Page 245 of Lodestar

“Why would they care? This place is massive.”

“She might…” I grimaced.

“Wet the bed?”

“She used to when she had a nightmare.”

Conor pursed his lips in contemplation. “Do you want to head back to West Orange? Have her spend the night somewhere she knows she’s safe?”

“No. We’re already delaying things by spending the night.” I rubbed a hand over my face. “I have a bad feeling…”

“About?”

“Troy.”

“I’ve accessed her phone records. We could call her and warn her that we’re coming?”

I bit my lip, the need to?—

Crap, I didn’t even know.

I just had an uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach.

Granted, it had only been triggered by Kat’s visceral reaction to something as simple as being told she had some new family members, but…

“What is it?”

“Maybe Aoife has some sheets or something for Jake? For when he has accidents?”

He frowned at the abrupt change of conversation. “Yeah. Of course. If not, we can buy some.”

“Right. I just don’t want her to feel humiliated, and maybe,” I muttered, “she could stay here while we go and visit Troy? She’d be safe here, right?”

“I installed the security system and you put the firewall through your paces during mock runs last spring. It’s probably more secure than a vault.”

A relieved breath escaped me. “Yeah. You’re right. We locked your code up tight.”

“We did, and I worked on the system with Eoghan too. It’s pretty much a fortress. Plus, there are guards. We bought the building next door so they’re on the ground.”

“Really? That seems excessive.”

He just shrugged. “The past year has proven we need to have guards.”

“You don’t have any.”

“I have you,” he teased, which made me laugh.

“Stop making me smile,” I argued, wiping a hand over my twitching lips.

“It’s true, isn’t it?”

I huffed. “Yes, it’s true.”

His smugness made me punch him in the arm.

“Hey! Brennan just hit that fucking arm. Ouch.”

“Don’t be a baby.” I sniffed when he grumbled under his breath. “If she’s here, then I’ll feel better.”

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