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I amble up next to her. She doesn’t move.

Okay… That’s a good sign.

Every shade of the city colours her angelic face as she stares out into the skyline blankly. Every instinct in me is telling me to reach out to comfort her, but after her confession, something in my brain switched. I’m even more cautious of scaring her away, but I can’t quite place the feeling. It’s quite the metaphor with the current storm. It’s… quiet in my head, for once, since I laid eyes on her. Like a calm before the storm.

But it can’t be.

She looks around the room, slowly walking towards the bed perched on a small, polished wood platform on the right side of the room.

“There’s only one bed?” she audibly swallows.

“I can sleep on the floor,” I say. Not that I’ll be doing much sleeping. And especially not with her here, in my bed, and not being able to sleep beside her.

My fists clench at that thought.

“No, that’s okay. I can sleep on the floor. This is your bedroom.”

She seems resigned. Her movements are slow, her arms folded around her like a protective shield.

I scoff. “Like hell am I letting you sleep on the floor.”

She spins, giving me a small smile. “Okay.”

My mind races through the possibilities of what might have caused her sudden mood switch. My stomach tightens. Was it something I said? Something I did?

“So, do you stay here often?” Her voice cuts through my trailing thoughts. She tentatively sits on the edge of the bed.

“No. Jacques has his own bedroom too, but he doesn’t stay here either. Only if…” I pause for a moment, thinking of the right words to use. “Business desperately needs sorting out.”

“You mean like killing people?” she asks without hesitation.

I nod, padding over to the small, glossy-black wardrobe next to the bed. I pull out a fresh set of sheets and start assembling them on the carpeted floor at the foot of the bed.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to sleep on the floor?” she asks.

I step up onto the platform, kneeling in front of her small frame, settling between her legs.

“I would sooner let you use me as a bed than let you sleep on the floor.”

She studies me, her mouth quirking up on the side. Her eyes rove down my torso painfully slowly, causing blood to shoot right to my dick for the thirteenth time tonight.

I summon every higher power known to man right now to keep my fucking body under control.

She glances over to the speaker. “Can you play that song again?”

Without another thought, I unlock my phone, bringing up the song and connecting it to the speaker, pressing repeat.

“Thank you,” she whispers, face sombre as she gives me one more once-over, biting her swollen lip. “Goodnight, Xander.” She uses her arms to pull herself further up the bed and under the covers.

I rest my elbows on the bed, watching as she makes herself comfortable.

“Goodnight, Angel,” I mumble, slinking under my makeshift bed on the floor.

Silence falls, and the sounds of the storm and the hushed hum of the music are all that’s left. I can still feel the phantom touch of her hands on my chest as I stare at the empty area on the left side of the room. The feel of her lips on mine. I didn’t need much here when we renovated, but now it seems like something else would fit perfectly in here.

I shuffle on the floor, the sheet rustling in the quiet, facing the bed. I can’t see her from the floor, but the very knowledge that she’s right here next to me calms something in me.

“Xander?” she whispers into the dark, and a smile forms on my face.