Copper.
I missed him so much it hurt.
Fourteen
Coffee isn’t enough today, I need to be struck by lightning.
—Copper to Cutter
COPPER
It was the fourth night watching her toss and turn that I’d had enough.
I could see the sweat on her face and neck, where her hair clung to her damp skin, and I was tired of it.
I texted Apollo first and asked him to hack into the electricity company’s website and list my name, number, and credit card info on her account.
He’d said he would do it as soon as possible, and after we’d hung up, I moved to the window nearest where Holt slept.
I hated that window unit.
The only reason that I left it in place instead of forcing Audric to get off his ass and get an actual whole home A/C unit for the house was because we had the entire place wired.
No one would be entering the house without my knowing. If not the cameras on her place, the backyard, and the house on the side of her, then I would see any suspicious activity.
I’d taken to sleeping around four hours every day, and usually, those hours were at my office during the daylight hours in between clients and board meetings.
With ease and barely any effort, I lifted the window unit out of the living room window and climbed inside.
Only after I made sure that Holt was still sleeping did I move through the house on bare feet.
Audric had done a good job on this place.
It was cute and airy, while still being tiny as hell.
Nothing compared to the two that he owned on the other side of this one.
Getting to Baker’s bedroom, I quietly stepped inside and walked to her air conditioning unit.
Since she already had the unit on fan, but not on cool, the sound of the switch didn’t make much of a change, meaning the exhausted woman barely stirred.
I stood over her bed and watched her for a long time before the small whimper caught my attention.
I moved back out into the hallway and crept quietly over to the crib in the corner of the room.
“Did I wake you up?” I asked quietly, reaching for the now awake little boy.
I didn’t hate the way his face lit up when he spotted me—the streetlights illuminated both of our faces enough that he could easily see my features.
His happy coo had my cold, dead heart giving a halfhearted happy beat.
“Hey, buddy,” I kept whispering as I walked into the kitchen in search of a bottle.
I found one on the counter, ready to be used.
Leaning against the counter, I popped the bottle into Holt’s mouth, and his eyes never left mine as he ate it up.
My eyes went out the window that I’d taken the unit out of, and I studied the exit for a second before thinking maybe I needed to find a new way inside.
