“You gonna be okay for a bit here? I have to work a double tonight,” he said suddenly, and I looked up, shocked to find that we were already standing on my front porch. My feet were aching and tired, but I barely remembered the walk home.
“I’m good.” I dug the keys out of my pocket and opened the door, stepping inside. A stack of mail sat untouched on the small table just inside, and I rifled through it, focusing on the junk catalogs and bills rather than those beautiful hazel eyes. It hurt too much to look at them now, reminding me only of the way he’d looked at me at the station. The way he’d kissed me. The whispered promise, yet to be fulfilled. “I have to work tonight, too. I’ll stop by the docks and check in before I pick up the deliveries.”
I felt his heat behind me as he stepped over the threshold. “Gray, you’re off tonight. You’re off… indefinitely.”
“What are you talking about? I’ve got four shifts this week, a double on—”
“Waldrich knows the situation. He’s got someone filling in until you’re ready to come back.”
“Waldrich knows?” I dropped the mail on the table and spun around to face him. “You talked to my boss about me? Behind my back?”
“He’sourboss, you haven’t slept in days, and I’m not about to let you walk around the warehouse district alone in the middle of the night—at least not until Emilio has a better handle on what’s going on.”
“Letme?” A flare of anger shot through my chest, but it petered out just as quickly, his earlier words echoing.
“What if I’d walked in there and found the most important person in my life just… just gone?”
Ronan had always been overprotective of me, and honestly, I’d always kind of liked it. Yeah, it got a little overbearing sometimes, but it also made me feel safe. Special, even.
Right now, it made me feel helpless.
But I couldn’t be mad at him.
Not when he was looking at me like that, all sweet and concerned and just… Ronan. And definitely not when he put his hands on my face, stroking my cheeks with his thumbs.
“I’m sorry I overstepped,” he said.
I allowed a tiny smile to peek through my scowl. “No, you’re not.”
Ronan sighed, but he didn’t deny it. “I just want to keep you safe. And you need sleep—you’re exhausted.”
“I know. I get it. It’s just…” I glanced over to that stack of mail, anxiety bubbling in my stomach. “I wish I could hide out until all this blows over, too. But life doesn’t come with a pause button. I have responsibilities. Bills.”
Twice as many, now that Sophie was gone. This place only worked with the two of us bringing in money. Sometimes she covered me, sometimes I covered her, but together we’d kept it going.
I was only just starting to consider all the practical aspects to what’d happened. Losing Sophie meant losing the home we’d shared—I couldn’t afford to stay here by myself, and even if I could find a roommate I trusted, I just couldn’t imagine living here with anyone other than my Sophie.
I hadn’t even started sorting through her things yet. I couldn’t bring myself to go in her bedroom, knowing I’d never see here there again.
My eyes welled up again, and Ronan wrapped me in his strong, comforting embrace. Burying his nose in my hair, he said softly, “Don’t worry about covering your shifts or your bills. I’ve got you.”
I pulled back to look at him, my hands curling around his biceps. Gratitude warred with frustration as the new realization dawned. “Your Waldrich’s temp. You’re working my shifts so he doesn’t fire me.”
Ronan was silent.
“I can’t ask you to do that,” I said.
Ronan shrugged. “I know.”
“Ronan, you can’t just… why? You have your own job, and—”
“I can’t… I can’t bring her back to you, Gray. I’m a goddamned demon and I don’t have the power to bring her back.” His eyes blazed with new fire, his muscles tensing beneath my touch. “I can’t take that terrible pain out of your eyes or patch up the hole in your heart or make any of this okay. But Icancover for you with Waldrich. Icanpay a few bills while you’re getting back on your feet.”
Ronan sighed and shook his head, some of the fire fading. “Just let me do this for you,” he whispered. “Please, Gray. I’m going out of my damn mind.”
I closed my eyes and rested my forehead against his chest, the last of my resistance crumbling away.
“Okay. But I’m only taking a week off, and I’m paying you back for every cent as soon as I catch up again.Withinterest.”
