Oh, thank heavens.

“I won’t argue with you, I’m exhausted,” I admit.

“I’ll get some sleep, too,” Jax says, flicking his eyes to me. “If you guys want to take turns resting, there’s plenty of bedding space.”

“I’ll take until morning,” Devon says. “Then Delaney and Duke can go down and assist Jax with setup until lunchtime—then if you want to have another rest you can. Then we’ll all assist for the dinner and break up shifts during the night.”

“Sounds fine to me,” I murmur. “I’ll take the pullout in the dark corner.” I point to the dark corner at the far left of the room.

“I hope you don’t snore.” Devon grins.

I smile weakly. “I’ve never gotten any complaints.”

He grins. “I wish I could say the same.”

I roll my eyes and look to Jax, longing to say something but knowing I can’t. “Well, good night.”

“’Night,” he says, meeting my eyes for a brief second before looking away.

I get my suitcase and put it next to the pullout, then I pull out some sweats and a tank and go into the bathroom to get changed. I brush my teeth, brush my hair, then head out and crawl into the Egyptian cotton bedsheets and pull the feather cover over my tired body. I hear Jax shuffling around, and then his light flicks out. Duke takes the pullout on the other side of the room and is snoring softly in no time.

My phone buzzes beside me, and I pull it into my hand, glancing at the screen through blurred vision.

Jax—I didn’t get to say good night, that fucking kills. But good night, kitten. Sleep well.

I smile and quickly type back.

Delaney—Night, handsome. Dream about me.

I hear his low chuckle come from the room.

Jax—That’s a given.

I tuck the phone under my pillow and my eyes flutter closed, I can’t fight it a second longer. I’ve crashed.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

I wake at six, before anyone else. I slide out of bed and pad quietly into the kitchen to make some coffee. Devon must be guarding outside the door, because he’s not inside. Duke is on his side in the other pullout, arm thrown over his face. I make my coffee and then walk to the door, opening it. Devon is on a big comfy-looking chair, face in his hands.

“Morning. I see you’re alert.”

He looks over to me and grins. “I heard you come in. My ears are perfectly alert.”

I snort and flick my fingers at him. “Scoot over.”

He moves over and I slide in beside him, sighing as I take a deep drink of coffee.

“How was the night?” I ask.

“Quiet. Boring as shit.”

I laugh. “Yeah, no one tells you about that part of security.”

He grunts. “Nope, they leave it out.”

“You can go and rest, if you want. I’m awake now.”

“Finish your coffee, get changed, then we’ll swap.”

I nod. “Did you hear from Nak during the night? Any update on Kyle?”

“Nak called about an hour ago, checking to see how things were. I gave him a full update. Kyle is doing well, he’s awake and asking questions so he’s obviously back to himself.”

“He’d hate being in there.”

Devon huffs. “No shit. He’s probably torturing them.”

“Still,” I say softly. “It should have never happened.”

“It happened to me once.”

I blink and turn to him. “I never heard that.”

“It’s because it wasn’t while I was on Nak’s team.”

I say nothing, just stare at him. He continues.

“I was protecting this rich dude that ran a heap of strip clubs.”

I snort and he nods, knowing exactly my thoughts.

“Anyway, one of his girls got into some trouble and he pulled her out of it, pissing off the wrong people. I got put on his case, and was with him for six months, that’s how long it took for them to bring down the fuckers who were after him.”

“So what happened?”

“I got the same thing, they threatened me, told me to stay away, to back off, or I’d get hurt too.”

“And did you?”

“Yeah, I got shot.”

I blink. “Seriously?”

He lifts his shirt, showing me a faded silvery scar on his belly.

“Jesus, Devon!”

“It happened very similar to Kyle’s situation. They managed to get a man in for a lap dance one night. Once he was in the back room, he demanded to see the manager. Most people were being searched before entering the club, but that night the bouncer was too busy chatting up a girl and just waved this guy in.”

Very similar to Kyle’s situation.

“So he came in, requested to see the manager as I said, and the moment we entered the room, he just pulled out a gun and aimed. I did what I was taught, and crash tackled him to the ground, taking a bullet in the process.”

“Jesus,” I whisper. “What happened to the guy you were protecting?”

“He got killed.”

I flinch. “Devon…”

He shrugs. “It was ten years ago. I’m okay with it now.”

“It’d destroy me,” I admit. “How did you keep going?”

“It’s part of life, Laney. Shit happens. Do you think cops save everyone? Or doctors? It’s the line of work we’re in. We’re not God, we can’t stop the unstoppable. We can only do our best.”

“You know, you’re right. I’ve been struggling so much with everything that’s gone down, worried about how it’s going to end and if I’m really cut out for this job, but you’ve made me see that even the best of us have bad days.”

He stares at me. Usually Devon is such a smartass, but I guess after Kyle’s attack, he’s feeling the same way the rest of us are.

“You know, I didn’t believe in you. Not at all. I never understood why Nak put a woman on his team. I used to think it was hilarious watching you try to be as good as the rest of us, but in the end, Delaney, you’ve proved us all wrong. You have one of the hardest cases here, and you’re doing a great job with it. You saw a drive-by shooting before it happened, that’s impressive.”

His words warm my heart, because they’re words I’ve needed to hear from my team members and not just my boss.

“Thanks, D.” I smile. “That means more than you’ll ever know.”

He pats my hand and stands. “Don’t give up, Laney. You’re exceptionally good at your job, and that’s a rare thing to come across.”

Then he opens the door and waves me in.

I stand and follow with a big smile on my face.

*   *   *

Duke and I take over for Devon while he rests, and spend our morning in the conference room with Jax, organizing everything for the meeting and the dinner later tonight. We keep ourselves busy setting up tables, helping with food orders and preparing a microphone for speeches. Jax is in work mode, his face shut down, his body rigid and his voice harsh as he barks orders.

This is the Jax I first met.

If only people understood how different he could really be.

“Delaney,” he calls. “Can you please take me to the bathroom?”