Page 120 of When Darkness Calls

“Okay?” Her arms drop, brows creasing. “That’s it.”

Cade nods. “Yeah. You made a good point. If you come with us, at least I know what danger you’ll be in. When you're alone, I don’t know, and when I find out, I might be too late.” His voice cracks. “I was almost late today, Dani. But you were so smart, and so strong. You kept yourself safe. You saved yourself. And I’m so fucking proud of you. But I’m so sorry I let you down.”

Her eyes soften as she wraps her arms around him. He hugs her back.

“You didn’t let me down, asshole. I’m okay.”

“I know. And because you’re okay— and you’re okay because of the choices you made— I feel like you can take care of yourself on missions with us.”

“Great! When are we heading out?” She beams at him.

We all chuckle. I shake my head, turning away towards the sink, pouring my coffee down the drain.

“What?”

Nick answers, “We don’t do it every day. We make plans. Very detailed, exact plans.”

“Oookay. So, when is the next plan?” She raises a brow at Cade.

“In a few days, but we already have the plans set, so you’re gonna have to set this one out. But after that, we’ll have you accounted for, and you’ll have a job, Dee. I promise.” He holds out his pinky, and she wraps hers around it.

“Okay.” She sighs.

I’m weirdly proud of how she’s handling all of this. As a group thing, yeah. I kind of like the idea of her in a mask by my side. But she hasn’t even looked at me. I don’t know how she’s handling our stuff.

A hollow, sinking feeling spreads through my chest as I watch her make rounds around the guys, giving Alex his hug, rustling Keeg’s hair, bumping shoulders with Nick.

I must have had a look on my face, because when I look back to Cay, he’s staring at me.

“Hey, guys, why don’t we let her have some space for a bit? Maybe take a nap? We’ll be in the garage, okay?” He kisses her forehead, and she grimaces.

I begin to make my way to the garage door, following Cade, behind the others, but he stops me, hand tight on my arm. “Not you.”

I exhaled sharply, turning back to her now sitting on a chair at the table.

“You hungry?”

“Starving.”

“Oh, shit. I was going to make food while you were showering. I’m sorry. We started talking and I completely forgot—”

“It’s okay.”

I nod, and we’re quiet.

I make my way around the kitchen, pulling open the fridge.

“Anything you’d like in particular?” I look back at her.

“You wouldn’t happen to have any tomato soup and the stuff for grilled cheese, would you?”

I hum, pull open a cabinet, searching. My fingers twisting the cans reading the labels, until I find one. “Yup. Do you like it a certain way?”

“Uh, yeah. Half water, half milk.”

I look at her completely confused.

“The label. It usually says to mix like a can full of water, but I always do half milk, the other half water,” she says, her face turning the slightest bit pink.