I raced home, making sure to beat Zeke there in plenty of time to park, wash my face and change into pajamas. He didn’t even knock when he came in, walking through my front door as a silent symbol of what he wanted, giving me hope.

The bolt lock clicked, and he padded down the hall to my bedroom, hovering in the doorway, backlit by the hall light.

“Are you awake?” he whispered.

I pushed myself up on my elbows. Zeke was wearing a wrinkled T-shirt and his favorite gray pants, his hands in the cotton pockets.

“No.”

“You weren’t at the hotel for me?”

“No.”

He thought about that. “You can’t tell me, can you?”

I shook my head.

He nodded. “Can I come to bed?”

“Yes.”

I turned onto my side, keeping my back to him as he crawled in bed next to me, wrapping his arms around my middle and pulling me against him. He buried his face in my hair, and I held his arms against my middle.

Zeke’s skin felt clammy.

“Are you feeling any better?” I asked.

“Not really. Didn’t get much sleep.”

“Think it’s a virus?”

“I don’t know,” he said, dismissive.

“Just … hang in there with me, okay?” I asked. “Don’t give up yet.”

“This is hard for me. I am desperate for this to work, but I also don’t think I can survive another broken heart.”

“I don’t want to break anything.”

“How do Harbinger and his wife do it? She’s just okay not knowing?”

“She understands that it’s better not to know.”

“I will never understand that. I know you can take care of yourself. I know I shouldn’t worry. But knowing weird shit is going down and I’m not allowed to know what it is…”

“You don’t need to protect me, so you don’t need to prepare, Zeke. If you can accept that, I think we’ll be okay.”

“I save people and things for a living. How am I supposed to change my mindset for the woman I love?”

I turned to face him. “You love me?”

He touched my cheek. “So much it scares the shit outta me.”

I closed my eyes and pressed my lips against his. When we finally pulled away, he watched me, his eyes blinking slowly until he couldn’t open them again. He fell into a deep sleep within minutes, and soon after, I was somewhere in oblivion with him.

chapter twenty-eight

fade

Naomi

M

uch to Peter’s dissatisfaction, I skipped the workouts at the Complex to join Zeke later. We’d gotten memberships at the same gym where Trex had gotten his, and it was an added bonus to see him outside of work.