Page 53 of My End
He inhaled through his nose, the breath long and controlled. “Am I?”
I looked up at him and watched his jaw tighten in the low light. “Yeah. You usually don’t say much, but tonight… it feels like you’re carrying something.”
His arm flexed around my shoulders as he pulled me in a little tighter. “It’s nothing.”
I rolled to my side and propped myself up on one elbow so I could see his face better. “It’s not nothing. You’re tense. More than usual. Your thoughts are louder than your breathing.”
That pulled a small smile from him, barely there, but it faded just as fast.
“Is everything okay?” I asked softly. “I mean, is something going on?”
His eyes flicked to the ceiling, and he let out a long exhale. “I don’t really know, sweetheart,” he said eventually, voice low and gruff. “I’m the new guy around here, and no one reallytells me anything. I mean, they don’t need to. I’m just the hired muscle.”
“That’s not all you are,” I said quickly. “Not to me.”
He looked at me then, his dark eyes searching mine, and I hated how guarded they seemed. Like he was holding back the truth for my sake. Or maybe for his.
“Why’d you ask?” he murmured. “You feel something?”
I hesitated, then nodded. “Yeah. I don’t know how to explain it, but… things feel off lately. They were always more tense when Boone was home, sure. That’s not new. But now? It’s different. Sharper. Like the whole house is holding its breath.”
Jake didn’t reply right away. He reached up and brushed a thumb across my cheek. His touch so soft it made my heart ache.
“You’re not wrong,” he said after a beat. “There’s something simmering. I just don’t know what yet.”
I let that settle for a moment and watched the way the worry creased the corners of his eyes. “Do you think Boone’s planning something?”
His lips pressed into a line, and for once, he didn’t deflect. Didn’t give me a half-assed answer or a shrug. “I think Boone and Gibbs are always planning something. But lately? Feels like they’re circling the wagons tighter than usual.”
I laid back down beside him, curling into his side again, trying to find comfort in his warmth even as unease coiled tighter inside me. “It feels like something bad is growing. I don’t know how else to put it. It’s just… there. In the air. In the way everyone looks over their shoulder a little more.”
Jake was quiet again. Too quiet.
I pressed my lips to the bare skin over his heart. “You’re scaring me with this silence.”
He moved then and shifted so he was hovering above me with one arm braced beside my head as he looked down at melike I was something precious. “You don’t have to be scared, Tilly. No matter what happens, I’ll make sure you’re safe.”
My breath caught.
“Promise?” I whispered.
His forehead rested against mine, and the rough edges of his voice scraped against something tender inside me. “Promise, sweetheart. I’ll burn this place to the ground if I have to. But you’ll be safe.”
I believed him.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Stretch
I didn’t sleep much.
The minute my alarm went off, I was up, boots on, and making my way upstairs with Tilly still sleeping in my bed. I was supposed to report to Jim at eight sharp, but I’d already been pacing my room for half an hour. My fists were tight, and my jaw locked. Something was off. I felt it in my bones.
Tilly was anxious. On edge. And I wasn’t far behind her.
I knocked once on the command room door before pushing it open. Jim sat behind the desk like a man who’d been up for hours, his fingers steepled, and a steaming mug of coffee on the blotter between us.
He didn’t look up. “Jake.”
