THIRTEEN
Micah awoke to pounding on the bedroom door. The room was dark and he’d fallen asleep somewhere around dawn. He couldn’t hear one damned sound in the room. Not even the television.
He sat up and searched the other side of the bed for the man he’d dragged in kicking and not screaming exactly, but gesturing very loudly. Kit was nowhere to be felt.
Lamp on, he climbed out of the monstrosity of a four poster bed and opened the door. Kady stood there beaming at him. Her dark blue eyes lit with a smirk.
“Yeah, yeah, he wouldn’t sleep alone. And after last night the old man is probably going to be camping out in here too, so smirk all you want.” He smirked back walking past the amused maid to his room. . “Where is his royal highness anyway?”
“In his throne room overseeing the installation of the correct glass and the removal of the plywood. He’s fretting over his computers even though we moved them out of the way.” Kady was fast on his heels even when he took out fresh clothes and indicated he was going for a shower. She was clueless about hints.
“And you’re here because?” If he had to drag it out of her, then sooner rather than later would be nice.
“I was hoping to find Roch but I can’t find anyone and Kit is too busy freaking out about the glass people to tell me what’s going on.” She fluffed one of the pillows he hadn’t slept on since the bed had been moved in and looked everywhere but directly at Micah.
The shower was suddenly the very last thing on Micah’s mind. “You don’t know?” he asked, and when she turned startled eyes on him, he sat on the bed next to her and took her hand. “Of course you don’t know. Who would have told you?”
Kady’s hand flew to her mouth, her eyes grew round with alarm. “What happened? Is he…”
“He’s not dead. No, sorry, honey. I didn’t mean to make you think that.” Micah grabbed both of her hands and held them in his. “There was another break-in last night and Sam was attacked. He’s in the hospital with a concussion and a fractured wrist. He’s going to be fine. Mrs. Gibbs is with him. Or she was last I spoke with her and Spencer is in town on call for them. I didn’t think to call you and Miranda, and I guess neither did Gibbs. But he’s going to be okay.”
Kady sank to the floor on her knees and laid her head on the bed. Micah could see her shoulders shake, but she didn’t make a sound. Kit came walking in at that moment and stared at Micah with accusing eyes. Micah threw his hands up. “What? No one told her about Sam. I didn’t mean to make her cry.”
“I’m okay. I’m just…I thought…I mean…I know he’s sort of a jerk and he’s old…but I like him. I never had a grandfather. I think maybe…maybe Gibbs and Roch filled that role for me.” She had tears streaming down her face when she finally looked up. “I’m…okay…I’m good.” She flapped her fingers in that way women did when they were trying not to cry. “Don’t scare me like that next time.”
Kit gestured something that Micah was pretty sure wasn’t actual words in the ASL dictionary while giving him a dirty look.
“I said I thought she knew. You were up. Why didn’t you tell her? This is not my fault when I just woke up and I don’t even know what time it is and I was running all over the fucking property with the fucking cops until the fucking sun came up.” Micah raked his hand through his hair, pushing the too long strands back from his eyes. His jaw itched from the two days of beard growth and he was sure he stank. “And can I get something to eat and a shower without being the…” he stopped when it suddenly hit him. “I’m the only one here who can cook aren’t I?”
They both nodded. But they both looked guilty about it, turning almost identical hang dog faces, complete with big cartoon eyes, on him. Yeah, really guilty.
“Miranda can. Some. But today is her day off. I guess she doesn’t know either,” Kady supplied helpfully. Kit stood there looking pale and tired. He was dressed in a different pair of loose pants and yet another short robe. This one in black. Black wasn’t a good color on him. It pulled all of the color from his face and left him looking ghostly. But Micah probably resembled the beast that Kit liked to call him so who was he to cast aspersions.
“Okay.” Micah sighed loudly. He was tired and cranky and he was babysitting. That’s all this job was. Babysitting. “I need a shower. And then I’ll see about something. And we’ll figure out what to do and…who let the glass people in?”
“Security buzzed them up right after I arrived.” Kady answered as she started for the doorway. “We’ve got this handled, Beez. You look exhausted. Go shower. We’ve got everything under control.” Kady more or less pushed Kit out. Standing almost shoulder to shoulder with him. She was tall. For a girl. Hell for anyone. They were both tall. Micah felt small and insignificant next to them. And fucking exhausted. Kit cast him a look of concern, but Kady pushed him out the door and shut it behind them.
Micah stayed sitting on the bed for a while. He still didn’t know what time it was. Every room on this side of the house had no windows and no clocks. And he was losing track of time and days and hell, he could have been here a week or a month and he wouldn’t have known.
