For once, she didn't argue, and that told him exactly how torn up she really was. Ren followed after them while Choo Co La Tah and Sasha stayed topside to keep an eye out for any other enemies who might want to join them.
No one spoke until they were in the elevator. Ren folded his arms over his chest as he blocked the door and faced them. He glanced from Abigail to Jess. "You have no idea how much it bothers me to know that I was the man she meant to kill tonight and now I have to protect her."
Jess snorted. "Yeah, well, she tried to kill me, too, and I got over it."
"I'm not as good a man as you are, Sundown. I find it hard to give an enemy my back under any circumstance."
"Oh, I didn't say I was giving her my back. I'm not lacking all my noodle sense. But I'm not holding a grudge neither. Sometimes you just got to let the rattlesnake lay in the sun."
Ren muttered an obscenity about that under his breath.
Abigail cleared her throat. "Men? You do know I'm standing in this little box with you and can hear every word?"
They exchanged an arch look.
"We know," Ren said. "I merely don't care."
She rolled her eyes as the elevator stopped and Jess moved Ren aside so that he could open it.
Abigail hesitated before stepping out.
"Something wrong?" Jess held the door open for her with one arm.
She stuck her head out a little ways and squinted at the ground. "Making sure there's no scorpions on the floor."
He laughed at her uncharacteristic timidity. "Miraculously, they're all gone." The only proof of their ordeal was the hole in the ceiling that the coyotes had used to jump through earlier. "Looks safe."
Ren made a hostile noise before he pushed past them and took the rear bedroom suite.
Jess tsked at him. "You know, bud, that there's just plain rude."
Ren held his hand up over his shoulder to flip him off as he continued on without comment or pausing.
Abigail swallowed at his open hostility. Not that she blamed him, since he had been her target. Still ...
"Don't take it too hard," Sundown said sheepishly. "Ren's ... well ... he's Ren. He don't mean nothing."
If it were only that simple, but she did appreciate his trying to make her feel better. "He hates me."
"He's wary of you. Big difference. Like he said, he was your target. Not exactly something a man gets over real fast."
"You seem to have adapted."
He flashed the most devilish and charming grin she'd ever seen before, and it did peculiar things to her stomach. "I'm not as bright as he is."
Oh yeah, he could be devastating when he wanted to. "I somehow doubt that."
"Is that a compliment?"
"Well, hell has indeed frozen over, in case you missed the snow on your front lawn."
He laughed as he led her toward the room he'd taken her to earlier. Now that they weren't in fear of their lives, she could appreciate the beauty of his home. The hallway was painted a peaceful ochre with white wainscoting. The wall sconces were baroque and seemed at odds with the down-home simplicity of Sundown Brady.
"Did you decorate this place?"
He cast a frown at her over his shoulder that said he thought she was a few gallons shy of a load. "Yeah, no ... decorating ain't exactly something I strive to do in my spare time. It came with the house."
"Why did you want to live here? No offense, but it doesn't really seem to be your style."