Page 48 of While She Sleeps (The Hunter and The Thief #1)

CHAPTER FORTY-SIX

EMBER

I t’s been a while since my emotions have shut down like this.

Between the meds my psychiatrist has me on and my regular therapy sessions, I’ve been getting better. Sure, I’ve had some slip-ups, but that’s what happens when you’re in recovery.

Except right now, I feel like I’m right back to the week after the accident.

The loss of the money I was saving for my new life and the photos from our childhood…it’s too much. It hurts so badly I can barely breathe.

And it doesn’t help that Orion is hovering.

Logically, I realize it’s because he wants to take care of me, but it’s annoying as hell for someone who has always taken care of themselves.

“Can I get you something to eat?” he asks for the third time in the last hour.

I shake my head, burrowing further into the soft blanket Orion wrapped me in after Killian left. He’s been taking hushed phone calls in between hovering over me like a fly to a bad smell.

I’m too numb. It’s unnerving, and the itch to reach for the razor blade is so strong I can barely think past the blessed pain it would bring. So I could feel something. Anything.

There’s a razor blade in my purse. I slipped it inside right alongside the thumb drive I haven’t had a chance to check yet.

Fuck.

My laptop.

I don’t remember seeing it among my other destroyed items at my apartment, and it certainly wasn’t something I saw Killian pack even after I insisted it wasn’t necessary.

“I think they took my laptop,” I whisper.

“What?” Orion’s brows tug together in confusion. “But nothing else was stolen other than the shoebox with the cash?”

“I don’t think so. I didn’t even think about my laptop. It didn’t occur to me.” My voice shakes, and the aching in my chest intensifies.

I don’t have the money for another one, let alone to replace all my other belongings, and that means working is going to be that much harder.

Hacking isn’t my thing, but that doesn’t mean I can’t super sleuth with the best of them. If there’s a piece of dirt on someone on the internet, I can find it.

People are not as careful with their social media pages as they should be, and I’m more than happy to exploit that carelessness at every opportunity.

Orion considers me for a moment before typing out a text and pocketing his phone. “Can you think of a reason someone would want your laptop?”

I shake my head. Why would anyone want my shitty old laptop? I don’t even store anything on it apart from whatever mark I’m working on. It’s old and slow at the best of times, so storing anything other than a few files on it has the thing losing its shit.

Unless…

The Hunter.

It has to be him. If he’s caught on to me looking into him, that would explain all of this.

Except for how personal the attack on my apartment was. Or maybe that’s just how they made it look. Maybe that’s just a way of throwing me off the scent. Making it look like I have someone stalking me so they can get away with it.

“Ember?” Orion’s worried voice comes from closer than I expect, and when I blink past the tears I don’t remember shedding, he’s crouched in front of the couch. “Are you okay? Did you think of something?”

I shake my head. I can’t drag Orion into this. If it is the Hunter who broke into my apartment, I can’t allow him to become collateral damage in my search for revenge.

His brows tug together, and I can tell he doesn’t believe me, but he doesn’t ask any other questions. Instead, he carefully lifts my head and shifts me slightly so he can sit beside me before his fingers start working through my hair in comforting strokes.

“Rest for a while, Little Flame. We’ll get everything sorted once you’ve slept.”

Sleep felt miles away just a few minutes ago, but with his warmth so close, I can’t help but fall into dreamland, a world away from the hell of my reality.

H eat radiates off the body beneath mine, and it takes long moments for me to remember where I am.

Somehow, I’ve ended up sprawled across Orion’s chest, my head resting in the crook of his neck and his arms wound around me tightly, holding onto me like I’m the most precious thing in the world. Which I’m definitely not.

I’m a mess. A mess that he could do without.

He’s a wildly successful businessman. He doesn’t need all my shit on his doorstep, and that’s exactly why I need to leave.

It’s the middle of the night, the moon high in the sky, providing soft light through the otherwise dark penthouse.

As carefully as I can manage, I slip out of his warm embrace and miss it immediately.

I’ve been touch-starved my whole life. I thought if the time ever came that I would have someone around who would want to hold me, that I’d get over it very quickly and want my space.

But that’s the exact opposite of what I want right now, even if it’s my only choice.

I look around for where he stashed the sandals he pulled off my feet when he sat me down on the couch and find them by the elevator.

The bag of my belongings is still sitting in the middle of the dining table alongside my purse, and I move toward them first. All my worldly possessions are in those bags, and I’m not going anywhere without them.

I flick another look over my shoulder at Orion still on the couch, his arm thrown over his head, and a soft snore filling the otherwise quiet space.

A pang of guilt shoots through my chest at leaving in the middle of the night like this. I don’t even know where I’m going to go. To Lucas, maybe? I’m sure he’ll tack some extra money on to my debt, but at least Orion will be free of my baggage.

I’m not so na?ve to think he’s not going to look for me. A man like Orion is used to getting exactly what he wants, and for some reason, that’s me. But I refuse to put him in danger because of me.

The threat was written on the wall, literally. Whoever broke in knew he spent the night with me. They knew I slept with him, and that means they could go after him next.

No. I can’t allow that.

With fortified resolve, I move to the elevator and quietly strap my sandals in place before pressing the call button, but nothing happens.

No banging and whirring, no light above the doors. Nothing.

“You need the code to call the elevator at night,” a groggy voice comes from behind me, and I just about jump out of my skin as I turn around so quickly my head spins.

Orion stands a few feet away, his dark eyes assessing me with a mixture of hurt and irritation. Apparently, I didn’t think this through quite as well as I thought I had.

Of course, a man like him doesn’t make the elevator that opens straight into his living room accessible to just anyone.

That makes a lot of sense, but it didn’t occur to my sleepy and panic-ridden mind.

Fuck. What am I going to do now?

Without missing a beat, Orion crosses the room until he’s right in front of me, and I’m forced to tilt my head back to look into his dark gaze.

“Were you going to run from me, Little Flame?” He drops his face until his lips are just a breath from mine. “Because you should know I really fucking love to chase.”