Her eyes narrow on me, but she doesn’t offer a rebuttal.
I give Peanut a final pet and then go back to my food.
We eat in silence the rest of the meal. I’m surprised that Serenity finishes almost everything on her plate.
“I’ll clean up while you go shower,” I tell her when she pushes away from the table. I stand with her, meeting her at the sink.
I feel her body curl in on itself at my nearness. I don’t like it.
“I already took a shower.”
My finger trails over the paint on her cheek. “I think you might have been headed there, but you never made it.” My eyes meet hers. “Thank you for painting Mila’s room.”
Her hand goes to where I just touched, and she sighs. “Oh, yeah. I forgot I never made it in the shower before I fell asleep.”
“I think both you and Mila could use a good night’s sleep. I’ll see you in the morning.”
“I’ll just go back to the Inn.”
“Serenity, it’s getting late and it’s dark. You’re tired. I’m tired. We’re all tired. We can discuss your living arrangements tomorrow.”
“My living arrangements?” She shakes her head. “Rage, you know I can’t stay here. Savage will be looking for me.”
“I know. That’s exactly why you need to stay with me.”
“I can’t do that. There’s no way I’m putting her at risk.”
I place my hand at her back and guide her over to the kitchen island. I reach under the cabinet and hit a button to slide open a hidden panel, revealing a set of stairs.
“If anyone is ballsy enough to come out here, they’ll have to get through me and him.” I point to the dog before leading the way down. “If by chance they get through both of us, we’ll at leastslow them down enough for you and Mila to get down here … to my safe room.”
My fingers press the buttons slowly so she can watch and learn the code. “Did you catch that?”
She nods.
“Memorize it.”
The door clicks open, and I push her in ahead of me. Serenity moves to the far side of the room, again hugging herself.
“There’s a phone, water, food, a first-aid kit.”
Her eyes follow my direction, but I can tell all of this makes her nervous.
“Is your life so full of danger that it warrants one of these?” she asks.
I shrug. “There are plenty of homes with safe rooms.”
She spins in a circle. “I’ve never seen one.”
“First time for everything,” I tell her, gently guiding her from the room. “Like I said, we can talk more about this tomorrow. Besides, he doesn’t know you’ve turned on him.”
“But Tiffany.”
“I’ve got eyes on the Scorpions. She hasn’t made it back to them yet.”
Her brows pull together. “How do you know she even left?”
“I escorted her out of town myself.”