All clear. I’ll keep you posted if anything changes.
Pope dashed off a response and settled into the couch bed Summer thoughtfully made him. He stayed up for a long time watching the screen, but soon—surrounded by the familiar homey scent of the woman he was guarding—his eyes began to drift shut.
His phone buzzed against the arm of the couch.
Carson.
Pope opened the text and skimmed ‘the message.
Had the clip analyzed. Nothing actionable. Shadow distortion from motion blur and low light. All clear.
Pope stared at the message another second before looking back toward the security feed still glowing dimly on his screen.
Maybe Carson was right. But every protective instinct he had centered on the duplex and the small family sleeping inside it.
He shifted onto the couch without taking his eyes off the feed. He didn’t intend to sleep. He was resting with alarms active and backup ten minutes away.
For the first time in a long damn time, protecting someone felt dangerously close to having a place to belong.
And for the first time in a long damn time, Pope realized protecting someone could feel dangerously close to having a place to belong.
* * * * *
Summer’s eyes popped open, and she stared at the ceiling of her bedroom for several heartbeats as consciousness slowly stole over her mind.
She couldn’t remember the last time she slept that hard. Usually she woke three or four times a night without even fully registering it. Listening for noises, thinking about bills, running through work schedules and grocery budgets before dawn even arrived.
Some part of her brain always stayed ready, braced for the next thing that needed her attention.
But last night…she slept.
Really slept.
Waking to sunlight pouring across her bedroom wall scared her enough that she bolted upright. Panic that she was late for something hit.
“Oh my god!”
She threw the blankets aside and lunged for her phone on the nightstand. As soon as she saw the clock, adrenaline tipped into her veins. She’d slept way later than normal.
Was it a school day? What shift did she have today?
Her mind started firing.
Ben did have school, but if she gave him one of the Pop-Tarts from the gifted grocery haul, they’d make it on time. Or at most, a few minutes late.
She heard a noise coming from the living room and the rest of her memory kicked in. Vander had installed cameras and she’d invited him inside to crash on her couch.
Now she knew exactly why she slept so well. Knowing he was here meant that some buried part of her actuallyrelaxed.
Which was more unsettling than the ticking clock.
Summer tugged on her hoodie and hurried down the hallway, already preparing to find the couch empty and Vander gone, the blanket folded neatly and the truck missing from outside.
Instead, she stepped into the living room and stopped cold at the sight.
Ben and Vander sat cross-legged on the floor in front of the TV playing video games. For a second, she could only gape at them.
Then the scent of fresh coffee hit her senses and she followed the smell to a mug that sat beside Vander while Ben, holding a controller, practically vibrated with excitement.
