Total pages in book: 158
Estimated words: 160684 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 803(@200wpm)___ 643(@250wpm)___ 536(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 160684 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 803(@200wpm)___ 643(@250wpm)___ 536(@300wpm)
“He’s sixteen. The judge will listen to what he wants.”
“The lawyer got to that asshole neighbor of hers. He filled him in on a few things, like how Effie is dating two men.”
“Motherfucker. I’m going to kill that bastard.”
“Oh, he’s on the list,” Grady drawled. “But first, we deal with the uncle. Brooks will be here soon.” They’d sent Raul to collect him from school, figuring it was better if he knew now.
Steele didn’t like this.
He didn’t like any of this.
He tried to calm himself down, but it wasn’t working. Nothing was fucking working.
Leaning over, he placed his elbows on his thighs and took a few deep breaths.
When he’d gotten that voicemail from Grady, he’d nearly lost his fucking mind.
What had he been thinking, letting Grady have his own fucking vehicle? All right, so he wasn’t the other man’s boss and Grady didn’t appreciate Steele telling him what to do.
But Steele gave less than a fuck about that.
Coming across them in a wrecked truck . . . that had nearly been his undoing. He thought he might have lost part of his sanity right then.
This isn’t the same as Jacqui. They’re both still alive. It wasn’t a carjacking.
Somehow, it still didn’t matter to him. The rage was real. The worry. The fucking fear.
This is why he didn’t let people close.
But there was no keeping Effie out. No keeping Grady at a distance.
Even though Grady wouldn’t let Steele fuss over him, the other man knew that Steele trusted him to keep himself safe.
But Effie wasn’t an alpha male. And she was someone he could unleash his full protective instincts on. Someone he could coddle, wrap up in wool, and keep safe from everything.
She needed to be living with them. It was the only way he might now be able to sleep at night. He didn’t want her out of his eyesight.
They’d both been in trouble and he hadn’t been there to protect them. He clenched his hand into a fist.
He hadn’t fucking protected them.
“Damon, you need to calm down. Stop working yourself up.”
“You could have been seriously hurt.”
“I wasn’t though. I’m fine. I might be a bit stiff tomorrow, but I’m all good.”
“You might not have been fine, though. I could have fucking lost you!” And that thought terrified him. Losing either of them wasn’t something he could live with.
“Damon,” Grady said softly.
“The two of you are my world.” Reaching over, he drew the other man against him, hugging him tight. “What if I’d lost you both?”
Grady was stiff for a moment before he relaxed against him. Then he drew back and gave Steele a worried look. “You know you can’t live with ‘what ifs’.”
Yeah, he knew that deep down. But fucked if he could make his brain steer away from that direction.
What if that bitch had been going faster? What if the car had caught fire? What if it hadn’t been a random accident? What if someone had tried to get at them while he wasn’t . . . fucking . . . there . . .
“This isn’t the same as what happened to Jacqui,” Grady told him, placing a hand on his back. “No one attacked us.”
“I should have protected you both.”
“You’re not fucking Superman, you can’t stop the people you care about from getting hurt.”
“She could be fucking paralyzed!”
“What?”
The question came from the doorway. He turned to see Effie’s boy standing there, looking pale and shocked.
Shit.
How had he not noticed the door opening?
He’d probably object to being called a boy, but he was only sixteen. And Steele now had the dreaded job of telling him about his aunt.
“What’s going on? Why did you send your driver to get me from school and bring me here?” Brooks asked.
“Brooks,” Steele said in a low voice. “Come and sit down.”
Brooks shook his head, looking from him to Grady. “What is going on? What do you mean, she might be paralyzed?”
“Brooks, your aunt and I were in a car accident this morning,” Grady told him.
Brooks grew paler, swaying.
Fuck!
Steele shot Grady a look. “You could have handled that gentler.”
The other man had grown pale as well. “Brooks, I’m sorry.”
“Is she alive?”
“Yeah, bud, she’s alive. She’s all right.” Steele tried to make his voice softer. He wondered if Brooks would let him touch him. In the end, he just pointed to a chair. “Sit down.”
“I want to see her. Right now.”
Fuck, he was shaking. Steele knew he had to get the kid to sit before he ended up passed out on the floor.
“We’re waiting for the doctors to come back and update us,” Grady told him.
Thankfully, Brooks moved to a chair and sat. “You said paralyzed.”
Steele shot his gaze to Grady, unsure how to proceed.
Kids didn’t fit well into his lifestyle. A child would need a lot of protection and care. Just like a woman.