Off Limits
I felt like a trigger.
A sharp, rhythmic knock rattled the heavy oak frame of my studio door.
I didn't flinch. I didn't reach for my phone to signal the private security detail Peter had permanently stationed three blocks away. My muscles simply locked into place, the steel spatula hovering an inch above the glass palette as the sound echoed through the quiet room. The knock wasn't the polite, measured tap of a corporate courier, nor was it the aggressive, frantic hammering of a process server. It was heavy, deliberate, and carry a familiar, syncopated cadence that I had listened to through bedroom walls since I was seven years old.