Total pages in book: 73
Estimated words: 71034 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 355(@200wpm)___ 284(@250wpm)___ 237(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71034 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 355(@200wpm)___ 284(@250wpm)___ 237(@300wpm)
I nodded. “That’s true, but I’m not sure he’d believe the real level of danger he’s in. I wouldn’t have if it weren’t for my friends.”
“I’m so sorry.” Laurie’s voice broke on those words.
“For what? You didn’t cause any of this.”
“I could’ve told you who I was when you thought I was waiting for you. Then you would never have touched me, and Beck….” He squeezed his eyes shut and turned away.
“It’s not your fault. I should have actually listened to his messages.”
“I want to do something. I want to help.”
“Me too. But the best way we can help right now is to keep ourselves out of trouble so we don’t divert resources here.”
“But aren’t we already doing that? Carter is sending people for us.”
“He can easily spare a few men, but if something happened here, he’d want to divert nearly everyone.”
“How do you know that?”
“The four of us…we’re each other’s true family. I love Beck and Nicole. I would do anything for them, but the four of us…we’ve sworn to protect each other, no matter what.”
“That’s incredible. I’ve never had anything like that.”
“Well, you do now.”
“Worth, we can’t—”
“What’s happening doesn’t change the way I feel about you. I might’ve taken the risk and gone to the airport on my own, but I won’t risk you. I don’t know what’s going on out there with my brother, but I can at least protect you. You’re coming to New York with me. You’re going to stay with me and be under my protection—and therefore Carter’s and Miles’s.”
“That just diverts your attention from Beck even more.”
“You think he wouldn’t want you safe? In those messages—the ones I ignored before I met you—he told me to take care of you, to watch out for you, and he told Carter to make sure I protected you if something happened to him.”
Laurie brushed a tear from his cheek. “He still wanted you to do that after what we did?”
“Yes.”
I finished my circuit of the room. When I reached Laurie again, tears were flowing freely down his face, and he’d curled into a ball. I pulled him into my arms. “We’re going to find him.”
Laurie broke down completely once I was holding him. His body rocked with sobs as I stroked his hair. I lay back on the couch, pulling him down until he was on top of me, fully cradled by my body with his head tucked against the curve of my neck. His tears soaked through my shirt, but I didn’t care.
All I cared about was making him feel safe, protecting him the way I should have protected Beck from the cartel, the way I should have protected Beck and Nicole and myself from everything our parents put us through, the way I had protected my heart for so very long, keeping it closed off, unwilling to take the risk of loving someone.
I was going to keep Laurie safe, and I was going to keep him with me. He was mine and I would make everything okay. Beck was going to be fine, and we would win him over. I would have them both in my life.
I knew I had far more resources to help with this situation than almost anyone else on earth, but it still felt so out of my control. I could force so many things to go my way, but I couldn’t control what the cartel was doing, and I couldn’t even be the one to search for my brother.
Laurie’s tears slowed. He pushed himself up and looked down at me. I willed myself to speak, but no words came out. Then he kissed me, and I was lost in him.
24
LAURIE
Imeant to apologize to Worth for crying all over him. I meant to tell him he didn’t owe me all of this care, all of this energy. We should be thinking of anything we could possibly do, any place Beck might have gone, but when I looked at Worth, I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t do anything but need him, so I let myself kiss him. It wasn’t a conscious act; my lips were just suddenly on his.
He cupped my face, holding me against him as we kissed. I felt so safe with him—and guilty for being safe when Beck wasn’t—but I was too far gone to stop.
Somehow, Worth managed to shift our position so he was on top. I opened my legs, letting him settle between them. He rearranged a pillow so my head was supported, never breaking the kiss. When he flexed hips against mine, pressing our cocks together, I gasped against his mouth.
“Need you,” I said as he shifted to kiss my jawline and my neck.
He ran his tongue along the outer edge of my ear and whispered, “Need you, too. The only way for me not to think about all of this is to touch you and feel you against me.”