62. Chapter Sixty-Two
Chapter sixty-two
Peter
The next afternoon, Adair was curled up in bed, reading one of the books she had packed in her duffel bag. Per her request, I’d stayed in the room with her, only leaving long enough to grab food.
A knock at the door broke the silence, and I walked to see who it was and wasn’t all that surprised to see Avery.
“Hey.”
She smiled at me. “Lianne would like to see you, and I would like to spend some time with Adair, if she’s up for it.”
A blanket rustled behind me. “I’d love to.”
I looked over my shoulder to see Adair sitting up, smiling. “You'll be good?”
She nodded emphatically. “Avery’s just as protective of me as you are. I’ll be fine.”
It felt weird walking out of the room without Adair, but I pushed it aside as I made my way to Lianne’s office, trying not to overthink why she would need to talk to me. I didn’t feel any better when I walked in and saw Lynette sitting there, too.
Lianne smiled at me. “Have a seat, Peter.”
Swallowing nervously, I complied. “Is everything okay?”
Lynette nodded. “Everything is fine, my dear. Lianne and I just wanted to talk to you. And no, you aren’t in any kind of trouble.” She looked at her daughter. “The floor is yours.”
Lianne nodded. “Mom and I have been talking about how hard you’ve been working, and without taking any time off.
Now, before you dive into how you know long hours are part of the job, I’m here to tell you that taking off a few hours isn’t going to hurt anyone.
If nothing else, consider it a favor for me. ”
I blinked several times. “How would that be a favor to you?”
She sighed and leaned back in her tall leather desk chair. “I don’t need or want anyone on my team burning out if I can help it. Leaving this house for the evening will give me peace of mind that you’re at least partially clocking out.”
“What about Adair?”
Lynette let out a soft chuckle. “Told you that would be the first question.”
Lianne rolled her eyes, but smirked. “True. Anyway, I want to do a fun girls' night kind of thing with Tori and Jess. It’s been too long…” There was a wistful tone to her voice and a sadness in her eyes I hadn’t seen before.
“We’ll have Avery with us the whole time, as complete overkill, if we’re being honest.”
Now it was my turn to nod. “She was close to Adair, too. It makes sense she’d also want to be in on this.
If I hadn’t seen my sister for almost seven years, I’d want to spend all the time with her I could.
And I won’t fight you about taking the evening off.
I don’t know how the rest of the crew is since I moved out to Colorado, but when the boss says clock out, I do, and without sassing. ”
Lianne grinned. “Smart man. I see why Lukas likes you on his team.”
The compliment was nice to hear, and I didn't take it lightly. “Well, thank you. Now, does Adair know about this, or was getting me to agree to leave one of the first steps of the planning process?”
Lynette chuckled at my question. “Avery is talking to our hummingbird about it as we speak.”
Before I could respond, there was a knock on Lianne’s door, and Connor walked in. “Jess said you wanted to see me?” He looked at me, narrowing his eyes in confusion. “I can come back later if now is a bad time.”
Lianne shook her head. “This involved both of you, actually. Come in.”
She quickly recapped the information she presented to me. “I was hoping you two could hang out at your old apartment. It’s close enough to be convenient, but far enough to be away from work.”
Connor nodded. “Happy to take the night off. Is there a time you’d like us back?”
“I don’t want to see your faces before ten.”
He smirked. “Yes, ma’am.”
I checked my phone again as we walked to the elevator, both relieved and not that Adair hadn’t messaged me in the past five minutes. It’s fine. She’s literally surrounded by the most badass and fearsome women in this city.
“Everything okay?”
I glanced to my right to see Connor watching me. “Yeah. Thought I heard my phone go off. It didn’t.”
He nodded in understanding. “The phantom message notification. Happens to me all the time. Jess teases me about it until something is off with Lianne and she’s grabbing her phone every thirty seconds.”
The elevator dinged, and the doors opened. As we stepped inside the car, I smirked. “Speaking of your significant other, why in the hell didn’t you text me, you asshole? I found out by reading the personnel report Ryan sent out.”
