Page 92 of Unleashed

“We didn’t even make it to the hassle part.” Trevor finishes up with his hair and replaces the comb and product. “He said if I had everything I needed here, I’d never go home.”

I snort as I thread my feet through the leg openings of my panties. “That’s probably true.”

Trevor turns to face me, his expression serious. “Don’t get too excited. I’ll be coming home every night until we figure out who the fuck switched your computer.”

And just like that, my postcoital glow evaporates.

“Ugh.” My head drops back as I groan. “I actually forgot about that for a few seconds.”

“I didn’t.” Trevor steps toward me, reaching out to carefully smooth his hands through my hair. “Pierce said Zara’s new bod—” he stops before correcting himself “—aide will be here later tonight. I think it’s important we make sure she’s comfortable with this before we make any firm plans.”

I nod, agreeing easily. “Maybe he can come over and hang out.” I don’t so much mind that I’m being affected by this, but Zara being involved has me struggling not to lose my shit. “I’m not sure how much we can tell her about what’s actually happening and who he really is, though.” It occurs to me that makes my sister sound like a tattletale, which she isn’t. “She does like to talk, and sometimes spills way too much information.”

Like the time she told her dance teacher about my experience with the stomach flu and how I shit myself because I could only stick one end over the toilet at a time.

Trevor nods, his hands smoothing down my neck and over my shoulders. “She’s a kid. Kid’s talk. We will just be extra careful with what we say in front of her.”

He keeps saying we. Lumping us together. And I don’t hate it.

Especially right now, when I’m facing something I’m incapable of tackling alone. Yes, I could’ve cleaned up the trailer, but I don’t know what I would have done when I discovered my laptop had been switched, not stolen. I couldn’t have figured out a way to keep my sister safe. I surely couldn’t have come up with a new location for us to live.

After a lifetime of tackling the kinds of problems most people can’t fathom on my own, it’s a little scary to let someone help. But I don’t have a choice. And honestly, I trust Trevor. Not just with my life—which he has already saved once—but also my sister’s.

And that’s saying something.

We go back into his office, and he situates me on the couch, getting me a bottle of water before sitting down to finalize our plan for keeping Zara safe. I guess Pierce—the owner of Alaskan Security—is the key to most of it. He has a staff physician who will be more than happy to write the note for Zara’s school. Her bodyguard will pass any background checks they do with flying colors—I’m guessing because he will not be giving them his real government information—and is one of their field medics, so he actually will have relevant training.

I don’t know if all of that makes me feel better, but it definitely doesn’t make me feel worse.

By the time Ruth knocks on the door, letting us know she, Toby, and Walker are back from their trip to the archives, the twisting in my stomach has subsided, and my shoulders no longer feel like they’re trying to masquerade as earrings.

Trevor looks better too. Still stressed and intense, but nothing like he appeared this morning in the conference room.

Since there’s work to be done, I say my goodbyes, then head back to my desk. A shiny new laptop waits for me, and I open it, logging into the private server so I can get at least a little bit of actual work done today.

It’s just after five when Trevor rounds the corner, striding toward me. “Are you ready?”

I look around, trying to figure out what he’s talking about. “Ready for what?” I don’t have time for another meeting—or another quickie—before I leave to get Zara.

I considered skipping out early to pick her up from school instead of letting her go to after hours care, but the less I do to change her routine, or make her suspicious, the better off everything will be.

I hope.

I still called to check on her every hour, using the excuse that she’d seemed a little under the weather this morning, and I just wanted to make sure everything was going okay. I figured that would also help my cause when I send her in with a new, scary sidekick.

“Ready to go. It’s time to pick Zara up, right?” Trevor collects my bag, setting it on the desk beside my new computer. “What else do you need? Would you like a drink for the road?”

My brain trips over all his questions. “Yeah. It’s about time to pick up Zara.” I close my computer. “I don’t usually leave until five twenty, though.”

“I know, but her new buddy Quinn should be landing in about an hour, and I figured it would be easiest for us to pick him up rather than make him find a ride.” I must not be moving fast enough, because Trevor begins packing up my stuff. “Ruth is going to drive my car home, so he can use that to get around if he needs it.”

“Why is Ruth taking your car?” I manage to fish my keys out of the bag before he stacks my computer on top of them. “Don’t you need it to get home?”

Trevor picks up my bag, slinging it over one shoulder. “No.” He holds one hand out to me. “Come on. Let’s go.”

I scoff, lifting my brows at him. “You’re being awfully fucking bossy right now.”

“I know.” He gives me a grin, wiggling his fingers to encourage me to take his hand. “You can boss me around however you want tonight. But you need to get your ass in gear so we can get this off our to-do list.”