The Insiders (The Insiders Trilogy #1) - Tijan Page 0,40

urged to return to their beds.

The guards were outside, so it was just Matt and me in the room when Kash called. I was waiting till the report was done.

“Okay.… Yeah. Okay.” Matt paused, nodding his head. “Yeah, yeah. I will. Okay.”

He turned to me, staring at me, listening to Kash, then nodded again. “Here she is.” He held the phone out to me.

I took it, feeling foolish in one second and grateful in the other. I should not be like this, needing to talk to him, but I was. And I was weak enough, scared enough, not to fight it. This time.

I moved across the room. “Hello?”

His voice was low and raspy. “Are you okay?”

A rush went right to my knees. I didn’t know why, but I was suddenly gripping this phone like it was my lifeline and biting my lip to keep that perspiration from sliding down my face even more. Seriously. Embarrassing.

I croaked back, “I’m—” Bite. Breathe. I could do this. My voice didn’t need to tremble. “I’m fine. Yes.”

“Why don’t I believe you?”

I half laughed at that. “If it’s any consolation, I don’t believe myself.”

He was quiet. “Then why are you pretending?”

“Didn’t you know? That’s why I’m here. To pretend.”

He was silent again. Then a soft sigh came over the phone. “I can’t get away from where I am or I would.”

Why was he telling me that? It shouldn’t matter to me.

“Bailey?”

God. Why did he have to sound so concerned? It was breaking me. There was more sweating happening. I tried to talk, but only a whisper came out. “I’m—I was just scared.”

Fuck it.

Bending my head low, I walked to the wall and rested my head against it. My back was to Matt, and I whispered, my voice breaking, “It was like before, when they burst in. I had a second’s notice before—” I couldn’t speak. My throat was closed off, and those tears were strolling back down my cheeks.

“Breathe, ba—breathe, Bailey.” He was so soothing, tender almost.

My chest swelled up and the tension eased, just a bit.

He continued. “You had a traumatic thing happen to you. There’s going to be residual effects; this is just one of them. You will be fine. I promise.”

I was gripping that phone so tight, holding on to it like it was a life jacket. “You promise?” God. I hated crying. Hayes women did not cry. “Yell at me.”

“What?”

“Yell at me.” I groaned, clasping my eyes shut tight. “Please. I need a distraction.”

He laughed. “If that’s all you’re worried about, I think you’ll be fine.” He was silent a second. We both heard my sniffling. “I have to stay where I am for a while. Does that make you stop crying?”

I bit my lip. It did, but there was an ache in my chest. Why was that fucking ache there?

“Bailey?” he prompted.

I wanted him to come back, but that was ridiculous. Instead, I said, “Stop spying on me all the time. It’s creepy.”

A chuckle from his end. “You sound better. Matt said your phone’s probably at the villa. Call me when you get in.”

“Why?”

“Just do it,” he snipped at me—and just like that, I relaxed.

We were on firm ground again, ground I was familiar with.

“Yeah. Okay.”

I handed the phone back to Matt. He spoke a few more words before hanging up. Turning to me, regarding me with raised eyebrows, he asked, “What would you like to do now?”

We both knew I wouldn’t be sleeping.

I took a deep breath and considered what I needed to know to feel safe.

I needed to know the lay of the land. I wanted to know all of the security measures they had in place, physical and cyber, and I wanted to gauge any holes myself.

“Tour.”

Matt said, “Tour it is.”

NINETEEN

They had a bowling lane.

A pool with a waterfall. A tennis court. I already knew about the basketball court, the nine-hole golf course. I knew about the water fountains, but there was one inside the house as well. A movie theater room. Cyclone had a room where his friends could play air hockey, foosball, a pool table, a basketball hoop that I’d only seen at arcades. Seraphina had her own friend room, too, with a modeling stage, a photo shoot area, a selfie booth, and a rotating closet with clothes for dress-up. There were three makeup tables along the wall.

Matt didn’t take me to Quinn’s section of the house, but he stopped in his old room. Besides having his own entertainment area right outside his room, like