Total pages in book: 48
Estimated words: 44435 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 222(@200wpm)___ 178(@250wpm)___ 148(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 44435 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 222(@200wpm)___ 178(@250wpm)___ 148(@300wpm)
“Are you sure it’s safe here?” Gabriel asked, eyeing the fence with trepidation.
I nodded. “He’s probably one of the only people I’d trust with your life,” I told him honestly. I didn’t even trust my brothers that much, though I did trust them a hell of a lot. Ricardo was the one who’d protected me when Donald got blown to smithereens and my brain went offline. He’d gotten me out of there.
He was the only reason I was standing here alive today, able to protect this precious boy of mine. I owed him so much for that.
The front door of the cabin opened, and Ricardo stepped outside, a gun in his hand, a ball cap resting on his head, shielding his eyes. He didn’t look to have changed much over the years. He was still thick with muscle, still clean-shaven. And judging by the no hair peaking out from beneath his ball cap, he still shaved his head.
“Burne?” he asked incredulously when he got closer, tucking his gun away. He quickened his steps, eating the distance between us in mere seconds. “What the fuck are you doing here, brother?”
I sighed. “We need help.”
He glanced at Gabriel before nodding and unlocking his gate. I lifted Gabriel against my chest and carried him through the open gate, waiting for Ricardo to close it before I followed him into the cabin. “Need to get him warm, fed, and hydrated,” I told Ricardo as I gently set Gabriel on the hardwood floor in front of the fire. Kneeling, I began to unfasten Gabriel’s jacket while he worked on slipping off his gloves, a small whine ripping from his throat as he struggled to get his cold fingers to cooperate.
“Here,” Ricardo grunted, passing over a couple of bottles of water. “I have some stew from earlier left over. I’ll heat you both up a couple of bowls.”
“Wanna shower,” Gabriel murmured, his voice small. He was beginning to regress now that we were somewhere safe. Shit. It was a goddamn miracle he hadn’t done so sooner. His brain was immediately going offline to protect himself.
I cupped his cheek. “In the morning,” I told him gently. “You need food, water, and sleep more than you need to be clean right now, okay, baby?”
He nodded, but a small pout remained on his lips. I got him out of his jacket, and Ricardo draped a blanket around Gabriel. I cracked open one of the bottles, holding it to Gabriel’s lips as he greedily gulped the water down. I fed him spoonfuls of the stew Ricardo gave me until he complained he was full, the whine in his voice ratcheting a little higher. I helped him drink more water before looking up at Ricardo.
“Bed?”
Gabriel made a noise of protest and shook his head, his curls bouncing around his face. “Fire.”
I ran my hand over his curls, arching a brow at Ricardo. He nodded, watching us with something unreadable glimmering in his dark eyes. “He can sleep there,” Ricardo assured me. “Let me grab some pillows and a couple of comforters.”
Gabriel clasped my face in his hands, his eyes sleepy, his cheeks flushed from the warmth of the fire. “You stay?”
I turned my head and pressed a kiss to his palm. “I’ll curl up with you just as soon as I talk to Ricardo, okay? I promise.”
He nodded and leaned against me, closing his eyes. Ricardo came back into the room with extra pillows and two comforters, and after everything was situated and a pallet was made on the floor, I tucked Gabriel in, barely even telling him, “Goodnight,” before he passed out, soft snores leaving his lips.
“Your boy?” Ricardo asked as I stood to my sore feet.
I nodded and followed him into the kitchen. He handed me a beer, and I groaned in relief, popping the can open before taking a greedy gulp of the cool liquid.
Fuck, it’d been a shitty past few weeks, and this beer hit the spot.
“Tell me what’s going on,” Ricardo ordered.
So, I spilled everything—finding Gabriel and that other asshole about to break into one of the places we did security for, taking him in, Gabriel’s father and the Russians being after him, the safe house, and walking all the fucking way here.
“I just need some cash,” I told him. “Enough to get me by until it’s safe for me and Gabe to go back home. You know I’m good for it. I just need to be able to hole us up somewhere safe but where we can be found when the time is right. My club needs to be able to find me. Otherwise, they’ll lose their shit.”
Ricardo immediately shook his head, a hard look entering his eyes. “You and your boy will stay here. No one knows who I am. No one knows my relation to you. They have to dig really fucking hard and deep to find our connection. Everything you need is right here—food, water, a roof over your heads. Your club will be fine. If they’re good at what they do, they’ll find you.” He pointed a finger at my sleeping boy. “But that boy in there? He needs security. He was regressing. Don’t rip this from him.”