King Hunt (Boys of Brisley 1)

“Dad? What happened?”

She handed him a glass of water and patted his back as she patiently waited for him to catch his breath. “I’m okay,” he croaked. “Mouth was a little dry. Didn’t mean to interrupt anything.”

“Don’t be silly,” Zeppelin got up to check on his socks and tuck him back in tight. “We were just finished with dinner.”

Watching her caught me off guard. I’d put a nanny cam in the living room the day she’d started because I hadn’t trusted her at all, but I hadn’t used it since the first day. I hadn’t had time, and then I’d forgotten it was there — but now, seeing how gentle she was with him, how attentive and caring she was ... part of me wished I could’ve seen the transition from stranger to this.

This, the reminder that I needed after what nearly happened in the kitchen. The reason why I’d held back despite an instant attraction to her. She worked for us, and my father needed her.

“Do you need anything else?” I asked quietly.

“No. I like your apron, Zeppelin. It reminds me of my Ellie in the kitchen. She had this bright yellow apron, and every time she wore it, we knew she was going to bake us up something good. Do you remember it, Sterling? The one with the bees?”

I smiled, stepping in to sit at the foot of his bed. “Sunflowers, Dad. She loved them. She said they faced each other when the sun wasn’t out, and that we needed to be that way, too. Rely on each other during the bad days.” My heart ached, but the happy calm washing over my dad was worth it. “No science to back that up, of course, but ... she wasn’t wrong.”

“Ahh, the sunflowers. The bees were ...”

“The pin she snuck in during the war. She was wearing it the day you met. Another one of her little reminders to find beauty in unexpected places.”

“My Ellie. When she came to me, I knew she was my sun, and I knew as long as I followed her light, I’d always find home. That pin was all I could focus on for a couple days, and then all I could see was her. She saved me, you know.”

And I wasn’t quick enough to save her. I jerked, suddenly unable to breathe — I could feel it, that weight on my chest, pressing down harder and harder until it was a struggle to remain sitting up and all I wanted to do was fall through every floor in the house, the center of the fucking Earth, come out the other side and freefall through space until I was finally far enough away to stop the nightmare I knew was coming.

“I know she did,” I whispered too late. They both turned to look at me like I’d interrupted them, like their conversation had gone on for some time after I checked out. “Sorry. What?”

“I was telling her about how I met your mother.”

I glanced at Zeppelin and noticed she had moved closer to me with worry in her eyes. “Are you okay?” she asked.

No. I haven’t been okay in a long time. “Just tired,” I deflected. “Think I’ll head to bed.” I stood, squeezing Zeppelin’s shoulder as my dad’s words about her love language ran through my head for the twelfth time that night. “Night.”

My dad said goodnight first, then a small, soft hand grabbed mine and bright grey irises stared up at me. “Goodnight, Sterling. Sleep good.”

She went on her toes to kiss my cheek, then walked back over by Charlie to tinker with his humidifier and left me standing there like a shocked, giant idiot.

That tiny, probably-meaningless gesture from the infuriating girl with booty shorts and rainbow Crocs had just stopped my usual spiral right in its tracks, something that only an evening full of paid company had ever done before.

For the first time, I started to consider that my father knew exactly what he was doing when he hired Zeppelin Bryce.

I just wish I had a handle on what that was.