�Treasury.�
�Right. Anyway, you�re apartment is currently occupied and I know how much you�ve been making for the last nine years so I�m pretty sure you can�t afford a hotel room in the District for the next ten weeks�not to mention that you�re probably as sick of them as I am by now,� Josh continued. �If you think it�s too fast or something, I understand, but� I�ve got room ay my place for two� and we�ve already done the living together thing and we both came away relatively unscathed.�
�It was the scathing that led to the living together,� I pointed out, my free hand instinctively moving to cover the scar left from the white supremacist�s bullet.
Josh nodded. �True, but there was no further scathing other than the time that I was stupid and didn�t listen to you and therefore I think we can call it a success. It will be better this time, too.�
�Because of the sex.�
�That�s a big part of it, but I was thinking about the fact that there won�t be Rules this time,� Josh said.
I shot him the same look I had shot everyone else when they insulted my Rules. Josh had been on the receiving end more than anyone else, though Toby had run a close second�his obsession with attacking guns and hate crimes was something that had started to concern me, which is saying a lot because I barely had time to worry about myself let alone anyone who wasn�t Josh.
�There will be Rules?� Josh asked meekly.
�Yes,� I nodded.
�How harsh are they going to be this time?� Josh asked. I shot him the other look I had developed back in the post-Roslyn days�the one for when people said my rules were dumb. �I mean what joyous restrictions can I look forward to in my near future,� Josh back-pedalled.
I knew he was just teasing me, bringing the banter like we always did, but the emotional toll of the past few days was catching up with me. �If you want to have a near future to look forward to you�ll get over the fact that I restricted things like the amount of work you could do and the channels you could watch on TV when you know that I was trying to keep your blood pressure within shouting distance of a healthy range. I�ve been getting grief from everyone about my rules since I came up with them, and that�s fine because they were necessary to keep you alive, but it was seven years ago, Joshua. Get over it already,� I said, my tone harsher than intended. I didn�t mean to get so angry but the truth was that I was sick of it. While I don�t think he had ever really understood how greatly what he thinks of me affects me�in fact, I�m sure he doesn�t know because I have spent a lot of time and energy making sure that he doesn�t know how what he might think of as benign comments make my heart shatter a little bit more�it seems like he is starting to see that what he says actually means something to me.
I hope.