records on the EM servers.”
“How long do you have?”
Zy glanced at his phone. “Another five hours, give or take ten minutes.”
Trees barked out a laugh. “They don’t want the fucking world or anything.”
“They never do…”
“I got a spare computer in the office. Would you grab it? I’ll start capturing the data sets and pulling them down. Once I’ve got them, I’ll show you what we’re looking for, then you can search the records, too. This will go twice as fast if we both look.”
“Sure.” It’s wasn’t as if Zy expected to get any sleep tonight anyway, and doing something made him feel better than doing nothing at all. “On it.”
When he headed to that corner of the house, he found Laila kneeling at the side of the guest room bed, wearing one of Trees’s oversized T-shirts. A peaceful instrumental tune played softly from her phone. Was she praying?
He’d barely stepped on a creaky floorboard a good twenty feet behind her when she jumped up and whirled around, suddenly crouched in a fighting stance, gripping a shiny, sharp switchblade.
Zy held up his hands to prove he was unarmed. “Sorry to disturb you. Just grabbing a laptop from the office.”
When he gestured to the room to the left of hers, she relaxed a little. “Hello, Zy. Go ahead. You are not disturbing me.”
Maybe not in the way she meant, but it seemed she found any male presence in her life disturbing. “I’ll be quick. You okay? Need anything? Doing all right with Trees?”
“I need nothing except to be with my sister and her son again.”
In other words, with family, from whom she took solace. With whom she felt safe. “Hopefully, we can make that happen soon. I know being here is out of your comfort zone—”
“Comfort is not my first concern. Your friend and I should not be alone together.” Laila met his gaze straight on, as if she refused to be cowed by him. Or maybe she’d already seen it all in her short life and had nothing left to fear.
“He would never touch you without your consent,” Zy assured.
“So you say. But perhaps you are right.” She frowned with confusion. “Madison came by. It is clear she would allow him into her bed. It is equally clear that he has not partaken.”
“Because Trees isn’t looking for an easy lay. He may be big, but he’s not a bully. Or a rapist.”
“It is my experience that all men eventually reach the limits of their restraint. He will come to the end of his.”
Zy shook his head. “No. It’s his job and his duty to take care of you. He won’t shirk that, especially to touch you against your will.”
“I know you genuinely believe that.”
And her sad smile said she wasn’t convinced.
Suddenly, she glanced above his shoulder.
Zy turned to find Trees standing in the hall. “Be right there.”
“You okay, Laila?”
His buddy’s usually gruff voice caressed the woman’s name with reverence. Yeah, Trees had it bad.
“I am well. Do what you must.” Almost reluctantly, she tucked away the switchblade. “I will resume my prayers.”
Then she turned and glided to her knees, seeming to tune them both out.
Zy grabbed the laptop and headed toward Trees, not missing the longing in his eyes. It sucked that the first time he’d ever seen Trees truly interested in a woman, she seemingly had zero interest in him—or any man. Zy needed to wrap up his search for the mole quickly so Laila could return to her sister…and leave Trees’s place. If not, his buddy’s heart would be toast.
“Did she say anything?” he whispered as they headed back to the kitchen.
“Nothing you probably haven’t heard. Madison came by?”
He nodded. “To return my house key. She kept up the place while I was gone.”
She hadn’t done that purely out of the goodness of her heart. “Think she’s falling for you?”
“Nah. She’s looking for something.”
“Love?”
“I thought so for a while. But it’s more. She’s not happy—with her job, her family, her friends, her hookups. She’s searching for something, and I don’t think she knows what yet. It’s another reason I won’t sleep with her.” Trees sat at the kitchen table. “She’s expecting that someone new in her life will solve her problems, but until she figures herself out, nothing and no one will put a dent in her dissatisfaction.”
Leave it to Trees to boil a situation down to a few concise sentences. Granted, Zy only knew Madison from one sweaty night nearly a year ago, but now that he heard