Page 19 of Jackson

Was he the type of person to not know what to do with the freedom given to him?

Clearly his trouble with the law had been something like that—as all criminals were.

Freedom was what you made of it. It could give you everything and it could take away everything. It all depended on your choice with what to do with it.

To be honest, since meeting him, I’d been insanely curious as to what his charges were. As a non-violent offender, they weren’t anything heinous like sex crimes or murder. But I couldn’t see Ayen being a drug runner or something like that—he was too sweet, too soft around the edges that people in the drug business didn’t have.

Whatever it was, I wanted to know. Not even just for my own curiosity’s sake but to better understand him, too.

What had caused him to lose his freedom in the first place and what was he willing to do to get it back?

This program was the first step.

What would be his next?

Ayen’s voice was quiet as he said, “Thank you.”

I smiled. “You’re welcome.”

“You never answered my question, though.” His eyes met mine again. “Why are you doing all of this?”

“Why can’t I?” I challenged.

His brows pulled together. “What do you get out of it? I can’t really give you anything.”

A dark part of me whispered that there wereplentyof things he could give me but I quickly clamped that down.

I wasn’t interested in coercing him into bending over and letting me touch every inch of him. He was my unattainable grail.

“Look, I may not know you or anything, Ayen, but I can tell the type of person you are. My gut says you would never intentionally hurt someone.”

For some reason, a sad look passed over his face and his gaze dropped down to the floor where he stared at his feet. The silence between us was both startling and strange, and had me wanting to ask him what happened before I bit my tongue and stopped myself from doing so.

Whatever it was, it was probably none of my business. He didn’t owe me anything, even if I had gone out of my way tonight toprotect him. If he wanted to tell me in his own time, then he was free to do so. I’d never push anything.

I’d done that out of my own selfish need to keep him safe and nothing more.

“Why don’t you go rest up for the night,” I said to break up the tension. “Seems like tonight’s already been long enough.”

“But, the bed...”

I cut him off by grabbing him by the shoulders and spinning him around. He didn’t fight me at all when I led him through my cabin and down the hallway to my bedroom.

“I’ll survive for one night,” I said, and opened the door for him. “Get some sleep.”

He looked like he wanted to argue with me but soon thought better of it at the last moment. A small sigh escaped him when he finally relented.

“All right... Thank you, I appreciate it.”

“Of course.” I smiled and stepped back.

I itched to touch him again—to run my fingers through his hair or cup his face and press a goodnight kiss to his forehead before he headed off to bed. Anything that would bring him closer to me so that I could feel his body heat soaking through my thin t-shirt.

I forced myself to hold my smile. “I’m going to have to keep the door open, though. Just in case one of your COs decides to pop in and do a check.”

“Oh. Yeah, of course.”

“All right...” I backed away slowly down the hall. “Holler if you need anything.”

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