60. Zane

60

ZANE

Walking back to my condo with a clean bill of health should be vindicating. I should be rubbing Owen's nose in my long list of negative test results.

Amphetamine: negative.

Barbiturates: negative.

Benzodiazepines, cocaine, marijuana, opiates, oxycodone, PCP, fucking Tylenol : all negative.

Instead, Owen drops me off outside the condo with a brusque goodbye that tells me he's still a little suspicious even after the rapid drug test. I shuffle inside with the results folded in my back pocket.

I'm about to punch in my code when the door opens and Jace is standing in front of me.

"Whoa." He sidesteps so we don't smash into each other. I'm too exhausted to bother dodging. "There you are. I was about to call you."

I blink at him. "What are you doing here?"

"Aiden." He looks at me like he also suspects I'm on something. "I came to drop him off. I texted you, but you didn't respond. I just left him with Mira. But I don't know, man… She didn't look good."

I drag a hand through my hair. "It's been a long morning."

He winces. "Last night didn't go like you hoped?"

"No. No, last night was…"

Fucking perfect.

It felt like a new start. Like the beginning of a whole new chapter in my life. I should've known it wouldn't be that easy.

"Owen thinks I'm using again," I admit in a rush.

"Why?" Jace looks me over, checking my face for I don't even know what. Maybe a brand on my forehead: ADDICT.

I don't want to get into it. I can't. Not when Mira is upstairs waiting for an explanation.

"Rumors." I shrug. "Owen was just making sure they weren't true. It sucked, but that's the point of a sponsor."

"I'm sorry." Jace claps a hand on my shoulder. "You're doing good, Z. I don't know if I've ever seen you like this."

"Pissed off and exhausted after being woken up at dawn by a screaming Scotsman?" I guess, scrubbing a hand over my longer-than-usual beard.

He chuckles. " Happy . I don't know if I've ever seen you this happy. It's nice."

Jace's words hang over me as I unlock the front door and slip inside.

The house is still dark. Mira didn't bother turning on the lights after I left. Aiden's bag is dumped next to the door and his shoes are strewn across the hallway. I hear his little feet running around his room.

But Mira is sitting on the couch.

"Hi," she croaks. She runs nervous fingers over her wrists again and again.

Her eyes are shadowed and hollow. Her hair is twisted into a low bun at the base of her neck and she threw on some clothes sometime after I left, but they're rumpled and hanging off of her.

"Where's Aiden?"

Her eyes shimmer with unshed tears and her lower lip wobbles. "I think he could tell something was… I think I… I scared him. He went to his room."

I drop onto the cushion next to her and she falls into me instantly. Like there was nothing holding her up in the first place. "What can I do?"

She curls into me, her head on my chest. "Can you just… stay here with me for a minute?"

"Yeah." I wrap my arms around her, holding her close. "I can stay as long as you need."

I hold her for so long that I think she might be asleep. Her breathing is deep and even against my chest. My leg is starting to tingle from lack of blood flow, but I don't care. After the morning I've had, the fact that Mira trusts me—feels safe with me—means everything.

She might be the only one.

"It was my father," she says suddenly, her voice so soft I can barely hear her. "The reason I can't handle loud noises or yelling. He did a lot of that when I was growing up."

My arms instinctively tighten around her. "He hurt you?"

She takes a shuddering inhale. "He tried."

So many things make sense all at once.

The way she froze when that man cornered her in the bathroom the day we met.

The way she froze when I cornered her the day Hanna told me Mira had left Aiden alone.

I got in her face, yelling and accusing Mira of putting my son in danger. She visibly shrank in front of me. Didn't say a word to defend herself.

"Shit," I mutter, kissing the back of her head. "I had no idea."

"It's not something I advertise."

But I should have known. I should have asked, should have made her tell me.

"Where is he now?"

The man who called Hanna the other day said he was Mira's family. He said he'd been looking for her for a long time. If it was her father, maybe I will take his calls… get his address… drop in and strangle him in his sleep…

"Gone," she says with finality. "He's gone. Has been for a long time."

So then why do you still look over your shoulder?

I want to ask her who is still after her. I want to know who called, what he wants, how he knows her.

But today has been hard enough on her.

For now, I'll keep it all to myself. I'll carry the burden for her so she can feel safe for a little longer.

I know what it's like when your past haunts you. And I don't want that for her.

She starts to sit up, but I catch her chin. Her eyes are red-rimmed and exhausted. I brush a stray tear off of her cheek. "You don't have to take care of yourself anymore, Mira. Let me do that instead."