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I was glad when Cruz didn’t follow me. There was no reason for him to see proof of what he already knew.
That I was no longer his hero.
I wasn’t anybody’s hero.
Chapter 8
Sam
“He’s finally asleep,” Elliot said as soon as he entered the kitchen.
I breathed a sigh of relief. “Thanks,” I responded as I dried off another dinner dish. “Let’s hope he has a better night than last night.”
Elliot stepped to my side and put his arms around me. “Let’s hope you have a better night,” he said softly.
I leaned into him a little before catching myself. I needed to be strong for my sons.
Both my sons.
“How are you and Cruz holding up?” I asked as I gave Elliot a pat on his lower back. The soft smile that graced my son’s mouth along with the color that stained his cheeks was answer enough.
My Elliot had definitely found his soulmate.
“Good,” he murmured.
I nudged him a little before handing him a dish to dry off. Elliot was a lot like me when it came to needing to keep busy. I feared it was a habit he’d picked up from me. I hated to think that he struggled with any kind of anxiety, but I’d seen enough as he’d been growing up to know that confidence had never been one of his strong suits. Like me, he’d been good at faking it. My hope was that it was something Cruz wouldn’t take advantage of like some of Elliot’s previous boyfriends had.
I didn’t think so because everything I’d seen of Cruz so far had proven he was a good man. While I wasn’t thrilled that he’d lied to Elliot when initially meeting him just so he could protect my son from an unseen threat, I could see every time Cruz looked at my son that his feelings were genuine.
Thoughts of my son’s boyfriend inevitably led to the one thing I’d been trying not to think about for three days now. I hadn’t seen hide nor hair of Matias, which was how it should have been.
But that hadn’t mattered when I’d spent hour after hour the last few nights staring out my bedroom window in the hopes that a boring gray sedan would magically appear in front of my house. When I hadn’t been watching for the one man I shouldn’t have had any desire to ever see again, I’d been running back and forth to Ryan’s room to comfort him as one nightmare after another had befallen him. I was physically and emotionally drained and yet my brain never failed to cling to every detail of the man who’d become my silent torment.
“He’s on his way back home,” Elliot said.
“What?” I asked. “Who is?”
“Cruz,” Elliot responded. His eyes automatically filled with worry. “Are you sure you’re all right, Dad? The thing with Blake—”
“I’m fine,” I said with a wave of my hand. I turned my back to him so I could collect myself as I rewashed a dish that was already spotlessly clean. “Sorry, you did tell me Cruz was out of town on business,” I added. “So he’ll be back tonight?”
“Yeah,” Elliot responded. The subject of his boyfriend proved to be enough of a distraction because he didn’t press me further on the Blake thing. Not that I would have told him that the run-in with my deranged former personal assistant had left me with nightmares of my own. I hadn’t even had a clue that the man had been infatuated with me until he’d shown up in my living room with a gun pressed against my youngest son’s head. Blake had insisted that we should leave together; that he had enough money for us to run away from everything. I’d been more than willing to play along with his fantasy but then all hell had broken loose and Blake had started shooting.
Then Matias had shown up…
I cursed myself for thinking of Matias yet again and tried to focus on Elliot’s words instead.
“He and Matias are on their way back from New Orleans.”
“Matias?” I blurted before I could stop myself. Thankfully, Elliot was too busy drying dishes to notice that I’d stopped washing the one in my hands.
“Yeah, you remember him, right? Cruz’s older brother.”
“Uh-huh,” I said as casually as I could.
“I guess Matias went down to New Orleans for a job or something. Cruz went to meet him and I guess they finished up early because they’re already on their way back home.”
My gut clenched in excitement.
Jesus, what was wrong with me? I should be dreading the news that the man was on his way back to town.
“What kind of work are they in?” I asked. I wanted to believe it was because I was interested in learning more about my son’s boyfriend, but deep down I knew that wasn’t the full truth.
