Protection

Chapter 13

TOBIAS POV

The lines of code fly by, but I type fast enough to keep up. My eyes have grown accustomed to the quick reading that hacking entails, so the speed of the lines no longer fazes me. Just a few more seconds and I'll be in—

"Tobias!"

Startled because my concentration was broken, I slam my laptop closed and throw it to the side of the bed just in time for Tris to jump on top of me.

"Hey, beautiful," I say, masking the fact that I was hacking into a server not less than a minute ago. Normally I would be annoyed that I got interrupted, but which is more important: my girlfriend or a side assignment for my job? The former, obviously.

I move my hands to her waist to steady her. "What's up?"

She bites her lip to stifle a smile as she leans over me, her long, golden hair falling in a curtain around us. "Nothing," she drawls.

I flip us over so that she is trapped beneath me. Lacing my fingers with hers to pin her, I murmur, "Nothing, huh?"

Before she can say anything more, I bend my neck down farther and kiss her. Her eyes close as she relaxes back into the bed and suddenly Dauntless and being a bodyguard and any other issues that could possibly stress me out don't matter. Pressure drains from my body and gets poured into the kiss. It is almost terrifying how much power she has when it comes to taking my problems away.

When I pull back, she pulls me right back in, clutching my neck and burying her face in my shoulder. "Let's go do something," she says, her voice muffled by my shirt.

I shake my head against hers and press a hand in between her shoulder blades. "I can't. I have to go visit my mother," I explain.

"Can I come?"

Releasing her for a moment, I stare down at her and consider her request. I am not sure how my mother would feel about having an extra visitor, but I don't think there is harm in bringing Tris. She hasn't met her yet anyway, doesn't even know that she is my girlfriend. Besides, I want to avoid getting in another fight about keeping secrets like we did a couple months ago, and this is a big step that will demonstrate my trust.

Even though there is an unexplainable, underlying nervousness in my mind, I agree.

xXxXx

The cancer wing is the same as usual: everything smells like antibacterial chemicals, and people walk around grimly, mourning their nearly dead loved one. But I don't sink to their emotional level, instead holding Tris's hand and guiding her along with me down to my mother's hospital room.

"Wait," she bursts as soon as I rest my hand on the door handle. I turn my head to look back at her, and she looks nearly petrified. I've never seen her so anxious and full of self-doubt; it is readable on her face. "What if she doesn't like me? What if—"

"Tris. She will," I assure her, squeezing her hand. When she shakes her head, I let go of the handle completely and rest my hands on her shoulders. "Hey. You're beautiful, smart, hilarious, compassionate, and everything else I could want in a person." It almost makes me cross with her when she puts herself down, and I have told her so before, yet she keeps doing it. "Do me a favor and don't say a bad thing about yourself ever again. Okay?"

Tris nods shyly before pulling me into a hug. "Thank you," she whispers.

I tighten my arms around her and give her a moment for her red face to go back to its normal color. "Ready?"

She nods again and takes a deep breath before lacing her fingers with mine. And together we walk into my mother's hospital room.

If I ever said my mom looked on the verge of death before, I was wrong.