Page 71 of Rent Free

“I was hoping that was the case.” She sighed. “I didn’t touch anything, though. Like, everything that I grabbed, I put in the boxes. I didn’t go through anything, if that makes sense. So if she did hide it in my stuff, it won’t have my fingerprints on it.”

“I think I get what you’re trying to say,” Garrett said. “But if she was smart, she would’ve wiped it clean if she planted it.”

“Do you want to do it now?” Garrett asked, finishing off the rest of his plate.

“More!” Forest ordered.

“I’m done if you want to give him mine,” Pepper offered.

I glanced from my son’s messy face—it was even in his hair somehow—to Pepper’s barely touched plate. “You didn’t eat much.”

“It’s hard to eat when you have a psychopath dogging your every step,” she grumbled. “Maybe I should just move home.”

Panic hit me, and before I could stop myself, I was standing up and catching her hand. “You’re not going anywhere.”

She laughed, her voice shaky. “It’s funny. I stayed here because of my mom. Her words kept replaying in my brain. I tried. God, did I try. But the more I think about it, the more I realize that maybe I should save myself the heartache and head back. Hell, maybe it would be better to just keep on moving. Alaska’s her least favorite place because it’s too cold. She’d never follow me there.”

The thought of her two hours away, let alone days away, sent another round of panic through me.

“Stay here,” I suggested. “You can sleep in the guest bedroom.”

The way I said guest bedroom made me sound like I didn’t want her in mine, even to my own ears.

She snorted. “I’m not staying here, Atlas. I have a place at my brother’s house that I could easily move into. But until I can help Maven replace me and not leave her in the lurch, I’ll stay at the apartment above Pie Hard.”

Desperation tinged my words when I said, “I’m on the SWAT team.”

If I could just keep her close, I could convince her to stay. I knew it.

“Yeah…” Pepper drawled. “I know that.”

“I get called out a lot,” I continued. “My family is here, but Forest likes you a lot. Actually, out of all of us, I think you might be his favorite. Stay here. If I get called out, you’ll be here. You can be my live-in babysitter. I’ll pay you. Hell, we can even write out a list of expectations, or an employee handbook. I can be a respectable boss who will also provide a buffer between you and Sage.”

Pepper opened her mouth, then closed it.

“So we won’t…” she started, but then stopped. “What about…”

Us.

What about us.

She hadn’t said it, but I knew what she was asking.

“No,” I said what I thought she wanted to hear.

The moment I did, though, her face fell. Her eyes went completely blank, and I knew I’d fucked up.

“Okay. Purely professional relationship.” She nodded and swallowed hard, her face serene.

And, because I was who I was, I had to fuck it up some more.

“My son is a priority right now,” I said. “I have to put him first.”

She nodded, her shoulders drooping even more.

And I inwardly winced because I could practically hear her thoughts whirling: Your son is the priority, not me. Noted.

“Sage won’t just leave me alone,” she warned. “If she sees that I’m living here, working for you, it won’t matter that we have a platonic relationship, she’ll overreact, like she always does.”

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