I giggled. “I’m glad some good is coming out of this, even if everything else seems to be going crazy.”
“I’m not worried about it. A lot of good is coming out of all this.”
“What do you mean?”
“Somehow, I think I’ve found a new friend. Someone who gets me.”
I reached out and grabbed his hand, linking our fingers, and squeezed.
“You’re right. Everything else may be crazy in our lives right now, but this . . . our friendship feels good, it feels right,” I confessed.
But there were other uncomfortable feelings that I was experiencing that I couldn’t speak on. Feelings that conflicted with him being just a job for me. Feelings that I hadn’t felt in a long while, even with Collier.
I tossedand turned throughout the night, waking up over every little sound. It wasn’t that I was in an uncomfortable position, but it was knowing that Chanel was here with me and she was under my watch that kept me vigilant throughout the night.
I had taken that woman away from her family and friends and moved her under my protective wing. I didn’t take that shit lightly, because I was determined nothing would happen to her. Whatever was going on was related to my marriage and me; I knew that with certainty. I would be damned if I would allow that shit to blow back on her.
Titan was on the same page that I was because he slept in the room with her all night. I went to check on them at one point, and she had left her door partially open. Titan was right there atthe foot of her bed. He lifted his head and peered an eye open when I stuck my head inside. Although I knew I had been quiet as hell, he didn’t let anything slip past him.
Now that I was awake, I wanted to see what she wanted to get into today. I glanced in her room and saw that neither she nor Titan were in there. I headed downstairs and heard her voice coming from the breakfast room. There was a beautiful view of the lake from that room, and I knew she was enjoying it.
I stopped in the kitchen before going to her. She had been up cooking already. Chicken sausage, oatmeal with cranberries, toast, and boiled eggs were all in warmers, ready to be eaten. A fresh pot of coffee was brewing, and it smelled good.
My heart tugged in my chest. This was the type of shit that I missed. The kind of stuff that Muffin used to do in the early years of our marriage. The traveling and away games had taken a toll on her because she needed me close by. It was a struggle for her whenever I went away, and she didn’t like traveling to the away games as much. Muffin had always been the clingy type, even when we were in our teens. She was a woman who needed her man in bed every night, holding her, loving her, and reassuring her. I had thought we would be able to work through that shit. I was wrong.
I fixed my plate, seeing that she had already fixed hers based on the missing sausage on the warming tray. I could hear her talking to her cousin while I fixed my juice and grabbed a water bottle.
“No, Tommi. I swear that I cannot think of a single person who could have gained access to my apartment. Uh-uh . . . I revoked his access a couple of days after he left my apartment. No, Darius doesn’t even know where I live, so it can’t be him.” She laughed and listened for a while. I wondered who the person was that had their access revoked, and why she had to do it.
I headed into the breakfast room where she sat at the table running her finger around the rim of a coffee mug. She didn’t see me but kept staring out the window as she listened. One of her legs was crossed over the other one, and she idly bounced her foot back and forth.
“You haven’t found anything? What about the security cameras?” She scoffed before she replied, “How convenient the cameras up there weren’t working on that day. I haven’t had any issues with the camera before. This was premeditated, and I’m willing to bet it was the same person who vandalized my car. Those cameras weren’t working either.” She sighed loudly before stating, “Okay. Talk to you later. Love you too. Okay. I won’t.” She giggled, ended the call, and sighed again.
“Hey, you okay?” I asked, announcing my presence as I set my plate at the end of the table closest to her.
She turned and smiled at me. “Yeah. I’m fine, thanks.”
“Surprised that I didn’t startle you.”
Her eyelids grew heavy, and she licked her bottom lip. “I smelled your cologne before I saw you.”
I didn’t know what to say about that. Based on her facial expression, I thought it was best not to respond to that comment. “Did you have a good night’s sleep?”
“Honestly, it was the best sleep that I’ve had in a while. I doubt that I could have slept that well at home after all that’s happened. I wanted to say thank you again, and I’ll have to find some way to repay you for your kindness and compassion.”
“You don’t repay people for kindness and compassion. It’s either in a person’s heart to do it or not.”
“I know. But I just want you to know how much I appreciate you.”
“I already know.”
“Thank you. How about you? Did you sleep well?”
“Yeah, I’m good.” I didn’t need her to know how often I woke through the night, worrying about her. I was good now, and that was all that mattered. “So I overheard your conversation. They haven’t found anything?”
“No,” she replied sadly. “I just knew they would find something from the security cameras. What was odd was that the cameras at the facility were running on a loop, but what was alarming was that the cameras in my hallway were out altogether. That hasn’t happened since I’ve been living there.”
“That definitely sounds like an inside job.”
