“I don’t know why I’m so tired,” I say on yet another yawn.
“You’re growing a human.”
I wonder if I’ve imagined the note of pride in his voice as I close my heavy eyes.
I will myself to silence the voice inside my head that tells me this isn’t real. But I’m so tired.
I do my best to quiet the fluttering thoughts and fears in my head.
I lean my head against his chest and listen to the steady beat of his heart. My body sinks into sleep.
CHAPTER NINE
Lyam
Cosette sleeps forhours.
She’s so beautiful when she sleeps.
I sit beside her and ghost the outline of her brows with the tip of my finger. Down the contours of her cheeks and the full pout of her lips. I rest my hand on her back, steadied by the gentle cadence of her breathing.
I’ve never loved any woman. It’s a foreign concept to me and strange to think that Lyam Gerard, player extraordinaire and Gerard family black sheep, has fallen for a woman.
But how could I not?
She’s sunshine and daisies and all things good and wholesome, and I’m… not. She yearns to serve, and I yearn to command.
Now that I know what happened, I know she had good reason. I can’t fault her. Not now.
So when my phone rings and I see it’s Thayer on the line, I pick it up.
I’ll fight him if I have to.
I’ll win.
“Where the fuck are you?”
“You know where I am.”
“Is this phone safe?” Fabien’s voice. Three-way call.
Jesus. “It’s fucking safe.Iwas the one who programmed it. You two pussies can’t make a fucking phone call without the other on the line?” I roll my eyes heavenward. I guess it’ll make things easier for me in the long run.
“Alright, Lyam. What the hell happened?”
I tell them how we got into a chase and that I suspect we’ve been set up.
“I’ve checked all calls and records, prompted by Philippe,” Thayer says. “There’s no record that the police had anything at all to do with this. Every member of their force is accounted for at the time of the chase.”
I clench my jaw. “Motherfucker.”
So someone posed as the police to scare us. It was a setup.
I’ll remember that.
“You’re safe to leave, Lyam. They aren’t after you.”
“Yet,” Fabien responds. “I’ve never seen the citizens so restless. Montague’s got it so that every fucking thing is blamed on organized crime.
