Chapter 5
Cruz
Liam’s been snoring for an hour since I went and stood in the corner of the living room facing the only door in his and Sloane’s small apartment above the coffee shop. I could stand sentinel all night and probably not even blink, if that’s what my orders were, but Sloane clearly has other ideas.
She appears from the darkened hall. The apartment layout is quite simple.
The door to downstairs opens into a small living room and kitchen that flow into each other without walls to separate it.
A narrow hall leads to three rooms. Liam’s, Sloane’s, and a tiny closet of a room that’s being used for an office, complete with a desk and a futon behind that.
Sloane spots me standing by the door and frowns at me. “You’re really staying the night then?”
I nod. She already knows that I am. She had some heated words and refusals for Liam a few hours ago, but in the end, she relented and disappeared into her room
She fists her hands at her hips. “I made up the guestroom for you.” If there ever was a reluctant statement, it’s that. “Err, the office, I guess. Liam was supposed to tell you. The futon folds down and there’s a blanket and pillow in there.”
I know all of that. Sloane had dinner waiting for us in the fridge for after we got back from the clubhouse.
She made herself scarce, but Liam went back to talk to her while I scarfed down the best spaghetti and meatballs that I’d ever tasted.
Liam told me Sloane was doing paperwork in her room, so the office was free for my use, and then we spent hours installing cameras on the interior and exterior of the building.
I checked in with Wizard a few hours ago and he let me know that everything was online on his end.
It was all working on my phone too, so I gave Liam my approval to call it a night.
Sloane hovered in the background, cleaning up and talking with Liam, but most of the time she wasn’t around.
It’s after midnight. I knew Sloane was still awake, because the glow of her light came from under her door, but also because I’m sort of a freak and it’s also my job to keep her safe.
I could hear her soft movements inside the room when I listened from the living room before I went to keep guard at the door.
“Are you expecting monsters to burst through there at any second?” Sloane tries to sass me, but she casts the door a worried look.
“You’re weirding me out. I can’t sleep if you’re just going to stand there like a big brick wall all night.
Isn’t that why you installed cameras? So that you don’t have to click on that robotic sentinel mode? ”
I shrug.
She sighs. Her frustration with all of this is palpable all the way across the room. It’s not the only low-grade sensation that I have going on. My body is hot all over. I haven’t been able to shake it.
Sloane shoots me another death glare like the ones she threw downstairs earlier, but then she seems to draw herself up and curl into herself. I don’t like the shadows on her face, or in her pretty green eyes. “I’m doing this for Liam,” she says. “Agreeing to it.”
My head bobs again.
Her left eye twitches. “Do you have a background in security? Private or otherwise? Isn’t it some kind of security code that you have to be ex-SEALs, or ex-military, or ex-whatever? Maybe ex-con too?”
I shake my head and then shrug. I’m not sure about security. I never considered it. I didn’t want to guard some old rich asshole all day and night, even if the pay is good, and doing events seems like a shitshow that I never wanted to get into.
“Does the strong, silent thing never get old for you?” She holds up a hand “Actually, never mind. Don’t answer that.
What I really want to know is how I get my normal life back.
How do I get that back for Liam? How do I rewind time to make it so that he never witnessed a murder and is never haunted by that or chased by demons and gang members?
” That clearly doesn’t have an answer, and she’s not nearly done getting out what she needs to.
Her eyes are still burning. There’s no relief in them, and she needs that.
Most people feel better after talking, not worse.
I’m the odd exception. “Is that why he joined your club? For protection or revenge?”
She stalks across the living room. It’s very tidy, with a leather couch and a loveseat, a coffee table, and a TV stand with a flatscreen on the far wall.
It’s all very token, with the typical homey accents of framed photos of her and Liam throughout the years, and a splash of vintage paintings smattered across the walls.
I guess the paintings aren’t so token. They aren’t from any big box store.
She stops at the couch and bends down. Reaching behind it, she tugs out a colorful fabric cylinder.
A yoga mat. Most people probably wouldn’t think that I know what that is, but I’ve done my fair share of yoga, Pilates, and tai chi over the years.
