Page 33 of Cohesion

“Not unless I have a clear view, and I know I won’t miss. Only one chance. Centre mass is a bigger target. One shot.”

Jericho rubbed up and down Peyton’s shoulders and arms, grounding him. “Hunter gets night terrors,” he said in a low voice. “They started when he was five, and they’re less frequent now but something we deal with. Usually, sitting with him, like this, and talking to him until he calms down, works. He loved that one story, uh… ‘there was an old lady who swallowed a fly.’ He would beg me to take him to the library so he could read it. We couldn’t get a card, but he would sit for hours inside and read everything he could get his hands on. I memorised it so I could recite it whenever he woke disoriented.” It hadn’t been until they were adults that they’d bought the physical book. Hunter read it to Olivia now, and she loved it just as much as he had, albeit for entirely different reasons.Betterreasons.

“Sometimes, though… sometimes they were worse. The first time I woke up and he was just gone…” Jericho swallowed hard. He could still feel the terror and panic as though he were experiencing it all over again. “I found him a few blocks over, and there was a guy trying to—it doesn’t matter what he was trying to do. I hit him until he stopped breathing, until I thoughtI’dstopped breathing. I was twelve.”

“Why are you telling me this?” Peyton asked hoarsely.

“There are people in the world that deserve what we do to them. Real monsters walking the streets. It takes someone like me, someone likeyou, to keep the innocent safe.” He threaded his fingers through Peyton’s hair, moving the strands from his cheek so he could smooth his thumb across his stubble. “You’re a hero, Peyton. Not because of the people you’ve killed, orthe things that you’ve done. But because you’re the shield that protects those that can’t protect themselves.”

Peyton turned his head, open mouth sliding across Jericho’s thumb. “And what about you?”

“You have a heart of gold, Peyton, whether you see it or not. If you didn’t, this wouldn’t torture you so much. I’m the monster in this scenario, not you. I don’t feel guilt, and I don’t carry the kinds of scars that you do.” He’d lived through literal hell and come out the other side, and he never let those wounds define him. He’d shaped his life into something to be proud of. He’d channelled the horrors into a strength. His experiences weren’t Peyton’s, and Peyton needed to find his own way to come out the other side.

“They’re trying to hurt my brother.”

“We won’t let them.” Riley wasn’t going to be able to turn around without someone close to him now, not until this was done. If they had to, they would call on people from outside the state to assist.

“I don’t want to kill people,” Peyton said. “I don’t—I—”

Jericho kissed his forehead and kept his lips there, against sweat-slicked skin. “You don’t have to,” he whispered, knowing the probability of it being a lie. The odds that Peyton wouldn’t be faced with that choice when working for him and Hunter were slim.

Jericho found himself saying, “I’ll protect you too,” anyway. He would show Peyton how important their work was and the good that they did by draping themselves in the dark. They carried their burdens willingly.

“Don’t let go.” Peyton’s fingers curled in the hair on Jericho’s chest, one hand moving down to shape around his soft stomach.

“No,” Jericho promised.

Peyton exhaled on a shaky breath, his eyes drifting closed as he settled against Jericho, fitting perfectly in his arms.

Jericho had slept in places more uncomfortable than a bath. There’d been a time when he would have considered sleeping in a bath a luxury. He turned his head, resting it on top of Peyton’s, and let his eyes drift closed. Peyton’s warmth, and the brushes of his breath against Jericho’s chest were comforting.

He didn’t know how long he’d slept when he felt someone getting into the bath with them. He cracked one eye open, watching quietly as Will settled in with them, wrapping himself around them both and curling his head beside Peyton’s on Jericho’s chest. Jericho shifted enough to gather him close and drifted back to sleep.

When he woke next, there was a blanket over the three of them, and light was spilling through the small window. The bathroom door peeked open, a hint of a fluffy tail from where Persephone was guarding them. Quiet murmurs drifted in from the nearby kitchen, with the distinct smell of coffee wafting in the air.

Will and Peyton slept soundly against him, with their hands tangled together. Will’s breath brushed against Peyton’s hair, rustling it on every exhale.

Jericho tightened his hold and let them sleep a little longer.

Chapter Five

Peyton leaned his shoulderagainst the doorframe, squinting at his brother. Riley sat at his desk as if everything was fine and dandy. No cuts. No scrapes or bruises. If Peyton didn’t know that something untoward had happened yesterday, he would never have suspected.

Riley wouldn’t have let anyone know something had happened. Because he always forgot how to use a phone when it was convenient even though he got all “big brother” when the rest of the Sinclair brothers didn’t keep him informed of everything.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Riley asked, mimicking his expression. “What are you doing here?”

“I came to check up on you.”

Riley leaned back in his office chair, linked his hands, and rested them on his chest. “Do I need checking up on?”

Peyton moved into the office and kicked the door shut with his heel. “You tell me.”

“I’m not a fan of riddles, Peyton.”

“You work for Hunter,” Peyton said bluntly, dropping into the chair opposite Riley. It was only from knowing the man his entire life that Peyton even noticed the imperceptible shift in his expression. “Let’s talk about that.”

“Let’s not. How did you even find that out?”

---