“I need to… I have to…”
“Breathe, Honeybee.” Valen cautiously reaches for my hand, then guides me back to the island. He squeezes it twice, like he knew I was struggling to stay in the moment—one squeeze to let me know this was real, and another to drag me from my mind.
He grounds me in a way nothing else ever has, and it’s absolutely terrifying.
Everything ends eventually.
What will happen when my threats are finally solved? Will he move on to his next client? His next case?
Will he forget me all over again?
“Do you want to talk about it?” Grant asks.
I shake my head violently.
“So,” Chase says, studying me in a way that makes me want to hide. “Distraction it is.” He winks. “You and Valen. How’s the roommate situation working out?”
And just like that, I’m slipping from my fear spiral and solidly into my embarrassed one.
“Fine,” I say at the same time Valen says, “Great.”
“Suspicious,” Sterling stage-whispers.
“You’re both awful,” I mutter, but my heart rate is slowing and a smile is peeking through.
Grant’s phone buzzes, then buzzes again, and his expression shifts from relaxed to laser-focused in half a second.
“What?” Valen asks, scanning the outside world through my windows.
“It’s Chief.” Grant’s reading fast, his jaw tightening each time his focus returns to a new line on his screen. “A package arrived. He’s guarding it.”
A shiver sweeps through me.
“Another one?” I ask numbly. “But…we’re all here. Right. Here.”
Grant’s already pressing buttons on his phone. “Roman? Yeah, Chief sent photos. Can you—” His gaze darts to me while he listens. “How long?” Another agonizing pause. “We’ll be here.”
He presses end on his phone and searches for Valen. Their gazes collide with unspoken words before he turns to me. “You need to get cleaned up. Roman’s coming over. He said we need to see this in person.”
“But…where is it?” I ask.
Grant holds my gaze, but his sympathetic expression can’t hide his discomfort. “They left this one at the Chug. In the podcast booth. Madi found it.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
CLOVER
“Madi. Found it,” I repeat, the sinking dread making my entire body tingle.
Oh no. No. No. No.
“Is this what will happen if they can’t get to me?” It’s hard to get the words out through the tightness in my throat. “They’ll go after my friends?”
“It’s good that they know you’re protected here, Honeybee.” Valen’s words aren’t the comfort they were a few moments ago. Not when a stalker got so close to someone I love, and not when he won’t answer my question.
“I’m…going to shower,” I murmur and turn to head upstairs.
The chill creeping up my body freezes my mind in a place where pain and terror don’t exist. I zone out. Hide in the only safe place left—the secret spaces I create to shut out the world.
