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I climbed off of him and sat my ass on the grass. I pulled my knees up to my chest and wrapped my arms around them. I was so cold, but I didn’t understand why it was only hitting me right now. I shivered and held onto my legs just a little bit tighter in hopes of possibly containing the emotional despair that was inside of me. I could feel it ready to burst right out of me, splitting me at the seams.
“I think you might be in shock, but I’m going to need you to get it under control because I need your help, and I’m not the only one.”
Those words snapped me out of the weird trance I’d fallen into. Just who was this kid and what did he want from me?
And where the hell had everyone else run off to? They’d all just left me here to die.
I turned my head to the side in order to take in my new buddy and rested my scarred cheek on top of my bare knee.
The dark chocolate, soulful brown eyes had my breath catching in my throat. I’d seen those exact eyes before on two different people besides this boy. His hair was dark brown, and I didn’t know shit about kids, but he seemed awfully thin, even in his face.
I curled my hands into fists to keep myself from reaching out so I could brush the hair back from his forehead.
“How old are you?” I wheezed out in a shaky voice before pressing my lips firmly shut. If I was able to unclench my fists, I’d cover my mouth with my fingers to stop any more questions from coming out.
It wasn’t my place to question this boy, but I wasn’t willing to let it go. That ring on my finger gave me a reason, since my gut told me this boy and I would be family after I got married. Family in more than one way.
“I’m eleven,” he told me, sounding annoyed but superior to me in every way. “And before you ask, I know exactly who my brother and my nephew are. I just wasn’t allowed to be raised with them.”
My mouth ran dry, and my stomach cramped up. I had never been more uncomfortable in my entire life.
“And who would that be?” I knew, but I had to ask just for confirmation.
I’d gotten it right but wrong at the same time.
“Quinton Alexander is my brother and his nephew, Tyson Alexander, is my nephew.” He cocked his head to the side and studied me shrewdly. “Aren’t those two of your men? I mean, I know they don’t know about me, but I’ve seen them before, and I know I look like them. Not to be mean, but maybe you’re blind.”
I wasn’t blind. Just momentarily struck stupid. Maybe someday I’d go blind when some asshole tried to thumb out my eyeballs. Maybe I’d have a spell blow up in my face. Shit happened, and that was just life.
But I wasn’t blind yet.
And I had no idea what to do with any of this.
“I’m not blind, kid, I’m just… I just feel like I’ve beenblindsided.” Yeah, that was it.
“We don’t have time for this,” he said as he got up and shuffled away from me. I wanted to get up and follow him, but my body didn’t want to work properly for me.
This kid had a bit of an attitude problem, and it made me want to smile. I knew two other Alexander men who had some serious attitude problems. They were going to adore him once they got over the shock of his existence.
He ran back to me and shoved a dark bundle into my arms. I didn’t know where he found this black hooded robe, but I was very grateful for it. I was sopping wet and absolutely freezing.
“Thank you,” I murmured with feeling. Then, because I had to know and it was killing me, I asked a very important question. “What’s your name, baby Alexander?”
“Brighton,” he grumbled as he frowned deeply at me.
I didn’t think he liked me calling him a baby. I meant no insult.
“Brighton is a cool name.” Albeit a weird one. But I wasn’t about to tell him that.
“So is Ariel.”
I grinned at him with chattering teeth. “I know.”
He shook his head and sighed like I was trying his patience. “We really don’t have time for this. After I pushed Adrian down into the hole with you, things got a little crazy out here. Some of the boys took off running, and some of the others decided it was the perfect time to attack the Council and finally fight back. They got beat down and dragged back to the motel. We have to save them.”
I didn’t want to be responsible for saving the lives of a bunch of boys I didn’t know. I wanted to grab this boy and get him as far away from this place as we could possibly get. And then I wanted to spend the rest of my life making sure he was safe and that nothing bad ever happened to him again. I didn’t know for sure if something bad had happened to him, but if he was living with the Council, then I was just going to assume that his life hadn’t been all hearts and rainbows.
I forced my aching limbs to move and stood up. It felt like pins and needles were shooting through my limbs as I slipped my arms through the wide sleeves of the robe. I pulled it closed in the front and slipped the hood up over my head. It felt better being covered up, almost as if I could hide from all the bad shit I knew could still happen to me tonight.
