CHAPTER 17
KYLIE
“Daddy.” A voice from far away sighed. The joy in it made my heart ache. “You came home.”
“I always come home for my little Rayn drop.” That voice, I recognized. It sounded closer. “She technically wasn’t on duty. Take it easy on her.”
Compassionate Kyler.Didn’t expect that, but who was he talking about?
“I got it.” That voice I recognized, too. It always made my insides flip. Even when I didn’t want it to. It was so calm and deep and demanding and soft at the same time. How did he do that?
“Come on, baby.” The other voice said. “Let’s go to bed.”
“Good night, Uncle Patrick.”
“Night, Little Ninja.”
“Kylie did a great job of looking after me tonight. You should keep her.”
Keep who.
I blinked my eyes open, still on my side. Rayna disappeared from the room in Kyler’s arms. So, she did sleep with him.Another data point for a file that was getting more confusing by the hour.
I rolled onto my back and found more eyes staring down at me.
“Holy shit.” I grabbed the blanket and covered myself, although I don’t know why. I was fully clothed. Asleep. On the job. In a twin-sized bed covered in white lace. A stuffed teddy bear was placed next to me. “What time is it?” I rubbed my eyes.
“Almost four in the morning.” His words were delivered with a peaceful cadence.
A feeling of dread sat in the pit of my stomach. I pushed the covers off and placed my feet on the ground.
“She asked me to stay with her until you guys got home.” I stood and pulled up the covers. The stuffie slid off the bed. Patrick caught it before it hit the ground.
“She must have put this here. She’d asked if I had any stuffies, and of course I don’t.” I placed the teddy bear back on her bed. “She is such a sweetheart.
“Why were you here in the first place?”
My brain was a scrambled mess, and I was tired. How did I end up here?
“Tyler.”
“Tyler?”
“Oh, yeah, I was getting some pizza and ran into Tyler and Maddox, and they insisted I join them. Then we watched a movie, and they went to bed. That’s when Rayna asked me to stay.” I tried tucking in the blankets. I wanted to leave the space as I found it. “Yeah, she seemed so sad. I didn’t want to leave her like that.”
“Did y’all have fun playing?”
“Yeah,” I blinked. “Um, what–no. I didn’t play with her. She’s my assignment. We’re not friends.”
I untucked and re-tucked the blankets.
“Kylie.” His voice sounded annoyed. “Don’t worry about that. Someone will come in tomorrow and make the bed. I want to learn more about your night.”
“I told you what happened.” Giving up, I sat on the bed. “What more do you want to know?”
He sat on Rayna’s bed and rubbed his hands together. “You’re not in trouble, okay?”
“Okay.”
