Some things don’t require words.
The two of us understand that better than most.
Chapter Seven
WILL
The Next Day
Letting out a low groan, I haul myself upward again, my arms burning through another set of pull-ups on the bar Koa bolted into the doorframe of the gym room at the back of the clubhouse.
I’ve been in here longer than I meant to be.
Longer than the workout requires.
But the harder I push, the quieter my head gets, and right now that feels like a necessary trade.
Because something isn’t adding up.
I’ve watched Jonas McClane long enough to recognize when a man is conserving energy instead of spending it. He moves differently these days. Not weaker, exactly. Just more deliberate, as if every action has to pass through a filter before he commits to it.
And Millie…
Millie has started to move around him in an orbit, one that wasn’t there before and now feels almost instinctive. Low-key managing things, picking up conversations before they land somewhere uncomfortable, and making herself available in ways that feel less like habit and more of a strategy.
They haven’t said anything.
Not to me.
Not to the club.
But Jonas has been watching her too. More than usual. With a kind of attention that reads of preparation, as though he’s trying to make sure she’ll be all right once he’s no longer the one standing between her and the world.
That thought sits badly in my chest.
Worse is what it implies.
If something is wrong with Jonas, if the mine is about to become unstable in any way, that’s not just personal, that’s operational, and it is one hundred percent club business.
Which means, technically, it’s something I should be taking back to Sin.
And I haven’t.
Because there’s a difference between reporting facts and reporting instincts, and right now all I have is a collection of observations that feel too intimate to turn into intel.
Millie trusts me.
Or at least she doesn’t actively avoid me.
And whatever is happening between us, fragile as it is, doesn’t survive me turning her private world into a briefing note.
So, I keep my mouth shut.
And I work harder.
Another pull-up.
Another burn through my shoulders.
