a larger hoodie, darker colored than his. He zipped me into it, then pulled the hood up.

“Okay, let’s go.”

“Where are we going?”

“Do you really care?” He shot me a faint grin. “Or would you rather get out of this place and see some sunshine?”

Fuck it.

“Sold.”

“Then come on.”

Chapter 14

Emersyn

When Rome said we were going to see sunlight, he hadn’t been kidding. The air was brisk, but I savored the cold wash of it against my cheeks, even as I had to squint against the too bright light of the sun. I hesitated just outside the main doors. We’d passed the room where I’d seen Eric without slowing, and instead of the big rolling doors, Rome pushed open a smaller one I hadn’t seen and