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Payton
My pillow shifts,causing me to release a grunt of dissatisfaction, before I register the faint sound of a vibrating phone.
“Shh, Baby.” A big hand strokes down my back, and I keep my eyes closed while I burrow my face further into Nero’s warmth.
“What?” Nero’s voice is quiet as he answers, and I hear it in stereo through his chest. “Yeah.” His hand doesn’t stop moving as he listens. “He’s here now?” Another pause. “Alright. We’ll be down.”
My eyes crack open when he uses the wordwe.
Nero’s chest expands as he yawns.
“Did you get any sleep?” I ask, wiggling my fingers and toes to start waking myself up.
His arm raises from behind me, and I imagine him checking his watch. “Two solid hours.”
“Two? I can’t remember the last time I took a nap, let alone a two hour one.” I tap my fingertips against his sternum. “Well, I guess yours doesn’t really count as a nap if you were up all night. It’s more likefinallygoing to bed. Fully dressed,” I add on, remembering he’s wearing everything but the suit coat and shoes. His black socks are in my line of sight, and I wonder for one second if he’s ticklish.
He yawns again. “Some shit came up when I was heading home last night.”
“Bad shit?” I instantly realize it’s a stupid question. Any sort ofshitthat comes up in the middle of the night is bound to be bad.
Nero settles his hand over mine, stilling my dancing fingers. “There have been rumors about some assholes trying to move in, and now that two of my men have been found dead in Chicago I need to go take care of it.”
I press my hand firmer against his chest. “I’m sorry about your guys.”
“Thanks, Baby.” The hand at my back strokes down one of my braids.
“Why were they in Chicago? I thought all of your, um, business, was here in the Twin Cities.”
“Most of it is. I don’t run Chicago, that’s someone else’s, but we do business with him. And it was on one of those shipments that shit got fucked.”
“So, you have to go there?”
I can feel his body shift as he nods his head. “I’ll fly down in the morning. Should only be for a couple of days.”
A blanket of sadness drapes over my mood. “I’ll miss you.”
“I’ll miss you, too.” Lips press against the top of my head. “But I have something that might help pass the time while I’m gone.”
“Really?” I tip my head back so I can look up into his handsome face.
“Really. But we need to go downstairs.”
Recalling his phone conversation about someonebeing here nowI scrunch up my nose. “It better not be a bodyguard. That’s not exactlycompany.”
Nero tugs my braid. “That’s not what I have to show you. But you will have bodyguards. Plural. And when I’m not home, you don’t go anywhere without them.” He gives it another tug. “I’m serious, Payton. You don’t even wander around the yard without telling someone first. Okay?”
“Okay.” The yard thing sounds ridiculous, but I can hear in his voice that there’s no point in arguing. “Is it because of that woman giving me the invite, or because of Chicago?”
“Neither. Both,” Nero sighs. “It’s just how it’s gonna be from now on. But you’ll get used to it, and when you do, you won’t even notice the guys anymore.”
The concept feels foreign to me, once again feeling like a movie, but he warned me from the beginning that being with him would be dangerous. I guess this is just a part of that.
“Alright,” I accept.
“Alright,” Nero repeats.
And I’m left wondering how I’ll pass the time. “It’s gonna be weird not working. I’ve had a job since I was fourteen.”
