I text Kruz, filling her in on the latest episode of the shitshow that is my life. I downplay the severity of it all in hopes that she doesn’t freak the actual fuck out.
She does anyway.
Finally, Stu releases a breath and stands again, smacking his laptop closed. “Try and breachthat, fuckers.”
Jack nods and the look on his face is one of gratitude, but at the same time he says, “Cut the camera access, please.”
“Not into exhibitionism, then,” Ezra jokes, but I don’t think he’s too far off the mark.
Molten lava settles somewhere around the top of my pelvic bone when I think about what happened between us in the kitchen.
Jack just scoffs. “That’s exactly what I meant.” He is unashamed. “I know Stu, and him having direct access to my cameras is not my idea of a good fucking time.”
Stu just waves him off, “I don’t have your cameras on here, dude. I don’t wanna see whatever shit you two do when we’re not around.” He shudders like he’s disgusted.
A yawn creeps out of my mouth as he ends the sentence, and I realize exactly how late it’s gotten. The entire day and night have gone by in such a blur.
Once they’re out the door and it’s locked behind them, Jack pulls me against him for a long, much-needed hug. I feel the tension in my body dissipate and I’m suddenly overwhelmed with exhaustion, both mentally and physically.
I guess I’m for sure spending the night again.
Maybe the next few nights.
Or longer.
20
SO MANY UNANSWERED QUESTIONS
QUINN
The adrenaline rushof the security threat left me feeling more shaken than I expected it would. But in the quiet hours of the morning, as I lay in bed with Kronk’s big head pressing down on my chest like a weighted blanket and Sienna snoring softly from her extra crib next to Jack’s bed, I can’t help but feel like this is exactly where I’m meant to be, regardless of what brought me here.
After the chaos settled and the guys left, Jack moved Sienna to his room and insisted on bringing Kronk upstairs. It was a simple suggestion on his part, but really poked at the tender parts of my heart. Kronk means the world to me, and it means everything that Jack not only sees how important he is to me but maybe even feels a bit of that connection to him too.
I’ve shifted in and out of sleep since lying down, never dozing off for more than thirty minutes or so it feels.
Running my hand along Kronk’s fuzzy back, I feel so safe despite everything. My big, doofy emotional support flea brain.
I watch Jack on the recliner in the corner of his room where he insisted on sleeping. His eyes hadn’t fully closed until just a few minutes ago. I wouldn’t have minded sharing a bed with him, but there is something achingly vulnerable about himlike this—his protective nature and the respect he has for the newness of our relationship.
Is it a relationship?
I suppose time will tell, but I wouldn’t mind experiencing a littledisrespectat the hands of Jack, though we both know that wouldn’t have been a possibility last night with all the shit happening and his room full of dog and baby.
Still, he stuck to the recliner.
I would have loved to at least tempted him to let go of some of the restraint I hope he’s barely hanging onto at this point if he’s feeling anything like I am feeling.
My mind replays the events of the night, and I can’t shake the feeling that this closeness between us is more than just circumstance.
Sienna stirs in her crib, her tiny hands reaching out for the mobile suspended above her. She’d probably play quietly for a while being the angel baby she is, but I get out of bed anyway, careful not to disturb Jack as I lift her into my arms, cradling her close to my chest. Her nearness is just as much a balm to my frayed nerves as having Kronk nearby is.
Morning light is just beginning to filter through the split in the closed curtains, casting a broken glow across the room. Jack stirs from his makeshift bed despite my best efforts to keep quiet. His eyes meet mine, something unnamed and affectionate passing between us as he rises to his feet. There is a tenderness in his gaze that breaks down every possibility of me keeping anything from him. I don’t think I would have regardless.
I will tell him everything about my family over breakfast. I feel like at this point he needs to know the very real possibilities of the type of danger I might be in. Who knows what he might be speculating?
Before I can dwell on the unspoken words hanging in the air, my phone vibrates on the nightstand. I glance down to seea message from an unknown number glaring back at me, the words sending a chill down my spine. If there was any doubt before that Jack’s security system being hacked had anything at all to do with me, this completely obliterates it.
