Page 52 of Beta Team-The Saviors: Part two
“Ari,” I hiss.
“You want to be back on your feet so bad? Then you need to listen.”
With that, Tivon and Keon go toward the kitchen. I make the mistake of looking at Tyler, and he’s smiling. I know he’s up to something.
I just need to find out what.
22
KEON
Iwatch Tivon closely as he starts pulling out supplies to stitch me up. He’s very methodical, but there’s an underlying tension in his movements, and I’m pretty sure it has everything to do with the hardheaded man downstairs.
“He’s an ass,” I say finally, making Tivon look at me with a cocked brow. “Ari.”
“He’s just doing his job as protector of your family.”
“Our,” I correct automatically. “You’re a part of us now, too.”
Tivon gestures for me to lay on the bed, so I do, and he pulls on gloves. I hold my breath as he numbs the area, and let it out when I don’t feel the stitch being pulled through the skin. “Why?”
“You know how sometimes you just have a feeling you can’t explain? That’s what this is. We can’t explain why, but we want you here, and you want to be here.”
Tivon concentrates on the few stitches and then starts getting a bandage ready to tape on. “I’m not used to this easy acceptance. I know Tyler is joking…”
I laugh before I can stop myself, cutting his sentence off. “Tivon, he’s not joking. Tyler plays around a lot, but he’s not playing about this.”
Tivon smooths the bandage over the stitches and helps me sit up. “You guys already have something that people would kill for. Why the fuck would you want me anywhere near that?”
“We trust you.” That stops his pacing, and he turns to look at me. “You wouldn’t be anywhere near us if we didn’t. Look, I see how you look at Jason and Kira. I see how you’re starting to look at Ty, and I hear how you talk about Ari. It’s going to be up to you how much further any of this goes. But be warned, Tyler is going to push you every chance he can get.”
Tivon snorts. “Like sucking Jason’s dick in the kitchen? But I’m guessing that’s tame compared to what he can do.”
“You’re right about that. Listen, we’re close as a team and a family. There aren’t any secrets between us so when Tyler got this into his head, he came to all of us, and no one told him no.” I hear a commotion in the living room, and make my way to the door. “Let that sink in before you make a final decision.”
I follow Axel’s voice to the living room, and Gavin is handing him the laptops they found earlier. Tivon digs through his pockets for the phones, and hands them those too. “Once you guys get settled and we make sure you weren’t followed, I’ll bring Nolan by to install your trackers. I couldn’t risk him after that.”
Ari nods. “Understandable. How long does he need with those?”
“I have no clue.” Axel shrugs. “Holden will be down in the morning to help him though. We just need a hit on the site and they can start back tracing.”
“I have something to help with that,” Tivon says, going outside to the SUV. He’s back a minute later with a duffel. “I was going to bring him this earlier, but this has military grade software on it. Should cut his time down by half. It’s fast.”
Axel shoves the laptops into the bag and slings it over his shoulder. “Thanks, man.” Axel looks at Ari. “When we find this dickbag, we’re going with you.”
Ari jerks his thumb at Tivon. “Not my call. It’s his.”
Axel’s eyes widen slightly, but he smooths his features out before he looks at Tivon. Tivon nods. “Absolutely. At this point, we have to prepare for everything.”
“Alright. Well, I need to get going. Oh, I talked to Roland and his team, they’re good in the new safehouse. They are far fucking away from Forest Grove until we get their shit figured out.”
“Thanks for letting me know,” Ari replies.
Axel says his goodbyes, and Tivon slips from the room, leaving me with Ari. I sit in the chair to his left. “What happened today can’t happen again. We’re going to need someone with us at all times until we’re back to at least seventy-five percent.”
Ari rakes his hand through his hair. “I hate this shit, but you’re right. That could have been so much worse. We can’t keep risking Jason and Kira.”
“Should we send them to New York with Kane?” I feel like shit for mentioning what’s been plaguing me, but someone has to say it. I don’t want them to go, but I also don’t want to see them get hurt.
