His eyes flicked to Palmer. “And you should probably rest. You’ve been through a lot.”
“Sure.” She nodded once. “I’ll be up in my room, too.”
She stepped away from me, but something inside my chest snapped.
I reached for her and wrapped a hand around her wrist.
Confusion flickered across her face.
“You’re sleeping in my room tonight,” I said.
She blinked. “What are you talking about?”
I closed the space she’d created between us. I didn’t even care that my brothers stood there, watching. I didn’t care how it sounded.
All I knew was that I could not let her out of my sight.
Not tonight.
“You’re sleeping with me,” I said, my voice low and leaving no room for argument.
Color returned slowly to her pale face. Her mouth opened, but no words came out.
I lifted my hand and tucked a loose strand of blonde hair behind her ear, my fingers brushing her temple. “I’ll sleep on the floor if I have to,” I said. “But I am not leaving you alone until that monster is behind bars.”
My jaw clenched, because wewouldfind him.
And this time, he was going to fucking stay behind those bars, or I’d put him in the ground myself.
33
Palmer
Roman’sroomfeltbothlike a cage and a sanctuary.
A couple of hours had passed since the break-in. Graham had delivered a box of pizza about an hour ago and checked in on us, but other than that, Roman and I had been alone. He’d changed the bandages on my hands, and now only my palms were wrapped with gauze since my fingers seemed to not need them anymore.
I had no appetite. My stomach was in knots. I thought of all the things that could have happened if Roman hadn’t been here with me.
This break-in was a direct attack on the place I slept…the house that had been my home and workplace for weeks. Even the fire that had burned my hands had seemed more distant than what had happened tonight.
I swallowed and glanced down at the pillow and blanket spread out on the floor next to the bed. Roman had insisted that I take the bed, and I didn’t fight him on it. I knew I wouldn’t win.
The look on his face when he’d found me hiding in the pantry flashed through my mind. There had been pure panic in his eyes, starker than ever before. When he’d gathered me up against his chest, he’d been trembling.
Things hadn’t gotten much better since.
He’d eaten a slice of pizza, but most of his focus had been on me and making sure that I ate. He had been wound tight, pacing the room at times and disappearing into the bathroom on and off, but I wasn’t sure what he’d been doing in there considering I hadn’t heard any rush of water or sound coming from it.
He was currently standing at one of the tall windows, peering through a crack in the curtains, as if he were scanning the yard for potential threats.
“It’s late,” I said for the third time, but he barely acknowledged me. “I think you should get some sleep, Roman.”
He didn’t move a muscle, but continued to stare out through the narrow gap in the curtains.
“You can turn off the light,” he said, distracted. “I’ll go to bed soon.”
It was a lie. I’d been trying to get him to at least sit down for the last hour, but he’d been blowing off my every suggestion.
