“Oh my God, you brat,” Zac grumbled. He pulled into the driveway and shut the lights off before they could shine into any windows for too long; he didn’t know who was where in the house and didn’t want to risk waking up Evan. He grabbed his coffee and was out of the car in a matter of seconds.

He hung up the phone when he reached the door and, as quietly as he could muster, he slipped in.

Maxim was here, somewhere, and he knew how excitable the dog could be. He wanted a quiet entrance; the door closed silently and, after a second of fumbling, he managed to lock it.

Slowly, he glanced around to take in the house. It was large, and everything looked expensive and overdramatic.

Sort of like Tobias.

He meandered around slowly, trying to find which chair Tobias had settled himself in.

He found him with relative ease and grabbed a blanket off the back of the couch as he passed it. Without much grace, he unfolded the blanket and draped it over Tobias.

He looked down at him, eying the damage to his face, and huffed. “I’m not giving you a kiss goodnight, though. And I’m staying out here.”

He turned on his heels and flopped down on the couch. He unscrewed the cap of the thermos at the same time he was toeing off his shoes. The aroma of coffee filled the room and he downed a few gulps. He was relieved to see that this wasn’t a trap, but he couldn’t rest easy. He made himself comfortable on the couch and pulled out his phone again. He had to let Cambria know where he was and what was going on—and, despite how tired he was, he doubted he was going to get much sleep tonight.

“You oughta be able to sleep now, so take advantage of it. Tomorrow’s going to be a busy day.”

…And he was going to be there to help them through it.