He dragged his laptop out and turned it on. The battery flashed so he plugged it into the wall. He didn’t remember the last time he even touched the thing. The last file he’d read was still saved and ready to pick up where he left off. He wasn’t ready to delve back into that. He checked his messages. There weren’t many. One from his mother telling him that she’d tried to call but his phone went straight to voice mail. He looked for that and found it dead. Again with the cords and trying to charge his life that was falling apart faster than he knew how to pick up the pieces.
He closed his computer. Barely past nine. He assumed morning. Which meant he’d had maybe three hours of sleep. Maybe. He wasn’t exactly sure what time he hit the pillow. Or when Kit had deserted him.
He grabbed a change of clothes. Jeans and a button down shirt. Because he’d dressed like a slob for the past few days and he needed to at least try for half professional. He skipped shaving. The line of scar tissue stood out in stark hairless relief against the light brown beard but it stood out in stark relief when he was clean shaven too. No changing that. May as well get used to it. The new normal. Scarred emotionless face and a small ghostly giant who called him Beastly. Maybe it fit.
Beastly and the Gamer Prince.
Micah stepped under the shower and leaned against the wall, letting the hot water scald his back. He winced at the sting on stitches. But at least he forgot that this wasn’t the slightest bit funny and it most certainly wasn’t a fucking fairytale, no matter how crazy this shit got. It was a nightmare. One that he needed to wake up from…except he didn’t sleep much anymore…and was attracted to the pretty prince trapped in the castle….so did that make him prince charming or just the guard hired to slay the prince’s dragons?
He needed a nap.
And to be shot.
Not necessarily in that order.
* * * * *
With Kady keeping the workers occupied and from gawking at him, Kit found a couple of boxes of cereal in his little pantry. He didn’t know what Beastly would like, but he had the makings for a basic breakfast on hand at least. There was cereal and milk and bananas. Some juice too. He could send Kady to the kitchen for other things when Beastly finished his shower but he wasn’t going to let the man wait on him hand and foot.
This morning Micah looked like something the cat had dragged in, with his hair all tangled and his beard growing in. But mostly, he looked tired. And that was Kit’s fault.
“Did you sleep?” The grumbled words startled Kit into dropping the plastic spoon he held back into the drawer of eating utensils. His voice was out in the atrium with Kady. Kit shrugged and set the bowl and spoon on the little bar he had with two stools and offered Beastly his choice of flakes or colorful kid’s cereal. Beastly grunted and took the flakes with the tiger on the box. “Don’t think I didn’t notice that you avoided the question. Did you sleep?”
Kit settled on the stool directly across from his…well, what the hell was the man? Guard, babysitter…lover…friend? He poured half a bowl of the same cereal and covered the flakes in milk. He shook his head and kept his gaze on the bowl as he shoveled in the flakes before they turned soggy.
He could hear Beastly chewing. He liked having company for breakfast. He usually ate alone. He also heard Beastly sigh at his response. “You need to sleep. You have dark shadows under your eyes that look like they date back to the last election.”
“I didn’t vote,” he signed after a bite. He could talk with his mouth full, but not his hands. Sucked sometimes. But at least he was never rude.
“Not the point. Rochfort told me you sometimes go days without sleeping. And after last night you need to take better care of yourself.”
“Thanks, Mom, I’ll take that under advisement.” He realized he’d lapsed back into his sarcasm default and sighed, trying again, “I was too…” what? He couldn’t find the right words much less a sign for what he felt. Scared. Yeah he was that, in spades. But more than that. More than he could explain to Beastly. “Disturbed. Unsettled. I watched you sleep for a couple of hours.”
Beastly raised an eyebrow at him. He hadn’t shaved and the area where the scar streaked down his jaw was bare and strangely compelling. Like a pale pink lightning bolt, bisecting the light brown stubble. “And there’s nothing unsettling about that is there? Should I worry that you’re going to kill me in my sleep?”
Kit froze. His jaw locked. He swallowed but the food became a lump of dry tasteless sludge that went down wrong. He took his breakfast to the sink and scraped it down the disposal. He couldn’t stop his hands from shaking. He wrapped his robe tight around his body and tried not to think about the number of strangers in his life right now. Kady being the most familiar, but he’d only known her for a couple of years now. He didn’t know the men installing his glass walls at all. And that was about as much as he really knew about the man sitting in his kitchenette.
He turned back to Beastly to find him staring at him as if nothing was wrong. Maybe he didn’t know. Kady didn’t know. But Beastly should know. He’d have to tell him. He couldn’t tell him. “I haven’t killed anyone in years,” he signed and walked out of the room.
The look on his…guard’s…Beastly was just his bodyguard. There was nothing more there. No need to get upset about anything. But the look of shock on Beastly’s face had left a hole in Kit that he didn’t know how to fill. Instead of facing the man and explaining, he went to his game room and turned on the new game and fired it up at top volume. Fuck Beastly and his…he had no right to judge Kit. After all, Micah killed a kid and that was worse than anything Kit had ever done.
Wasn’t it?