Page 67 of Lane

“No.”

He pouted, sticking out his bottom lip. “But I like the liquid forms of things. I make pretty vials that kill people.”

“Again, no.”

“I’m not sure if I want to guard you anymore.”

“I’m devastated.”

Lane chuckled. “Sheldon is going to be perfect to watch over you.”

“Right, because my patients are after me.”

“Hey, you don’t know if my asshole godfather will make an appointment under a false name, to get in front of you. He’s dug through all of us. He has to know I’m involved with you and Raiden.”

I dropped my head back on the couch and closed my eyes. Why did this have to be so difficult? Why couldn’t we have a calm, happy life? The answer was obvious. This was who these men were. They didn’t err on the side of caution. They jumped into the fray and thrived there. Once this was over, I had to hope it would calm down for a bit.

“We’re going to be okay,” Raiden whispered. His shoulder pressed to mine. This was one of those instances where I’d feel better after this was handled. Where the people I cared about were safe.

I tuned out the rest of the conversation as it drifted from planning to preparation to I had no clue. It wasn’t my field of expertise. My mind wandered to coming home here every day, to the men I loved, and seeing them on the couch, safe and together so I didn’t have to worry what I’d be walking into. They’d call if they needed my help, but that didn’t ease my fears.

Much later, the room was quiet after, everyone but the three of us left. I wasn’t sure if their presence solved anything. Then again, I didn’t pay attention.

“When do you want to move in?” Raiden asked.

“Tomorrow?” was Lane’s reply. “It’s not like I have to go far. The furniture and other shit in the apartment will stay with it. I can move my belongings easily.”

“Alton, you can bring whatever you want from your place. Ideally, we would have been able to move in there. It’s a gorgeous home, but with the jobs we have?—”

“It’s not a possibility,” I supplied. “I get it. In all honesty, I’m happy being wherever you two are. I’ll go through my belongings and bring what I can. I’ve been accumulating things over the years. I wonder if I can do something else with the home, something good so it doesn’t sit unoccupied.” I’d have to think about it and figure out how to repurpose it.

If the relationship I had with Lane and Raiden was going to keep thriving, I couldn’t live half there and half here. I had to fully be here, which meant my home needed another purpose.

“There are people who need a soft place to land,” Raiden said. “You’d be surprised how many times we find victims who don’t know where to go or what to do because they no longer feelsafe. You could offer your home to them. Although, you’ll need someone to oversee it and be there for them, but it’s an idea.”

“A good one,” I told him.

Helping others was my passion. If I could provide comfort, a safe space for people to heal, that would be a very good idea.

28

LANE

There once was a boy who had a godfather he hardly knew. The boy thought of him as a distant uncle. Every time he visited, he spent more time with the boy’s father than anyone else. As time went on, the godfather was around less and less. The boy grew into a man and the godfather stopped coming around. The man didn’t know nor care where the godfather went. He truly didn’t give a shit, especially since he didn’t want anything to do with his family outside of his mother.

Years went by, and the godfather appeared again. The man didn’t know what the fuck was happening. Words slid from the snakelike—not literally—tongue of the godfather about how the man and the man’s boss owed him twenty million dollars. The man would have laughed in the godfather’s face if he didn’t have a gun pointed at his head. Even then, he would have probably laughed if one of his boyfriends wasn’t there, along with the friends he’d made.

The godfather left after threatening the man, the boss, and everyone in their lives. The man didn’t know what to do except for one thing. There was no way in the ever-loving hell he was giving that asshole a fucking dime.

Oh, and there was no happy ending for that piece of shit. There would be for the man. He controlled his destiny and he’d be damned if that motherfucker took his happiness away. The godfather needed to die. They just had to find him first.

The end… for the time being.

“Why won’t these people leave me alone?” I groaned from the front seat of the Navigator. Raiden and I had just left one of Jordan’s buyers and put a new deal in place, which was very lucrative for my boss. It still felt weird referring to him that way, although that was who he was. “It’s like someone pulled Ulrich from the bowels of the earth. He should have gone after Edison, not me. What the fuck have I ever done to him? Nothing. That’s what.”

Raiden reached across the center console and put his hand on my thigh. “You haven’t, but we still have to deal with him.”

“With bullets, knives, and maybe some of Sheldon’s poison.”

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