Connor looked at the ground and fiddled with the ring on his hand. “We were going to tell everyone, and then Quinn came in and surprise proposed to Lukas. And when it turned into wedding planning, Jess and I sat on the news. It wasn’t going anywhere, and it didn’t make us any less married.”
I shoved him playfully. “You still could have texted me. We’re on the same team. Hell, you and Phil are my best friends.”
“I know. I’m sorry.”
A smirk tugged at the corner of my mouth. “You can make it up by pouring some of that amazing whiskey I know you used to have. Unless it moved with you to Jess’s house.”
Now he grinned. “It stayed here. And I’ll gladly share some with you tonight.”
The elevator stopped, and we stepped out and headed toward his place. “Why did you keep it?” I looked up and down the hall as Connor unlocked the door and let us in.
Connor chuckled as he walked toward the kitchen. “Beyond sentimental reasons? Liam doesn’t know I still have it. It’s a safe place to hide someone, and it’s closer to the compound than Jess’s place. Hell, it’s where we brought Jess after everything went down between us and Liam and Barlowe.”
I nodded. “Lukas had mentioned something about hiding you two away. He never specified the location. Though things went to shit after that, so I’m not all that surprised.”
Connor placed a bottle of whiskey on the counter and took two glasses out of the cabinet before letting out a heavy sigh. “It really did. I was so wrapped up in making sure Jess was taken care of after her dad died that I was out of the loop for several days. She was in a rough place.”
Hearing that immediately made me think of Adair, and I checked my phone, refreshing the app twice before locking the screen again.
“Yeah, that wasn’t a phantom ding. Are you expecting to hear from someone?”
I glanced up to find my friend staring at me intently. “I… No?”
He held my gaze, as if he was studying me, before returning his attention to the liquor he was pouring. “You’re worried about her.”
As much as I wanted to lie about it, I couldn’t.
Connor and I had known each other too long and respected each other too much.
Admitting some level of defeat to myself, I let out a sigh.
“It’s the first time I haven’t been near her since Lynette had me extract her from her safe house.
It’s barely been a full week, but with everything that’s happened, it feels so much longer. Is it weird to be this worried?”
Connor shook his head. “Not at all. Been there. Done that. It’s one thing to be on a team covering someone versus being the team lead. Attachment and feelings can creep up on you out of nowhere.”
I froze. Does he know I am falling in love with her? “I never said anything about feelings.”
He narrowed his eyes as he looked at me. “You didn’t have to. You know as well as I do that you aren’t the first guy on our team to fall for the person they are protecting.”
Lukas’s face popped into my head, followed by Connor and then Gage.
All three men had taken it upon themselves or had been assigned to protect a woman that they ended up falling in love with.
“Fine. Even if there were feelings developing, I can’t act on them.
It’s my job to protect her, not get attached like that. ”
Connor slid one of the glasses toward me before taking a drink from his own.
“I get where you’re sitting right now. Hell, I’ve been there.
It’s okay to develop feelings. It’s natural to get close with the amount of time we spend with them…
Would be nearly impossible not to form some kind of attachment, platonic or otherwise.
The problem, or not, is what you decide to do with those feelings. ”
I know. I sipped the whiskey, welcoming the burn. It kept me grounded in the moment. “She just lost her person… only a few months ago. Even if I had feelings, I’m not saying or doing shit about them. It would be a slap in the face to her.”
He nodded again. “Jess and I had to have a few long chats about Ross. So, again, I get it.”
“Well, you had feelings for her and she for you.”
My friend snickered. “And denial is more than a river.”
As I was deciding how to react to Connor, there was a patterned knock on the door, causing us both to turn and stare at it. “What in the hell is Lukas doing here?”
“I have no idea, but there’s only one way to find out.” He walked over and opened the door, revealing that not only was Lukas standing there, but Ryan was also with him, holding a couple of pizza boxes.
“Lianne and the girls kicked us out.”
I snickered at the slightly whiny tone of his voice. “Oh?”
Ryan nodded. “Yeah. Apparently, us simply being in the house was a buzzkill on their night, and Lianne threatened to have Avery and Dante remove us from the house if we didn’t leave.”
Connor chuckled. “Well, I’ve got the room and plenty of whiskey. Come on in.”