Page 30 of Keeping Knight

After thinking for a few seconds, I send my reply.

He’s really, really nice. I didn’t think I wanted to date yet. But Micah is different.

Just as I’m waiting for Kylie’s response, there’s a knock at the half-open door.

My heart jumps. Is Micah back already?

But Jester’s head appears in the doorway instead. And as soon as I see his somber expression, I can tell something’s wrong.

“Ruby.” His tone is the same as his expression. “Do you have a minute?”

My stomach lurches. “Yes.” I set my phone aside. “What is it? Is something wrong?”

He walks into the room and comes over to the bed, then perches at the end of it. His solemn gaze meets mine. “Sort of.”

“Sort of? What do you mean, sort of?”

“Well.” His mouth thins. “First off, everyone’s okay. That’s the most important thing.”

“Everyone’s okay?” My voice pitches up. “Who’s okay?”

“Knight and Houdini,” Jester replies. “They’re fine. A few cuts and bruises⁠—”

“A few cuts and bruises?” Panic expands inside me. “What happened?”

“I don’t want you to panic.”

“Too late!” I leap off the bed and spin around to face him. “What happened at my apartment? Was someone there? Did they get shot?” As soon as I say it, the panic blossoms bigger. “God. Did Micah get shot? Is he in the hospital?”

“Ruby, calm down.”

“Calm down? You just said Micah was hurt. How can I calm down?”

Jester stands, takes my hand, and leads me back to the bed. “A few cuts and bruises is what I said. Not in the hospital. He’s on his way home right now. But we thought it would be better if you knew before he gets here. So you’re not surprised.”

From his expression, it’s pretty clear Jester is regretting telling me.

Taking a deep, steadying breath, I release it slowly. “Okay. Sorry. Will you please tell me what happened?”

He stares at me for a second, his gaze assessing. Probably debating whether he wants to risk telling me more. Finally, he says, “There was an explosion. And⁠—”

“An explosion!”

“Yes. The bomb was set right at the entrance to your apartment, and it was triggered by the door opening. Fortunately,” he emphasizes, “Houdini had a weird feeling before going in. So they pushed the door open and got out of the way, just in case. That’s when the bomb went off. They got hit by some shrapnel⁠—”

“Shrapnel?” It’s a choked croak. This keeps getting worse.

“Wood,” Jester explains. “Hinges. Stuff like that. But they’re okay. And the fire was put out pretty quickly. According to Houdini, the bomb was set to do the maximum damage at the point of entry. So the rest of the apartment only got a little smoke damage.”

I look at him in horror. Someone put a bomb in my apartment. Micah and Houdini were hurt. Because of me.

“They’re okay,” he repeats. “Like I said, Knight will be back soon. They had to deal with the fire department and the police, so that took a while. But you’ll see, he’s fine. Couple of scrapes and dings. We got worse when we were training.”

But I can’t respond. Not without bursting into tears. So I squeeze my lips shut and nod instead.

“Do you want me to stay in here?” Jester asks. “Until Knight gets back? Or do you want to be alone?”

I dig my fingernails into my palms, hoping the pain will keep me from crying. “I’m okay,” I manage. “You don’t have to stay.”