Someone stood outside the cabin five minutes ago, watching.
This isn’t random.
This isn’t opportunistic.
This is targeted.
Cold fury rolls through me.If I ever get my hands on the son of a bitch who put fear in her eyes… I’ll make sure he never sees daylight again.
When I step back inside, Kelly is sitting up in bed, pulling the blankets tighter around her.Her curls spill over the pillow in messy waves, her brow furrowed in a way that makes something deep in my chest clench.
She looks soft.
Tired.
Scared and brave as hell all in one.
Her eyes lift when I enter.
I didn’t realize how much I needed that simple gesture, her looking for me first.
“Everything okay?”she asks, voice barely above a whisper.
“Yeah,” I lie.“Just brothers checking the perimeter.”
She nods but doesn’t believe me.Smart girl.“I heard something,” she shares, fingers twisting the blanket.“Footsteps?”
“Nothing you need to worry about.My brothers will be on the outside.You’ll hear them hit the porch off this room and the front porch when you’re in the living room.Not a big place and they’re gonna be close without being in your face.”
Her gaze drops.“Everything feels like something I should worry about.”
I sit in the chair beside her bed, leaning forward.“You’re safe here.”
She studies my face for a long time, chewing lightly on her lower lip.That used to drive me insane in the best kinds of ways.
Now it just makes my chest ache.
“How do you know?”she asks softly.
“Because I’m here.”
The words come out too fast, too raw.Her breath catches, her fingers tightening on the fabric.
My throat goes tight.I shouldn’t have said it like that.I shouldn’t let things that feel like promises slip through my teeth.Not when I’ve already failed her once.
Her head tilts.“I don’t remember you, but I feel like I should.”
“It’ll come,” I say, hoping I sound surer than I feel.“One piece at a time.”
“What if it doesn’t?”she whispers.
“It will.”
She swallows, eyes glimmering.“You seem certain.”
“I am.”
She breathes slowly, nodding, grounding herself in my certainty because she doesn’t have any of her own.
