Page 62 of Keep You Close

Maybe even some basic self-defense classes. Or advanced ones, if she ended up liking them. We had a world-class self-defense gym in town run by two badass women. Going there, spending time with those women, it might help her gain more confidence. If nothing else, it would teach her how to ensure that she would never be at a man’s mercy ever again.

Across the table, AJ’s free hand rose, covering her mouth as she let out the third yawn in a row.

“You need to get some sleep,” I said, giving her hand a squeeze. “You’re not going in today, are you?” I asked, looking at the clock. She would normally be heading into work in just a couple of hours.

“I’m going to go in this afternoon for a few hours, so Tucker can go catch a few hours of sleep in his van to do the overnight tonight.”

That place was understaffed. There were a couple of part-time employees who were around, but the main staff seemed to just be AJ, the single mom Ella, and the genius/van-life dude Tucker. It wasn’t enough to cover the nights when they had boarders.

And some selfish part of me wanted her home at night.

I wanted to tell myself that I wanted her home for safety. But that place locked down at night with her inside of it.

It wasn’t about that.

It was pure selfishness. I just wanted her home with me at night.

Especially once the cast was off, and I was able to be more mobile.

And, yeah, my mind went to other things at night. Because there were plenty of positions I could swing that wouldn’t hurt my leg too much. Or, at least, I could tolerate the pain.

I was getting ahead of myself.

I now understood how delicate the topic of sex could be to someone who’d been abused. She hadn’t exactly shared a lot of details with me about their sex life, but she’d told me enough to know that it never seemed to be an enjoyable thing for her.

And it sounded like Joss was the only man she’d ever been with.

There was so much I had to show her, to share with her.

But it was something I knew we’d probably have to ease into. Maybe have some less-than-comfortable conversations about.

The interest was there, on both our parts. But that didn’t mean it wouldn’t be something she needed to think about and work toward.

“Alright. Go crash. Do you want me to wake you up at any particular time?” I asked, watching as she turned to the clock, hemming and hawing it.

“One-thirty, if I’m not up yet. That should give me enough time to function. I can crash when I get home later again.”

“Got it,” I said.

Then both of us stood there for a beat, seeming to each want to say something, do something, but unable to figure out what. Until, eventually, she turned and walked down the hall, closing her bedroom door with a quiet click.

Alone, I pulled myself up to stand, resting a small amount of weight on my cast as I did the dishes, then used the chair to tidy up the rest of the space before making her something to bring to work later. Then finally, getting back on the couch and calling Kingston’s office.

“What’d you forget my cell number?” he answered after the secretary put me through.

“I’m calling in an official capacity, so I figured I should do shit the right way.”

“Official capacity?” he asked, and I could practically see him sitting up straighter in his chair. “You want a security system?”

“It’s something I should have done a long time ago,” I said.

Kingston waited a beat, choosing his words carefully. “I’m going to assume you have a reason for this that involves AJ. And that you’re not going to tell me for the same reason.”

“Something like that,” I agreed.

“Alright. I was heading over there after a few morning calls anyway,” he said. “I’ll bring my tablet, and we can go through the options. Does AJ know about this?”

“Yeah. I asked her first. It’s something I should have done when I bought the place. AJ said there’s been some break-ins in the area.”

---