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Seven a.m.
I’d slept long and hard.
But, I guess, the adrenaline and fear had really done a number on me.
I shifted in my seat, the crimps in my neck and shoulders quickly overpowered by the ache in my ribs, enough to make me suck in my breath.
It would stop.
I’d already come so far. There was no way this would last more than a day or so.
By the time I rubbed the ache out of my shoulders, I saw them.
Storm rushing ahead, tail swishing happily.
Silvano trailing a few feet behind, holding a cardboard coffee holder and a bag of, I hoped, food.
Because now that I was awake, I was ravenous.
“You were out fucking cold,” he said after letting Storm into the backseat, then passing me the drink tray. “Felt bad leaving you, but I locked you up. And we were just around the building,” he explained. “Did like twenty fucking laps around the lot here to get his energy out.
“How are you not exhausted?” I asked as he took his coffee.
“Not my first all-nighter. Won’t be my last either,” he said, shrugging. “Got you a bagel with egg and cheese,” he said. “Storm and I already ate.”
“What did he have?” I asked as I unwrapped the bagel, too hungry to be demure about it, taking a massive bite.
“I got them to toss together an egg and ham thing. Just to hold him over. We’re almost there, but he had a long night last night too.”
“We will get you your steak as soon as possible, bud,” I said, but he was already stretched out, tired after his morning walk.
“Are you going to tell me the plan?” I asked as I finished the bagel.
To that, he huffed out his breath.
“It’s not much of a plan. First, I’m gonna put up some new trail cameras on the property, so I can see anyone coming. Then, once I’m ready, I’m gonna drive your car around, see if that prompts the fucks to come up this way and walk into my trap.”
He was right. It wasn’t an in-depth plan, but it seemed to cover all the bases.
Except, of course, the part where he was putting himself at risk, one man against several or many others.
I didn’t like it for that reason alone.
It was too risky.
I wasn’t willing to lose this man that I seemed to be falling for, minute by minute, day by day.
Maybe this was his plan. But I needed to work on my own. To make sure he was safe. Without him knowing, of course.
“I got a hotel not far from the cabin,” he told me, turning the car on, and pulling out of our parking spot. “Could use a shower before I get the day going,” he said. “But I’m gonna stop at a store first. Grab the trail cameras and a change of clothes.”
Then he did just that, coming back out with a ton of bags as I walked Storm around the parking lot.
At my raised brow, he smirked and shrugged. “Got you some shit too. And Storm.”
“I thought the shopping addiction thing was supposed to be the girl’s thing in a—“ I started, just barely managing to stop myself from adding relationship. “Is that lotion?” I asked as he shoved the bags in the trunk, and the familiar tube fell out.
“I like that smell,” he admitted, almost looking a bit bashful at that admission. Which was stupidly cute. Not that I would tell him that, though.
