Page 29 of Playing With Danger

“She’s not saying no,” Hayden answered for me.

Okay, hold on a minute.

I straightened out of the cozy ball I’d curled myself into in the corner of the couch, sat up, and glowered at my roommate and best friend. He at least had the decency to shift on the bar stool he’d pulled into the living room but other than that, showed no outward remorse he’d crossed a line he knew he’d be crossing by answering for me.

My mother did that to me.

All the damn time.

Hayden knew this and knew how much I hated it.

“Soph, we’re talking about your safety.”

“I know what we’re talking about and I’m not saying no to the panic button. But before I say yes I need to fully understand what’s going on and who exactly will have my location.”

“What’s going on is Valentine is trying to take care of you,” Hayden snarled. “And with this you’re going to let him.”

Whoa.

Hayden had never, in all the years we’d been friends, lashed out at me.

“Hayden, be cool,” Valentine warned.

Don’t ask me how I knew it was a warning but I did. His voice was smooth and low but there was a bite to it that screamed ‘back off.’

“I’ll be cool when she says yes,” Hayden bit, then narrowed his eyes on me. “A kid was beat to shit by the man you took down. If there’s even a fraction of a chance he’d come after you, either you take what Valentine’s offering or I’m taking leave from work and I’m your new shadow.”

That seemed excessive.

“Hayden—”

“You know I love you more than I love my sister. You know I’d lose my shit if someone took a fist to you. Valentine would not be here offering what he’s offering nor would he have called in a favor with the guys at Triple Canopy, some of whom I’ve met, and they’re known to be the best at security in Georgia and the surrounding states, if he didn’t want you safe. Not a little safe. Not maybe safe. Safe, Sophie, as in the safest he can make you without moving in and being your personal bodyguard.”

That was a lot to digest. And it wasn’t that Hayden loved me more than Marybeth. I already knew that. Hayden’s sister was a bit of a drag and a whole lot bitchy when he didn’t loan her money. And he didn’t loan it; he gifted it since she never paid it back.

The parts I was having trouble processing were many. First, Valentine wanted me as safe as he could make me—that was understandable; he was a cop. But the safest? Add to that he’d asked people who were the best in security for a favor to make that happen? We were strangers. I was nothing more than a friend of a friend to him.

I had yet to come up with a proper response to Hayden when there was a knock on the door and he excused himself to get our food delivery.

That left Valentine to answer the question that was preying on my mind.

“Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why are you going through all this trouble? A panic button? Asking friends for a favor? That seems like a lot for someone you don’t know.”

The man looked downright uncomfortable. Actually, he looked so uncomfortable that if his answer wasn’t so important to me I would’ve let him off the hook.

“I can’t answer that. I just know my first thought when I heard about that kid being in ICU and Ackerman being in the wind, was you. My second thought was if he got to you and it was you beaten up and lying in that hospital bed, I’d kill him. I know it’s a big ask. I know it’s intrusive as hell and I have no right to ask, but I’m still doing it.”

That was more than enough for me.

“I’ll take the fob.”

Valentine visibly relaxed.

The sting of my earlier disappointment evaporated.

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