Page 142 of Protecting Peyton

“Don’t worry about it. We’ll talk later. Right now, we have work to do to find the target and keep your girl safe.”

I nodded. “Yeah.”

“Now, shower and get dressed. See you in…” He checked his watch. “Forty.”

After the door closed, I shuddered. The nightmare had returned. What if Peyton had woken me instead of Lucas? That thought roiled my stomach and I barely made it to the sink before I retched.

CHAPTER 33

Zane

Sitting not farfrom her at her workplace, I shifted in my chair, replaying the memory of waking from my nightmare, tussling with Lucas this morning.

I’d been wrong to think the nightmares had stopped.

Pete was on guard toward the front of the office at the desk I used to use, while I sat farther back, nearer to my woman. Something was off with Pete today, and I’d considered asking him about it. Maybe later.

The telltale chime of Peyton’s phone interrupted me. I noticed her read another message.

She shook her head and tapped out a response, obviously another dud, then walked over to the coat rack and fished out one of her little white AirPods out of her leather jacket. “Shit.”

I rushed over. “What?”

“I don’t want to cut the lining.”

“I don’t understand.”

“I forgot to use the left pocket. There’s a hole in the right-hand one. Stupid me, one of my AirPods got out of the pocket into the lining, and it’s a bitch to get it back out.”

“I can?—”

She rested a hand on my arm. “That’s sweet, but later.”

I returned to my spot.

It was clear she wasn’t able to get as much work done as she would have liked. Every possibility Jordy’s program generated interrupted her.

Jordy had been sending them about every ten minutes this morning, and every time, I crossed my fingers that Peyton would say it was him.

At this point, I’d even settle for an “it might be him” response.

I would have preferred doing this from the safe house, but Peyton had to go to work. She refused to “give in to him,” as she’d explained.

Then my phone rang. Lucas. “Hi, boss,” I answered. “It looks like Peyton is rejecting everything Jordy comes up with.”

“It’s a process.” Lucas sighed. “We have to give it time. But that’s not why I called.”

“Okay.” I listened intently. It had better not be that he had second thoughts about Pete. This work didn’t seem like much, but it was what Pete needed to heal.

“O’Connor called again,” Lucas said. “He needs some more interview time with Peyton, and I didn’t want to give him access to her at the hotel, so I’m going to send him to you at SpaceMasters.”

This was the cost of keeping everyone, including the detective, in the dark about our safehouse. I knew my request was a long shot, but I tried anyway. “Why don’t we put it off until after we catch the guy?”

“We can’t dodge him like that,” Lucas said. “It’s how the system works. If this were any other case with any other witness, you wouldn’t suggest that.”

I knew he was right. “Yeah, okay. I’ll warn her.”

“Additionally,” Lucas continued. “If we get a hit, we can use him as an extra body, either for protection at SpaceMasters or out on our grid to catch this guy.”