Position of Honor The Honor Series Book Two

Chapter 24

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Chapter 24

Mature content readers advised

It had been a long night by the time the family walked in the door of their home and the sun was just beginning to rise. As tired as Madison was, she noticed the sky. The pink, purple, and orange glow lit up the sky in the distance. It was going to be a beautiful day. Madison hoped that feeling would hold on a little longer as she looked at the shock on Cassie's face. She was still shook by what happened in the cave and wasn't able to shake it off.

With the sun rising in the distant sky, Daniel walked Peyton up the steps to her apartment. She had stayed with the boys until the family got home. She had settled them down and put them to bed. She had kept them calm and safe. Everything that they needed.

Her maternal instincts were in high gear not knowing what was happening to the others. When the boys came down stairs again, still unable to sleep without their parents, Peyton allowed them to stay up to keep her company. The eerie darkness outside as well as the fear of a killer on the loose kept her quite uncomfortable in the house too.

Now, with everyone home safe, she could relax enough to rest. The pretty brunette he had a crush on for years was wiped out. Daniel could see the dark smudges under her eyes. She hadn't slept since they had left the house in search of Madison and Cassie. She had been afraid to close her eyes.

"Thanks for taking care of the boys for us," Daniel broke the silence as they reached the top of the stairs.

"No problem," Peyton answered and fumbled with her keys. She knew all the McKennans were gentlemen. Their father wouldn't have raised them any other way, but she wished Daniel had just let her leave on her own to get home. She wouldn't be feeling this awkwardness and could disappear from his life again without having to deal with what his brothers had instigated earlier.

"I hope Cassie's okay," Peyton tried to keep the conversation from running into a direction she wanted all too much to avoid. "She looked pretty shaken up."

"Yeah, me too," Daniel agreed.

Why was this so awkward? She was just a girl for Christ sake. He had dated plenty over the years. He had been harassed by his brothers about other women hundreds of times over the years. So why was this so different? Daniel felt a nervous twitch in his stomach. A fist gripped at his insides and squeezed making him even more uncomfortable.

"Well this is me," Peyton announced as she motioned to the door behind her. "Thanks for bringing me home."

Turning she unlocked the door. She wasn't going to ask him in. She wasn't going to turn around. She definitely wasn't going to kiss him good night. Peyton turned her head around and looked at him over her shoulder. The look on his face told her what she needed to know. He wasn't interested.

She tried to smile, but somehow knew it only came off as a snarl. Daniels teeth clenched, the muscles in his arms flexed. He didn't want to end things like this. The tension was not only building inside him, but he looked about to explode. He was no sooner interested in talking about it than she was.

He wasn't saying a word, no smile, not even a hint of one of his sarcastic grins that he was known to give even the old lady at the grocery checkout. If that didn't scream uninterested nothing could.

Peyton, she thought, time to close the door and say good night.

Daniel felt as if his feet were in cement. His arm and legs seemed weighted down where he stood. With the light at the door behind her she looked like she had an ethereal glow around her. The only thing he could see was her.