Page 29 of Citadel

“I can see that. I saw Breanna guarding the gate. She told me where you’d probably be. Glad you settled in here. Do you have everything you need?”

“Sure. We’re a lot better off here than we were before. We can be safe without Breanna doing anything she doesn’t want to do. They’re even going to give us a little house. But the one they got picked out for us needs work, and the construction crew is backed up with other buildings. But they’ll be getting to it soon.”

“So you’re still staying at the guesthouse?”

“Yeah.”

“I can help with your house if you want to get into it faster.”

My heart gives a silly little skip. “Oh. Really? Maybe. It’s no big deal either way. The guesthouse is perfectly comfortable.”

He’s slanting me another odd look.

“What?” I demand.

He shakes his head. “Nothing. Just you seem different.”

“In a bad way?”

“No, not in a bad way.” He’s almost smiling, like he’s secretly laughing. “I like that you’re not always having to hide your real self. This seems more like who you really are.”

I flush hot and can’t meet his eyes. Both embarrassed and pleased by his comment. “I’ve always been me.”

“Sure. But you kept yourself to yourself. You only let me see glimpses of you before.”

I have no idea how to respond to that, so I change the subject.

* * *

I have a great afternoon, hanging out with Cole and then having dinner with him and Breanna. He still doesn’t appear to be my sister’s favorite person, but she’s not as openly hostile as she was three months ago.

We stay up later than normal, chatting in the moonlight, until Breanna gets up and says she’s exhausted so she’s heading for bed.

She gives me a significant look. “Don’t stay up too late.”

“I won’t.”

I mean what I tell her. I have another early shift tomorrow, so it would be stupid to stay up too late and be groggy all day tomorrow.

But I’m not quite ready to say good night to Cole yet.

He doesn’t appear to be in a hurry either. He’s slouched on the other side of the wrought iron bench we’re sitting on, staring up at the stars in the sky. He looks relaxed. Comfortable. And it makes me wonder how many times he gets to enjoy a pleasant evening like this—with decent food and furniture instead of the hard ground as company.

Probably almost never.

The thought aches in my chest. The man needs someone to take care of him since he doesn’t appear to be particularly concerned about taking care of himself.

“Have you ever given yourself a break?” I ask into the silence, giving voice to my thoughts without any sort of transition.

He blinks and shifts his gaze over to me. “What do you mean?”

“I don’t know. Just that you’ve spent all this time searching for your brother and that means you’re always moving, always on the road. Do you ever let yourself rest somewhere? Just for a while.”

He looks at me without replying for a little too long.

“Are you annoyed by the question?” I ask, wondering if I’ve accidentally offended him.

“No. I was thinking about it. Only times I’ve stayed anywhere more than a couple of days was when I was injured or the weather was too bad to travel.”

---