Page 23 of Mine to Keep
Talon gasps, more tears running down his cheeks. “Sorry I was such a burden to you.” He sounds hurt, his voice thick with emotion. “Let’s go, Javier.”
The person who recorded the video flips it to himself and says in a heavy English accent, “That’s tough. Cole is a right git for two-timing. Hey! Let it go!” The video starts shaking, then it turns off.
Javier bursts to his feet, pacing. “I should have beat his ass.”
“And ended up in a Canadian jail, leaving Talon alone? Nah. It’s best it happened this way. Now Talon knows who Cole is. You can shoot your shot now.”
“What? No. That’s not what we have. We’re friends.Bestfriends.”
“You’ve never thought about it?”
“Once or twice when we met. But we’re better as friends.” He looks towards the room, then comes to sit beside me. “Can I tell you something?”
“Yeah.”
He runs his hands through his hair, nerves dancing across his face. “It’s weird telling you this, since I don’t know you. But me and Talon would need the same thing. I’m good for him as a friend, but like you said…we need someone to…”
“Take care of you,” I say in a low voice, reaching out to thumb gently across his cheek.
He sighs. “Yeah. It’s weird. I know I can take care of myself. I know I’m capable of beating ass and sticking up for both of us, but …I don’t know. It’sbetter when I have, whenwehave, someone else. We’ve talked about it before and we’d be great together, but neither of us can change what we need or who we are.”
I tip his chin up, watching his pupils dilate as his lips part to take in a shaky breath. “You don’t have to explain. I can see how much you two need it. Together or separately, you both deserve that. You say he’s too good? You are too. I can feel that “
They both remind me of what I lost. Of what was snuffed out before her fire got a chance to burn bright. Not in a romantic way, though, in a caretaking way.
“Knox?” Javier sounds as fragile as I imagine him to be.
I open my mouth, not sure what I’ll say, but then a small voice says, “Javier? Can you come here, please?”
Javier snaps out of his daze and pulls back from my touch. He stares at me for a few beats, then says, “Yeah, here I come.”
He hurries off to the room, sparing me one last glance before he slides inside.
eight
our time
I lean backagainst the couch, blowing out a long, tired breath.
“Playing with fire,” I murmur to myself.
There’s no reason for me to be thinking of how to integrate Talon and Javier into my life. Ijustmet them. I don’t know either of them.
Besides not knowing them, my life isn’t fit for a relationship with one person, let alone two. Twomen, when I’ve never been in a same sex relationship before. I’ve never thought about sleeping with a man, but here are two I’m willing to throw caution to the wind for. That fucking tracks since I beat my dick to fantasies of them not even twenty-four hours ago.
The fuck is going on?
I thought being a Daddy died with Olivia, but that need is rising up in me again, and I want to shower those two boys with everything they would ever want or need.
But I can’t. Not right now. Especially not when my literal fucking life is on the line with The Void. They don’t deserve to be caught in the crosshairs of my shit.
Since I can’t make heads or tails of my thoughts, I go to my room and open the rolling suitcase Peggy left for me. I locatethe burner phone she packed and activate it. Set-up takes about twenty minutes. I immediately check my banking app, ensuring the account I used still has enough money for me to disappear for a little while. It does.
I dial Peggy’s number from memory. She answers with, “I take it you’re safe.”
“Yeah. I won’t tell you where I am.”
“Didn’t ask. Just making sure you’re still good. I’ve heard nothing from The Void, which is strange because they definitely know about what happened in that apartment.”
