Well, that had been humiliating.

Malia hated it, but Zephyr had been right. She was at the end of the line with nowhere to go. There was a part of her that was relieved that someone cared enough to come looking for her. And yeah, maybe running out on Zephyr had been a shitty thing to do. But she knew how this was going to go. It was a disaster waiting to happen. He'd helped her and she was grateful, but they were both going to lose. And he'd fucking gone to Emily. She was going to have to deal with her bestie soon. Not that she could blame her friend for being furious. But Malia had been doing this on her own for so long, she had no idea how to ask for help. And now, help had been foisted upon her. Once they were inside the apartment, Malia laid her backpack down by the door. Just in case she needed to run again.

He studied her closely. "Trying to make a fast getaway?"

Yep. "No."

"See, I don't believe you when you say that."

"So you're mad that I left, right?"

"That is the wrong word for it. Try worried. The same way Emily feels."

"You don't even know me."

"I know that you needed a place to stay last night. I know that you've been busting your ass for however long. I know that you can't do this on your own, and that you're alienating anyone who might be able to help you. That's what I know."

"You don’t know anything about me."

"I do. I know you're smart as hell. I know you hate asking for help. I know you don't want to appear weak. I know these things about you. I'm the same way. But sometimes you have to get help. Like now."

"I can't stay here." She put up her hand because she saw he was about to argue with her. "I am grateful. And look, if this to make up for any shit that you said before, we’re even."

"That's not what this is."

"Okay, but if it was, we’re good. You don't have to do this, and there are rules. No fraternizing."

He licked his lips, and her eyes glued to the tip of his tongue "Look, I know what the rules are. I’m not going to break them. Especially not now. You need a place to stay, and I have the room. So just crash here."

She winced at the especially not now statement. Now she was someone to be pitied, not wanted. "If I crash here, someone will find out."

"No. No one will find out. I promise. All you do is sleep here. You don’t even have to pretend to know me except for when we’re in class. Can you handle that? I just—I need to know you’re safe. Something bad could have happened last night."

She kept her gaze on her hands. If she looked up, she might start crying. "I don't know what to say."

"That's fine. It's totally okay to not know what to say. But maybe, I don't know, start with thank you."

She gritted her teeth. But he was right. "Thank you. I do appreciate this."

He nodded. “Good. Don't you worry about anything else, okay? You just figure out what you need to do and how you’re going to do it. And also, no more cleaning my place, yeah?”

"You're on my route. That’s my job. I need it."

"Fine. I'll tell them that you cleaned the place. I don’t care what you tell them. But don't actually clean it, okay? I can clean up after myself.”

"Why are you doing this?"

“Because once I was a kid with nowhere to go, and someone took me in. So I’m just paying it forward a little.”

Malia stared at him for a long moment. And then finally, she just gave in to what she’d wanted to do from the beginning. She ran right up to him and wrapped her arms around him, squeezing hard.

His arms snapped around her and encased her in a cocoon of warmth. For tonight she was safe. “Thank you.”

"You're welcome. And you said that already. Why don’t you just go ahead and get to work?"

Yeah, that was just the thing now. Getting to work with Zephyr Donovan around was going to be next to impossible.

* * *

Later that night, Malia shifted from foot to foot as Emily and Zephyr watched her. Finally Zephyr spoke. "I've got some work to do in the other room. I'll see you guys in a minute."

When he was gone, Emily turned to her. "Look, I'm sorry I was reading you the riot act before. I was scared and worried."

Malia took her hand and led her to the couch. "Look, I'm glad that I have someone who cares. And I know I should've told you." She shifted. “I wanted to tell you a million times.”

"Why didn't you? My whole job is to help people with their problems. I get it about the administration. But I would have found you a place to crash. I could have done something. But instead you've been running around doing this by yourself."

"I don't know how to ask for help. I don't have a lot of examples of people I can count on, present company excluded, so I just didn't want to burden you. And according to student bylaws, you're required to report this.”

“Fuck the bylaws and student disciplinary board. You are my best friend. I would have done something. Why didn't you just take a semester off? I mean, you work so much. I'd think you'd have enough for a place by now.”

Malia shook her head. “My aunt Mabel takes every cent I make, every single one, to look after Eva. And Eva’s got a fancy school scholarship, but there's an application fee. So that's another couple of thousand I have to pay for. I don't have first and last month’s rent for an apartment. And crashing with people is fine and great, but I don't always have a place to stay, so beggars can't be choosers, Ems.”

"No. You can't. But that's when you call your best friend for an option or an idea or something. You don’t just shut down and try to do it all yourself.”

“I haven't had much choice.”

“Well you do now. Between me and Prince Charming we're going to try to work this out.”

* * *

Zephyr came out with bedding, but then deliberately carried her backpack to the bedroom.

"Thank you for everything today. But honestly, you really didn't have to. And you don't have to sleep out here. I'll take the couch."

Zephyr's chuckle was low as he tossed the pillow and blanket on the couch before planting his hands on his hips. "Oh, that's real cute. Except you already showed me that I can't trust you. I'm not letting you run out first thing in the morning. Out here I'll be able to wake up if you try to get past me."

"Are you serious right now?"

“As an alligator in a swamp. Get to sleep."