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I sprang for the sliding glass door and threw it open The balcony was shthouses in sight Hopefully, it wasn’t lighthouses in general that brought this out inuntil my knuckles turned a sickly pale color

Deep breath in

Deep breath out

Two hands extended out on either side ofinches away from my own hands I felt his heat behind me, but we didn’t touch

"Hey, breathe You’re okay I’ly, as if I were about to jump over the side "I’er"

"It’s not your fault I just don’t want to ever see that again"

"You won’t I promise"

I wondered at his words What did heto always keep me safe from those people? Surely not Or was it an eet ain

"Why do you care where ere? We’re here now"

"Because I intend for therowled

I nodded my head in silence, because what else was there to say? He was hter fro hiht we deserved it

"We should get ready to go to the station I want to get this over with," I told hi his heat radiate into the skin of ht now The station can wait, for all I care Besides, they’re sleeping so peacefully in there" His voice was gentle and his calainst him and soak in his tranquility He didn’t seem like the type to ever raise his voice unless soet him heated up I liked that

"I’ voice I pushed off of the railing and a solid stoht difference between us hs and all of the areas in betere ainst oodness male contact I craved it But it wasn’t real, was it? This was just an odd situation the both of us had been thrown into, and ere only here because of the kids I obviously felt the need to overthink every aspect of my life lately

He finally let his hands fall away fro was off again I turned to face hi off? Are you trying to pull all of your stitches out?" I walked past hi off his chair and pushed it toward him "Leave it on"

"Yes, ently placed his ar His body stretched as he pulled the strap up and around his neck His chest was so wide I could tell the strap was on its last bit of Velcro When his arain, he looked down at ed himself any further "Let me check it" I walked forward and reached up to pull his shirt aside, but there was no ith ht that I would be able to see over his shoulder

I used his good arm to hoist ot a clear view I stretched the neck of his navy cotton t-shirt over and very carefully peeled one edge of his bandage aside Everything looked as if it were still where it should be I gently pushed the gauze back in place and res soon

"You’re lucky It’s all still intact" I looked down at his face and nearly gasped at the ie below My brsts had been directly in front of Lane’s face, and he’d made no atteood shoulder and stepped down, trying hard not to trail hed and shook his head while shrugging his shoulders "I’h "It was all just… right there!"

"Perv," I scolded hih told him I really wasn’t that mad "Ti room, but ht-headed I continued walking until I was in the next roorab a hold of the dresser and control the spinning in lare Once hed in relief and began packing up our bag to head out

LANE -

We caught a cab outside of the hotel Braden and Raegan climbed into the backseat first, and I realized there wasn’t enough room for all four of us to sit side-by-side I scooted in next and pulled Kate onto un with the cabbie, so I was glad that I had found a way to get us all back there

The ride should have only taken us fifteen ood thirty before I saw the dingy police station I didn’t reallyout different places to Kate Even Braden joined in and asked a few quiet questions Kate was bouncing inin cars and airplanes It took that moment for me to realize she probably hadn’t been in either before these past few days

Another reason why I didn’t an fell asleep on an to scoot down in her seat Her head fell lazily ontoof her usingto need a decent ah and I knew she was, but I always caught her eyelids fluttering in exhaustion or her head drooping with her iht after my shower, I scanned the labels on her prescription bottles Even though it had been insanely late, I texted Charlie and asked hi those for I knew the cut on her forehead wasn’t pretty; I had seen it twice already But I didn’t understand why she required so s Surely, they were the main culprit in her weariness and those crazy dizzy spells Should she really be up and about thisit easy was though, so I’d have to step in and show her

We pulled up to the curb of the precinct, and I swiped h the cab’s card reader Kate opened the door and slid down onto the concrete I softly jostled Raegan next toher head up

"Hey, Rae, we’re here," I delicately crooned I felt bad for waking her, but I really couldn’t let her continue to sleep in a cab My insistent hands shook her a little ," but I couldn’t be sure because she didn’t look like she was going anywhere

Panic started to hit ht here This wasn’t just norht when she told me about her heart and her blood pressure