Page 45 of Journey

She tucks her hair behind her ear and sighs. “A bomb.”

“A bomb?!”

Addi twists and rests her hands on my shoulders as if anchoring me to Earth. “It wasn’t a big one, and no one was hurt.”

“A bomb is a bomb. Who gives a damn if it’s a big one or not?”

She chuckles. “True. And if my colleagues find out I was here when it went off, I’ll be buried in paperwork. I told Crow we should’ve gone home last night.”

“Wait. You don’t live here?”

“No. We stay here sometimes, but we have a house.”

“But I thought you had to live here.”

“Nope,” she says, popping the ‘p’.

“Oh. Good to know.” I roll my eyes. “Fuck, what is wrong with me? A bomb just exploded, and I’m sitting here talking about living arrangements.”

“Nothing is wrong with you,” Addi insists. “I’m guessing it’s your brain’s way of working through the muck.”

“Working through the muck,” I repeat. “I like that.”

“Why don’t we go out and see if we can help with anything?” she suggests.

“Yeah, that’d be good. Let me just throw some clothes on, and I’ll be right out.”

Bobbing her brows, she smirks. “You’re naked under there, aren’t you?”

“Yep.”

“I bet Journey is pissed as hell that he got pulled out of bed with you here.”

With that, she gets to her feet and leaves the room, pulling the door shut behind her. I throw the blanket off of me and swing my legs over the bed. The last thing I wanna do is put dirty clothes on, so I trudge to Journey’s dresser to find something suitable to wear.

Settling on a pair of sweats with a drawstring and an overly large t-shirt, I get dressed. I wish I had time to at least shower, but who am I kidding? No one's gonna care what I look like when they’re dealing with the aftermath of an explosion.

Just as I’m about to walk out of the room, a ping reaches my ears. Thinking it’s my cell, I retrace my steps and pick the phone up off the nightstand. When I tap the screen to bring it to life, my blood runs cold.

Unknown: Stay away from my daughter or the next time, the bomb will be inside

My legs buckle, and I crumble to the floor. I manage to use the bed for support, and stare at what I now know is Journey’s cell, not mine.

How did he know? How’d he get this number?

“What’s wrong?”

I lift my head and see Journey kneeling in front of me. He must be an expert at stealth because I didn’t even hear him come in.

“My, uh…” I swallow and try to gather my thoughts. Turning the phone so he can see the text, I say, “Stone texted you.”

His entire body tenses as he reads. “Sonofabitch!”

I flinch at his rage, and he immediately forces himself to relax and engulfs me in his arms.

“I’m sorry,” he says. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“It’s okay. Really. Somehow, I know you’d never hurt me. It was just an involuntary reaction.”

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