Page 179 of On a Fault Line

Shielding her from the message, I read my screen.

“Your brothers need me.”

Her hands snake around my waist. “I need you too.”

I lift her hand and kiss each of her fingers one by one. “You have me.”

“I don’t want this to end,” she whispers, and I can’t tell if she’s referring to our lazy time in bed or the future.

“I’ll be back soon.”

“I can stay here?”

“Of course.” I much prefer it that way anyway. “Chris is living across the hall.”

“So, I’ll be safe.”

“Yes.”

It takes all my willpower to leave Penny in bed to get dressed and head to the boxing gym, a favorite meetup location for conducting our business. Being away from her makes me anxious, and it’s hard to think clearly when I’m constantly wondering what she’s doing.

Sure, I have trackers on her, but I much prefer having her within sight.

“I’ll be back soon.”

Her eyes connect with mine as I back out of the bedroom. “You better be back.”

“There’s no place I’d rather be than with you, Princess.”

She sucks her bottom lip between her teeth and waves goodbye.

* * *

“Are you up for some sparring?” Graham asks, passing me some gloves.

“Sure,” I say hesitantly. I wasn’t expecting to get a full-on workout this morning, but some vigorous physical exercise always does my body good.

“Awesome.” The eldest Hoffman cracks his knuckles, and I follow him into the ring. “Any word on the handwriting analysis for the mail going to Penny’s apartment?”

“Inconclusive.” I slide on my gloves and tighten them up.

Graham rakes a hand through his hair. “Isn’t that odd?”

“Not when the sample is inadequate. There wasn’t enough to analyze even by the most productive forensic software.”

“Gotcha.”

“Penny had a…” Fuck. I almost said nightmare but stop myself just in time. I don’t need her brother suspecting me of knowing too many intimate details about Penny, her dreams and nightmares included. “Concern over Tanner getting to her at the waterfront during her photoshoot, but I was there that day at the prison.”

“Yeah, and you get daily updates on what is happening behind bars?”

“Yes, and it’s never anything to report. But something keeps bothering me about the whole thing. It’s like I’m awaiting impending doom.”

“You might be.”

My left eye twitches. What’s that supposed to mean?

Graham walks over to the side of the ring and grabs his own pair of gloves and places them onto his fists, readjusting them as needed.

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