24 - Lane
Lane
I woke up with a violent jolt, my heart hammering against my ribs.
I squinted in the dark, trying to reorient myself as cold sweat pricked the back of my neck. I was still lying in bed and it must’ve only been a few hours since everyone else left. As my pulse started to slow down, I wondered what could’ve urgently roused my body from sleep like that.
It wasn’t a nightmare. Docket was lying purring peacefully above my head. But just as I was getting ready to settle down again, I heard something that stopped the blood in my veins.
The sound of grit scraping under a heavy boot sole.
I held my breath, suddenly terrified to alert whoever the hell was in my house that I was no longer asleep.
I deliberately evened out my breathing as I got my brain to think about this logically.
That specific sound was pulverized drywall and concrete dust. Only one room in the house had either of those things, and that was the master bathroom, mere paces away from my mattress.
Easy, Lane, I thought to myself. Don’t freak out. Don’t let them know you can hear them or you’ll end up in real trouble.
I slipped my hand out as discreetly as possible and reached for my phone on the nightstand. I waited until I could quietly lift my thick duvet cover and blankets over my head to block out the light before shooting Bear a quick text.
Me: Someone’s in my house. Please help.
That was the most succinct message I could’ve sent, and I hoped that he was still awake enough to call 911. I made sure my phone was silent, then turned the screen light low and slipped my head out from the covers so I could breathe again.
The waiting felt like agony.
I could hear nondescript rustling, as though the intruder was looking around for something they couldn’t find. They must’ve moved within the line of sight of my bed because Docket suddenly stood up on my pillow and began to hiss furiously.
The sounds stopped.
He moved to the foot of my bed and continued to ward off the intruder while I continued to pretend to be asleep.
After a moment or two, I heard the footsteps resume, this time in a hurry and moving away from the basement.
I stayed dead still as the stairs creaked lightly beneath their weight, and then there was the familiar sound of the front door shutting.
They were gone.
I remained lying there for another minute before shooting up and immediately picking Docket up in my arms. I cuddled him to my chest, both in gratitude and in need of comfort. My heart rate hadn’t quite settled back to normal.
“Good boy,” I said in a low voice, trying not to scare him off. “Keeping me safe like that. My little, strong protector.”
He purred against my collarbone before stretching out and when I set him down, he started making manic biscuits on my covers.
“Alright,” I said aloud, steeling myself. I planted my hands on my hips. “Let’s see what the damage is.”
I flipped the light on and started walking through the basement level.
To my confusion, there were few signs of disruption.
When I moved upstairs to the main floor, I was even more perplexed.
I wasn’t exactly living in the lap of luxury, but there were several expensive items lying around that could’ve easily been flipped for cash. None of them had been touched.
I wrinkled my brow, trying to put the math together.
The front door suddenly slammed open again, and I spun around, my heart leaping into my throat until I saw Bear and Sy burst through the frame.
The former was wielding a wicked baseball bat; the latter had come equipped with nothing but his bare fists.
Both looked enraged, their eyes darting across the dark space as they immediately fanned out to clear the rooms.
“I’m over here guys,” I called, waving to get them to notice me from where I peeked around the corner of the hallway. “It’s okay, you can stand down. They left.”
Bear lowered the bat, though his eyes still remained sharp, scanning the shadows. Sy practically came running to me, his hands instantly reaching out. “Are you okay? We came the second Bear saw the text.”
“I’m fine,” I reassured him, touched once again by the raw tenderness in his voice. “I’m surprised Dax isn’t with you guys. I thought if anyone would’ve been looking for a fight…”
“That’s exactly why I didn’t tell him,” Bear said grimly. “He probably would’ve killed the guy.”
I gave him a wry look, tilting my head. “And let me guess, you would’ve just given the intruder a gentle tap with that bat?”
Bear let out a guilty chuckle, half-raising the wood in the air before dropping it to his side. His expression suddenly went flat and right back to business. “Was anything taken?”
“Not that I can see,” I said, gesturing vaguely around the room. “I checked all the main areas. I have no idea what he was looking for.”
“And the ledger?” Bear asked.
That stopped me right in my tracks. I hadn’t even thought about the lockbox.
With all the illegal utilities and connections we were tracing between Sandy and my unit, how could the possibility have bypassed my brain?
The hair on the back of my neck stood on end as I bolted down the stairs and straight to the hiding spot I’d found under the staircase.
To my utter relief, the lockbox was still there, right where I left it behind the access hatch. I gave a shaky sigh of relief. “Still here.”
“Interesting place to stash it,” Bear commented, looming behind me in the cramped space.
“I had to improvise,” I murmured.
“Guys, you need to see this.”
Silas’s voice carried up from the master bath, and Bear and I hurried around the corner. Sy was crouched over the concrete pit, his heavy brows notched together. He looked up at me with concern. “Did you move the temporary cover?”
My mouth suddenly went dry.
“No,” I choked out. “I mean yes, when I took out the lockbox earlier, but I put the plywood and concrete cinders back exactly as they were.”
Sy hummed, running a hand over the shifted edge. “Then that’s what they were looking for.”
I wrapped my arms around myself, a sudden, icy chill settling between my bones. Bear noticed. Without a word he shrugged off his jacket, then draped it over my shoulders. “We’re staying here tonight. Both of us,”
“Bear—” I started.
“I’m not hearing it, Lane. Sy and I are gonna stay here and make sure whoever had the balls to break into your house doesn’t get a second chance. Is that clear?” he said firmly.
I finally gave in, recognizing a lost fight.
But the rush of relief that flooded my chest was too embarrassing to admit, even to myself. Sy stood to his feet, brushing drywall dust from his knees.
“I’ll take the couch upstairs,” he announced, already turning to the stairs.
That was a stupid idea. I reached out, my fingers wrapping tightly around his forearm just as he passed me.
He froze instantly. I reached back and caught Bear’s wrist. Then I looked between them both, my heart doing a completely different kind of fluttering now.
I couldn’t quite believe the words coming out of my mouth.
“Stay with me down here,” I asked softly.
Sy blinked, genuinely confused. “But where are we gonna sleep?”
Bear however, let out a low breath. The sharp intensity in his dark eyes let me know he’d already decoded exactly what I meant.
I took a slow step backward, into the bedroom, gently pulling both of them with me.
“In my bed,” I answered, holding their gazes. “With me.”