Page 76 of While She Sleeps

And it doesn’t help that Orion is hovering.

Logically, I realize it’s because he wants to take care of me, but it’s annoying as hell for someone who has always taken care of themselves.

“Can I get you something to eat?” he asks for the third time in the last hour.

I shake my head, burrowing further into the soft blanket Orion wrapped me in after Killian left. He’s been taking hushed phone calls in between hovering over me like a fly to a bad smell.

I’m too numb. It’s unnerving, and the itch to reach for the razor blade is so strong I can barely think past the blessed pain it would bring. So I could feel something. Anything.

There’s a razor blade in my purse. I slipped it inside right alongside the thumb drive I haven’t had a chance to check yet.

Fuck.

My laptop.

I don’t remember seeing it among my other destroyed items at my apartment, and it certainly wasn’t something I saw Killian pack even after I insisted it wasn’t necessary.

“I think they took my laptop,” I whisper.

“What?” Orion’s brows tug together in confusion. “But nothing else was stolen other than the shoebox with the cash?”

“I don’t think so. I didn’t even think about my laptop. It didn’t occur to me.” My voice shakes, and the aching in my chest intensifies.

I don’t have the money for another one, let alone to replace all my other belongings, and that means working is going to be that much harder.

Hacking isn’t my thing, but that doesn’t mean I can’t super sleuth with the best of them. If there’s a piece of dirt on someone on the internet, I can find it.

People are not as careful with their social media pages as they should be, and I’m more than happy to exploit that carelessness at every opportunity.

Orion considers me for a moment before typing out a text and pocketing his phone. “Can you think of a reason someone would want your laptop?”

I shake my head. Why would anyone want my shitty old laptop? I don’t even store anything on it apart from whatever mark I’m working on. It’s old and slow at the best of times, so storing anything other than a few files on it has the thing losing its shit.

Unless…

The Hunter.

It has to be him. If he’s caught on to me looking into him, that would explain all of this.

Except for how personal the attack on my apartment was. Or maybe that’s just how they made it look. Maybe that’s just a way of throwing me off the scent. Making it look like I have someone stalking me so they can get away with it.

“Ember?” Orion’s worried voice comes from closer than I expect, and when I blink past the tears I don’t remember shedding, he’s crouched in front of the couch. “Are you okay? Did you think of something?”

I shake my head. I can’t drag Orion into this. If it is the Hunter who broke into my apartment, I can’t allow him to become collateral damage in my search for revenge.

His brows tug together, and I can tell he doesn’t believe me, but he doesn’t ask any other questions. Instead, he carefully lifts my head and shifts me slightly so he can sit beside me before his fingers start working through my hair in comforting strokes.

“Rest for a while, Little Flame. We’ll get everything sorted once you’ve slept.”

Sleep felt miles away just a few minutes ago, but with his warmth so close, I can’t help but fall into dreamland, a world away from the hell of my reality.

Heat radiates off the body beneath mine, and it takes long moments for me to remember where I am.

Somehow, I’ve ended up sprawled across Orion’s chest, my head resting in the crook of his neck and his arms wound around me tightly, holding onto me like I’m the most precious thing in the world. Which I’m definitely not.

I’m a mess. A mess that he could do without.

He’s a wildly successful businessman. He doesn’t need all my shit on his doorstep, and that’s exactly why I need to leave.

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