Chapter 10 #2
Then it was gone. Professional distance sliding back into place.
“Couldn’t sleep?” His voice was steady, controlled, like he hadn’t just been beating a bag bloody.
“No.” Claire stepped into the gym. “You?”
“Don’t need much.”
“Because you’re superhuman?”
He grabbed a towel and wiped his face. “What are you doing here, Claire?”
Bobcat stood at the door. “Should I stay?”
Wolf waved him off. “It’s fine. I’ve got her. Go grab some sleep.”
The man disappeared.
Claire tried not to ogle his ripped abs and defined chest. “I don’t know. Walking. Thinking. Trying not to think.” She moved closer. “What are you doing? Besides destroying your hands?”
“Training.”
“That’s not training. That’s punishment.”
His jaw tightened. “It’s late. You should get some rest.”
“So should you.”
“I’m fine.”
“You’re bleeding.” Claire gestured to his knuckles. “And you’ve been down here for hours.”
Wolf looked at his hands like he’d forgotten about them. Blood smeared across his knuckles, mixing with sweat. “It’s nothing,” he said.
“Don’t be that guy.” Claire crossed to him and took his hand. Examined the torn skin. “You need to clean this. Bandage it.”
“I’ve had worse.”
“I’m sure you have, but that doesn’t mean you should ignore it.”
She was still holding his hand. Standing close enough to feel the heat radiating off his body. Close enough to see the tension in his jaw, the way his chest rose and fell with his breathing.
“Why are you really down here?” he asked quietly.
Claire looked up at him, at this man who’d protected her, pushed her, kissed her.
Who carried secrets like armor. “Every time I close my eyes, I see Derek’s face, and I keep thinking—” Her voice cracked.
“He was stalking me. Watching me. Pretending to be my friend.” She shuddered again, disgusted. “I feel so stupid. Defiled.”
“And he’s gloating right now because that’s exactly what he wants.”
“You think he knows we’ve figured out who he is?”
“Yes. That’s why he left work abruptly without so much as an excuse.”
Tears burned behind her eyes. Angry tears. “He’s turned Lily’s death into a mockery. How did I not see it? How did I not know?”
“Predators are good at hiding.” Garrett’s free hand came up and cupped her face. “You couldn’t have known.”
“You keep saying that.”
“Because it’s true.”
Claire closed her eyes, leaned into his touch. “I feel like I’m losing my mind.”
“You’re not. You’re processing trauma.”
“You sound like Vivi.”
“Doc is smart.”
Claire opened her eyes. Wolf was watching her with an intensity that made her breath catch. His thumb brushed her cheekbone, wiping away a tear she hadn’t realized had fallen.
“You’re not alone in this,” he said quietly. “You know that, right?”
“I know.” Her voice was barely a whisper. “But sometimes it feels like I am. Like I’m the only one who’s falling apart while everyone else just keeps going.”
“You’re not falling apart. You’re holding together despite everything trying to break you. That’s strength, not weakness.”
“Is that what you’re doing?” Claire gestured to the punching bag, to his bleeding hands. “Holding together?”
Something flickered in his eyes. Something that looked like recognition. “Yeah,” he said. “That’s exactly what I’m doing.”
They stood there, breathing the same air. His hand was still on her face. Her hand still held his bloody knuckles.
“I should go,” she said, her voice coming out low and rough.
But she didn’t move.
“Probably,” he said.
“You should get some rest.”
“So should you.”
Neither of them moved.
“Wolf, what is your—?”
“Don’t,” he said softly. “Don’t ask me questions I can’t answer right now.”
“Can’t or won’t?”
“Both.”
Claire wanted to be angry. Wanted to demand answers. Wanted to know why he kept holding back when everything else between them felt so...real.
But she was too tired. Too raw. Too desperate for comfort to push him away.
“Will you walk me back to my room?” she asked instead.
“I wasn’t about to let you go alone. Let me clean up a minute.” He locked the door to the gym, then disappeared into the changing room. She heard the shower come on.
A few minutes later, he reemerged, hair wet, knuckles professionally wrapped like he’d bandaged himself up dozens of times. He smelled like pine and sandalwood. Smiled at her as he unlocked the door and led her out.
They walked in silence. The compound was quiet, everyone else asleep or on patrol.
Just the two of them and the shadows. At her door, Claire stopped.
Turned. “I know I keep saying this, but thank you,” she said.
“For everything. Not just for keeping me safe, but for pushing me when I needed it. For...” She trailed off.
For kissing me. For making me feel alive again.
For being someone I could fall for if I let myself.
“You don’t have to thank me,” Garrett said. “It’s my job.”
“Yeah, your job. Is that all I am to you? A job?”
He didn’t deny it. Didn’t confirm it. Just looked at her with those green eyes that saw too much. “Get some sleep, Claire.”
“Are you staying?”
He nodded. Dropped his bag beside the door and leaned on the wall. “I’m staying.”
“Wolf?”
“Yeah?”
“Whatever you’re punishing yourself for, it’s not your fault either.”
His expression turned flat. He opened her door. “Goodnight, Claire.”
Inside, she deflated, disappointed he hadn’t let her ask her questions. He had a wall so high and thick that she wondered if anyone could get through it. What secrets did he carry? What guilt drove him to bloody his hands on a punching bag for hours?
More worrisome, why did she feel like she knew him despite knowing almost nothing about him at all?
Her thoughts spun. Her feet wouldn’t stop moving. She kept seeing him in the gym, his muscles flexing, his fists beating the bag, everything about him solid and strong and unforgiving.
Her fingers touched her lips. Her body ached for his touch. He might exorcise his demons in the gym, but she needed something entirely different.
She’d built a career on taking calculated risks. Trusted her instincts as much as she’d trusted her training. And right now, her instincts were screaming. There was one sure-fire way to clear her head.
Yanking open the door, she saw Wolf’s brows hit his hairline right before she pulled him into her room and kissed him.