Page 68 of The Vigilant

I shoved the memories of the other night from my mind. A fluke. An aberration from reality caused by physical temptation. Nothing more.

“I’m just going to change and then I’ll be back,” I said, leaving the towel in the sink and then heading for the door.

Chapter Fourteen

Sutton

The door clicked like a gun to my head, and I realized I’d taken Tynan’s jacket with me. I wanted to clean it. To fix it. It might be the only thing that had more of his blood on it than me. But also, I couldn’t seem to let it go. I wanted—needed—the scent of him. I needed to hold on to the worn leather, saturated with his rich, spiced scent and soaked in his copper blood, and convince myself that he was going to be okay.

I clutched it tight to my chest, looking like some kind of psychopath, the cloth seeping more blood onto my skin. My eyes shut, and my mind replayed that final moment when I finally picked the lock on the bedroom door and shoved inside, only to find myself squarely in the path of the assassin’s blade.

If not for Tynan.

He stood like my shield, and then I saw the gun. I’d fired in time to save his life but not spare him from pain.

My eyes snapped open, rage sharpening my senses.

I had to stay focused. I had to shower. Change. Figure out who those men were, how they found me, and what they had to do with Mara.

“Sutton.”

I turned. Robyn approached from the opposite end of the underground hallway, the light catching on the cinnamon shades of her hair.

“What are you doing?”

I lowered the jacket to my side as she got closer and answered carefully, “I need to shower and change before he wakes up.”

There was something about Robyn that I simultaneously recognized but didn’t like. Maybe it was like that old saying: the faults you found in others were the ones you hated about yourself.

I hated that Robyn looked like she knew more than she was letting on. I hated that she seemed like she had secrets she was unwilling to share. I hate that I looked at her the way Tynan had probably looked at me.

“Come with me,” she said and started to turn back the way she’d come. When I didn’t follow, she stopped and scrutinized me. “Where were you planning on showering?”

“At the gym?” I said even though I couldn’t recall if there was even a shower there or not.

Her smile gave me my answer.

“You can shower at my cabin.” Her eyes raked over me. “And borrow some of my clothes.”

My lips parted; it hadn’t even occurred to me what I’d change into after I showered.

“And I’ll show you how to get blood out of Ty’s jacket.”

That promise erased all the doubt from my mind. My feet carried me toward her without another thought.

“What is this place?” I asked when we reached one of the two doors at the farthest end of the hall.

“The garage?” she asked like she knew it wasn’t what I was talking about.

“No. This.”

She stared at me for an extra second and then keyed in her code to open the door.

Unlike Tynan’s, the hallway behind her door stretched seemingly endless.

“This is the living quarters for the Vigilantes.”

Like the patch on his jacket?

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