I still incorporate a lot of those elements into my own personal training, and the instruction that I give.
A bright yellow yoga mat slips out of the cover and Sloane unfurls it onto the floor beside the coffee table. She shoves the table a few inches across the vinyl floor and reaches for the remote. She must have a favorites list, because after only a few clicks, she has something cued up.
“The best of the worst is still terrible,” she mutters.
She’s talking about the club. About Liam.
“That’s all I can think about.” She sits down on the mat and crosses her legs.
“I’m not going to be able to sleep. I need to do something with all this energy.
I’d rather that you not watch me, but if that’s non-negotiable like all the rest of this, I guess I’ll just deal. ”
“Hmm.”
Her head snaps up. “My god, that was almost an actual word.”
Her sarcastic smile fades. She looks so sad and lost that anger flares in the pit of my stomach.
I wish I could fix this for her, but there are some things that you can’t dismantle and put back together with your bare hands.
Even if you have the right tools, it often takes time to repair any sort of real damage.
“I was thinking about shutting down the café for the next few days,” she admits, head bowed.
It churns my gut to see how sad that makes her, but at the same time, it’s a good solution to worrying about how I can be in two places at once. I’ve been thinking all day that it would be better if Sloane closed up shop to ensure that no one else becomes collateral damage if the worst happens.
I’m not into taking chances, and I know that Sloane is ten times a better person than I’ll ever be.
She cares about more than just the café as her livelihood.
She cares about the people who come to it, and about the community that she’s a part of.
It would destroy her if someone got hurt, even if it wasn’t her fault.
“I can say something about renovations. There are a few things I want to do, so it wouldn’t be a total loss of time.
I know I won’t lose customers over it. Everyone is very kind.
They’ll understand.” Her frown lines get frown lines, and she doubles down on her scowl.
“Thinking about starting over though… that’s tough.
I don’t want to have to go somewhere and disappear.
I don’t want to have to lose myself. I’m a part of this community, and I’ve worked hard to carve out that place. ”
“You won’t lose that.”
Her head snaps up. We’re both stunned by the sound of my voice.
“You can’t make that promise. No one knows how this is going to go. That’s the worst part.”
“No. I do know. I know that you and Liam will be safe. Trust in the club.”
She snorts, not rudely, but I get it. That was a stupid thing to say. As per usual, when words finally make it out. I can’t ever find the right ones to forge the shape of my thoughts into a form that someone else can understand.
“I need to go for a walk,” Sloane mutters. Her eyes fly to my face. “Yeah. Not going to do that. Obviously. I don’t need you to have a coronary. So… yoga it is.”
She doesn’t wait for me to answer any of her questions or offer more platitudes.
Sloane is a woman used to taking charge and taking care of herself.
Not just herself, but Liam too. It couldn’t have been easy, having him as young as she was.
Liam told me that she was seventeen when she became a mom.
She was working at the coffee shop already, and the owners were good to her.
They let her stay in the apartment and charged her reduced rent, worked around her having a newborn, until Liam was a year old and she could find daycare.
The owners made her manager of the shop just so that she could afford childcare.
Liam swore the owners never had a better shop manager.
As generous as they were to his mom, she worked doubly hard to repay their kindness.
From everything that Liam’s told me over the past months that we’ve known each other, Sloane’s an incredible woman. She’s determined, hardworking, a deep thinker, and kind. Liam never used any of those terms exactly, but it’s easy to gather it from all his stories.
And… she’s gorgeous.
Liam did tell me that Sloane never dated anyone. Ever. She didn’t want a relationship, and even after Liam left for Seattle, he said there was no way she was hooking up with anyone after she had the apartment to herself.
Was she ever lonely?
Liam calls his biological father a sperm donor.
Did that asshole hurt Sloane? Did he treat her so badly that he turned her off all men for good?
He clearly abandoned her and refused to take any sort of responsibility for his child.
Liam said he doesn’t even know what the guy looks like or where he lives.
He never once heard from him, and he doesn’t want to.
Even though I’m lost in thought, I’m staring at Sloane.