AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You used it first!” he points out, his voice rising in disbelief.
Fuck. Right. He’s got me there.
“I don’t like you,” I inform him with as much seriousness as I can.
He blows me a kiss. “Love you too, boss.”
I take my coffee and the little bit of dignity I have left and start to walk away, ready to finish the last task on my sticky note to-do list.
“Shit, Mais, wait.”
My stomach drops. I slowly turn, gripping my mug tight like it can save me from whatever bomb he’s about to drop. “Yeah?”
“Trav is back.”
I put the mug down before I drop it. “Say that again?”
“He got in around three. I didn’t notify you. Full disclosure, I saw Nolan go to your room on the security cams last night, and I sort of… noticed he never left. I turned your watch off remotely so you wouldn’t be bothered.”
I look at my watch. How had I not noticed that it was free of notifications when I’ve woken up every morning this month with at least a dozen of them waiting for me?
“Well, turn it back on. And don’t fucking do that again, Ace. I don’t get time off. You know that.”
“But why? Who says?” He shakes his head in frustration. “Unless it’s an emergency, you shouldn’t need to be woken up. It wasn’t your guard shift. I handled it.”
I rub at the ache developing between my eyes. “Is Mica dead at least?”
“Yes.”
“Thank fuck.” I hike myself up on the counter across from him and take a deep pull from my coffee, not caring that it burns my tongue a bit. “What’s Trav got to say? Any additional intel?”
“See, that’s… the thing.” I give Ace a look that hopefully means I do not have the mental patience today for him to be coy. He puts a hand up in surrender, correctly understanding the meaning. “Trav came back still covered in blood, looking half-crazy, and begging me to get out of his way so he could talk to Carter. He just kept saying, “I can’t keep him,” and “One more time, Ace, give me one more time with him,” until I just… let him go. He hasn’t come out of Carter’s bedroom since then. Neither of them have.”
“Oh fuck me.” I’m off the counter in a second, coffee put aside once again. “You really, really should have woken me up.”
“You know, I’m pretty sure I shouldn’t have. Trav was crazed, Mais. Like—I think he would have pulled a weapon on you if you’d tried fighting him about seeing Carter. He didn’t want to see him, he needed to see him. I don’t know why, but he wasn’t going to take no for an answer.”
“I’m going to go find out why, then.”
“No. No, you’re not,” Ace argues, sliding off his own counter and stepping forward to stop me before I can leave. “Give him some time. Something big happened, man. I don’t know what, but if you had seen him last night… something went wrong. Something changed. He needs this.”
“And what about what Carter needs?”
“I think Carter has made it pretty clear that’s not your concern, bud.”
I rake my fingers through my hair, hard enough to hurt. “Ace.”
“Nolan is outside,” he says before I can conjure a good argument. This asshole. “All alone. Didn’t even wear a jacket. Maybe you should bring him out a blanket?”
I laugh, low and dry, nodding to myself. “I’m that transparent, huh?”
“Only a little.” Ace smiles. “There’s a blanket on the couch.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
I make myself stay still long enough to give him another dirty look, but then I’m grabbing the damn blanket and heading outside. It’s freezing. Enough so where I should have paused to add a jacket on top of my sweatshirt. Maybe a hat, too. Does Nolan have a hat? Should I go back for some?
Nolan is sitting on the outdoor swing with a thermos between his pink hands and his shoulders hunched up by his ears. He’s in a fuzzy sweater that is clearly doing nothing to keep him adequately warm.
