Page 69 of Tru Blue
“I will, baby. I love you, and I’m so sorry.” He glanced into the car at the kids, feeling like he was right back in the hellhole he’d grown up in. He was not going to fail them. Not tonight. Not ever. That shit was going to end here and now.
Chapter Twenty
GEMMA AND THE girls put the kids to sleep in her apartment, with Kennedy on the bed and Lincoln in the playpen Bear brought over shortly after they arrived. Gemma was a nervous wreck, worrying about Truman and Quincy and feeling completely out of her element. She paced the living room, a million questions racing through her mind.
“I’ve never been through anything like this before,” she said to no one in particular. Lifting her eyes to Bear, who was sitting on the couch next to Dixie with his elbows on his knees, she asked, “Is this what it was like when he was growing up? Are the kids going to be safe there? Is Truman safe?”
Crystal tried to embrace her, but Gemma pushed out of her arms.
“Sorry,” she said to Crystal. “I’m too nervous to stand still.”
Bear lifted serious eyes to her. “Truman knows what he’s doing. He’s been down this path with his mother.”
“His mother,” she repeated, feeling a mix of sadness and anger. “I should be there with him. He must be so scared for Quincy.”
“Bones is with him,” Bear assured her. “The best thing you can do is stay here with the kids. He’d be worried sick if you and the kids weren’t safe. He’s already texted me to make sure I don’t let you go back to the apartment. As if I would.” He scoffed. “We won’t know what’s really going on until we hear back from him. Bullet’s at the apartment keeping watch. Nothing was touched inside, and there were no signs of a break-in, which is good.”
She checked her phone, but there were no messages from Truman. “He texted you?” She couldn’t hide the hurt in her voice.
“Watchdog texts,” Dixie said. “That’s what my brothers call them. It’s what they do when they don’t have time to talk but they want to make sure everyone’s okay.”
Bear rose from the couch and showed her the message from Truman. I love them, man. Watch them as if they’re your own. Keep them away from the apartment until we know what’s up.
She looked up at Bear, feeling like she was floating at sea without a raft. “I don’t know how to do this. Or how to live this way.” She thought of the kids, and fear spread through her.
“You don’t have to,” he assured her. “We do. And none of us would ever put you or the kids in harm’s way.”
She looked at Crystal, who said, “I believe him. He’s handsy, and he’s territorial with things that aren’t his, but I believe the dude.”
Bear laughed. “Sugar, you haven’t seen handsy.”
“And you worry about Crow around me?” Dixie scoffed. “Please.” She put an arm around Gemma and led her to the couch, sitting down beside her. “Gemma, Truman is one of the best, most loyal men I know. It’s really hard to separate him from everything that’s happened tonight, especially when you’re so upset. But remember that Truman has never done drugs. He’s spent his life protecting Quincy, and paid a heavy price for doing so. He doesn’t know how to turn that off, no matter how much he loves you. And he does love you. Hell, that man is so in love with you, he built a bedroom and made sheet forts. But the truth is, you need to dig deep and think about whether you love him enough to deal with Quincy’s drug issues. Because tonight could happen again. It might not, but it could, and only you can decide if it’s too much for you to handle.”
TRUMAN KNOCKED ON the door to Gemma’s apartment bleary-eyed and exhausted. It was seven thirty in the morning and he’d been up all night. The door swung open and Gemma launched herself into his arms. He’d texted her a few hours earlier to let her know that Quincy was out of the woods, and her simple text—Good. I love you—had comforted him. But that was nothing compared to holding the woman he loved in his arms.
“I was so worried.” She kissed his cheeks, his lips, then his cheeks again.
