Page 16 of Eight of Swords, Part Two

Lachlan’s hand rests atop his own, warm and reassuring.

‘Of which Brayden Matthews’ continued existence is proof.’

Kade’s sense of balance goes sideways.

I just don’t want Brayden fucking Matthews to die because of me.

When it levels out again and he opens his eyes, a little piece of something has wedged itself painfully into his consciousness. The memory holds.

He was in a car.

A nice one.

It was dark.

His feet were bare.

His lip was split.

He was carried into the car.

Can I carry you now? There could be thorns.

And the bodyguard… was weirdly focused in a dark, devoted way that had made his stomach knot with pleasurable fear because he knew the bodyguard was going back… to kill…

Kade opens his eyes. ‘Brayden.’

‘You remember him?’

‘I remember being in the car.’ Kade doesn’t think, doesn’t try to make sense of it or drag the feeling into daylight for analysis. He sinks into the slipstream and says, ‘You were going to kill him because he hurt me.’

‘I was going to kill him because he tried to rape you,’ Lachlan corrects with a blunt clarity that Kade appreciates. ‘You stopped him yourself. You fought him off. I was so proud of you,’ he whispers.

Something in Kade stirs.

Lachlan’s gaze lowers to Kade’s nose, concerned. ‘You’re bleeding.’

Kade touches his upper lip, finds it wet with a little blood.

His head is pounding like a triple migraine is gathering strength behind his eyeballs. ‘I’ve had worse,’ Kade jokes weakly, wanting to cry because that little piece of something unfamiliar is so precious. It gleams within like a rare and opulent gemstone, and if he just doesn’t think about it, he can feel the aura around it, let it bleed.

I wanted to kill him.

I’ll do it for you.

It makes Kade warm, his insides fluttering as though he’s living the memory here and now. A violent, all-consuming love for the bodyguard who denied his freedom. Those eyes were for no one but him, the full weight of a powerful man’s focus and attention.

Lachlan Tanner.

It’s more than a name.

More than a man.

He is a feeling.

The shape of love, forgotten.

Safety incarnate.