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But that didn’t mean I was throwing in the towel. And I’d meant what I’d said–if I couldn’t get Isaac out of trouble, I’d follow him to the ends of the earth. It would hurt like hell to have to leave my brother just as we’d started to rebuild our relationship, but losing Isaac would kill me.
There was no doubt in my mind that I was in love with him. Head over heels, crazy stupid in love. But I knew if I told him that, he’d completely panic. My only hope was that the fact that he was trying to protect me by warning me off coming with him and Newt meant he felt the same, or close to it.
Isaac was quiet for a long time.
Too quiet.
I pulled back to see that his eyes were on my chest. He eased my dog tags out of my shirt and began running his thumb over the indentations that spelled out my name. He often did the same thing after we’d made love.
“Promise me you’ll let me go when the time comes.”
When I didn’t respond, he gave the dog tags just the slightest tug. “Promise me, Maddox. Promise me or Newt and I are gone today.”
I felt the air whoosh out of my lungs at that because I knew he wasn’t going to budge on that particular threat. I could hear it in his voice.
“You don’t play fair, Isaac,” I said softly.
“I learned from the best,” he said as he looked up at me. I was trapped in the hold of his blue eyes.
“I promise when you’re ready to leave, I won’t try to stop you.”
But I’d sure as hell go with him. Even if I had to take enough drugs to knock out a horse, I would be in that car with him when it sputtered down Dallas’s driveway for the last time.
I could tell he wasn’t happy with my half-assed promise, but he didn’t call me on it. Instead, he got up on his knees and wrapped his arms around my shoulders and buried his face in the crook of my neck. “No matter what, don’t let Gary get Newt. Please, Maddox, if you care about me at all—”
“He’s never touching you or Newt ever again, Isaac. That I can promise you,” I vowed.
I held Isaac for a few minutes, then stood and helped him to his feet. We walked hand in hand toward the house, stopping only long enough to turn off Isaac’s car, which was still running. When we entered the house, we found Newt sitting between Dallas and Nolan on the couch. At some point, one of them had taken Newt’s helmet off him and the little boy had his head pressed against Dallas’s side while his hand was holding Nolan’s. Loki was lying next to Dallas, his head on his lap, his nose pressed against Newt’s other hand and Snotrod curled against the wolf hybrid’s side. There was a cartoon playing on the television, but none of them seemed to be watching it.
As soon as we walked into the house, Newt jumped off the couch and came tearing up to Isaac. Isaac dropped to his knees and wrapped his arms around Newt. I couldn’t hear what he whispered into the crying boy’s ear, but whatever it was, it had Newt nodding vigorously and wiping at his eyes. Isaac leaned back and helped Newt clean off his face. Dallas and Nolan had both gotten up in the meantime and took turns hugging Isaac.
Then they were hugging me.
“Okay, how about dinner?” Nolan announced. “It’s Newt’s favorite, liver and onions!”
Newt’s expression was a mix of horror and shock as he stared at Nolan. “Gotcha!” Nolan said, and then Dallas was snatching Newt off his feet to carry him over his shoulder to the kitchen. The little boy led out a raucous laugh as he struggled in my brother’s hold. Isaac went to join them, but I snagged his hand before he could get away from me and pulled him back. I brushed a soft kiss over his mouth and was glad when he didn’t protest, despite the presence of others.
Neither of us said anything as we held each other’s gazes, but we said enough without the need for words. He took my hand in his and said, “Help me set the table?”
I nodded.
It ended up being one of the best family dinners we’d had to date.
Now I just needed to figure out how to make sure it wouldn’t be the last one.
Chapter Twenty
Isaac
I couldn’t contain the warm feeling when I saw Maddox’s front door open before I’d even pulled my car around in the circular driveway. It wasn’t unusual for him to be waiting for me, since he’d been doing it every night since the first night we’d slept together. What was unusual was that I still hadn’t gotten used to it or the warm, gooey feeling that would go through me when I’d see his big frame standing in the doorway.
