I woke before my alarm and for several seconds I stayed beneath the blankets while I stared at the ceiling and listened to the familiar sounds of Lawson Customs waking up below me. The pipes rattled when the building settled, a truck groaned somewhere out on the street, and the faint hum of the refrigerator filled the apartment, but beneath all those ordinary sounds was something I couldn't ignore anymore.
I was listening for danger and that made my stomach twist. I finally pushed myself out of bed, rubbed the sleep from my eyes and headed toward the bathroom because I needed a shower before I could face another day of pretending everything was normal. The hot water helped loosen the tension in my shoulders, although it didn't touch the knot sitting inside my chest, and when I brushed my
