“No kidding. I may take a nap on the couch. I think everything is starting to hit me.” She raises her arms over her head, stretching.
“This sucks. Hopefully, Slade won’t take too much longer, then we’ll be home in our own bed. Come on, I’ll grab a pillow and blanket for you that I keep in the closet. We all spent many nights eating, sleeping, and breathing Nighthawk Security at one point.”
“Thank you for keeping me safe.” This time it’s me holding her hand as we make our way back to my office. She plops down on the sofa, steps out of her clogs. “You want me to call your dad while you relax?” I offer.
“God, yes. If I do it, you know Mom. She’ll want to talk for hours, and I’m just not feeling up to it.”
“I got it taken care of, angel,” I place the pillow on the couch, hand her the blanket, kiss her, then make the phone call to her folks and probably my own too.
Eighteen
Giana
I wake up to whispering, “No fucking way, her?” It’s Bridger’s voice that is more shocked than anyone’s.
“Yeah, I stayed the entire time, had a new girl do the prints, and it had a hit. The only problem is, she ghosted. That’s why it took me so long to get here. I stopped by her last known address. The landlord said she skipped out. She even left all of her belongings. I figure we can go do a little search and discovery in the morning. Maybe she left a hint of her whereabouts,” Slade states.
“Another dead end. I can’t believe this happened.” Drake’s voice is full of defeat. I rub the sleep from my eyes, needing to know what’s going on.
“Hey, angel, you ready to head home?”
“I guess so. I heard most of the conversation. Does anyone know why this person would do this? This is baffling to me. Also, did you call my folks? Your folks?” I fire off a barrage of questions. He nods his head to my last two questions, leaving the first one up in the air because who really knows at this point in this so called game.
“No clue. Bridger and I are going to head on out. See you in the morning.” It’s then that I notice the time. “Thanks again, guys,” Drake tells them. They give him the one-finger salute, then take their leave.
“I can’t believe it’s almost two o’clock in the morning. Aren’t you exhausted?” I ask.
“I am, but I was able to catch up with a few things. Speaking of, I need you to take a few days off work, maybe a week. Is that possible? Now that we know who we’re dealing with, I’d like to keep you safe and secure.” Drake comes to sit next to me on the couch. His hands find the ends of my hair as he sifts through the long strands. It puts me in a trance, one where I’m scooting as close to him as possible, resting my head on his shoulder.
“I can do that, but on one condition,” I barter.
“What’s that, angel?”
“You have to stay safe too. It’s not just me in this relationship. It’s the two of us, and we have a house to fill with beautiful babies.” I tip my head up to look into his eyes.
“Fuck, but I love you,” he coos softly.
“I love you too, Drake.” And just because I initiate the kiss, that doesn’t mean I’m the one who controls it. I’ve learned a lot about the man I love, and he definitely likes to be the alpha in our relationship when it comes to certain things. Our tongues collide, tangling with each other, both of us tasting one another. I don’t want it to end, but I also really want to be wrapped up with Drake in our bed, naked and writhing in ecstasy.
I’m breathless when we pull away. Drake’s chest is moving rapidly too. “I think we need to get on the road. It’s not like I chose the closest place to Nighthawk when I bought our home.”
“No, but it is home, and even though I gave you so much shit about it, I really do love it. When we do have children though, the pool is getting a screen around it and an alarm will need to be installed.” My thoughts are only on our future. I refuse to let whoever it is who is stalking us mess up what we’re building.
“Easton is working on the alarm already with everyone having kids or becoming pregnant. I wanted that done stat. There’s a contractor coming out next week to give me a quote on the safety fence, but we can also take them down when everyone is over.”
“You’re the best. Maybe I can talk you into an animal next?” I wink. We had a conversation on our way out to Raelynn’s, and he said in no uncertain terms could we have a plethora of farm animals. If we wanted a dog, we could. He’d have to live up to Legend’s hype, Kellie’s crazy dog that likes to lift its leg in the most awkward of times.