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I give him a quizzical look but answer him anyway. “Yeah. It’s a nice name. Weirdly enough, my mother wanted to name me Noah, but my dad won their rock, paper, scissors match to name me Abel.”
Michael does a double take, eyes wide. “No shit?”
“No shit,” I answer, laughing at his expression. I wonder where that came from, but I’m interrupted from asking by Savage and Quin walking in. I rush over to him and see the blood on his shirt. “Jesus, Sav. What happened?” Making it over to him, I flutter my hands around, not wanting to touch him if he’s hurt. I round on Quin. “Why didn’t you take him to a hospital? You know Savage doesn’t like to listen. You should have taken him, anyway.” I see Quin’s smirk before I turn back to Savage. “Where are you hurt?”
He smiles down at me and takes my hands. “I’m sore, but not bleeding. It’s not my blood.”
“Then let’s get it off you. This is gross.”
Savage laughs at me as I lead him to the bathroom. Over my shoulder, I shout, “One of you take Pogo out and feed him, please.” I hear shuffling and Pogo yipping, so I’m guessing someone did what I asked.
When we get to the bathroom, I shove Savage down on the side of the tub and he strips his undershirt off. Even though I’m worried and a bit upset he came back home like this, I smirk. “What’s the smile for?” Savage asks, tossing the shirt into the wastebasket close to the door.
“Remember the last time I had to clean you up in a bathroom?”
The smile he gives me is a far cry from how he looked at me then. My heart skips a beat and I have to turn away before I tell him I love him again.
Ugh. I still can’t believe I let that slip. I knew what I was saying. Of course, I did. I wanted to say it, but it was still a slip. Because he doesn’t feel the same way. And I’m sure he would have tried to explain to me why he doesn’t. There are more than a few reasons. Namely, the age gap between us. While neither of us has ever brought it up, it’s there. He’s thirty-seven, having lived his life and done all the shit he’s wanted to do while I’m twenty-two, a recent college grad, trying to find my footing in the world. Another thing that would prevent him from letting himself love me ishe’s fucking leaving. God, he’s leaving. He’s leaving this life behind. Leaving the game. Leaving his company. Leaving me. That has to be the biggest challenge standing in the way of getting Savage’s love.
I sigh, then walk over to the sink and wet a cloth I grabbed from the linen closet. Walking over to him, I rub the blood of … “Who’s blood is this?”
“Paddy’s.”
I look up quickly. “The guy you were meeting? The Irishman? Is he …?” I can’t let the word cross my lips.
“Dead? No,” he answers, and I let out a breath. “Probably pretty bad off, though. His guys are getting him some help.”
Nodding, I clean him off, going back and forth to the sink to rinse the cloth. The whole while, Savage is staring at me intently, eyes bouncing around my face. I keep taking small glances up at him, wondering why he’s staring at me the way he is.
Opening my mouth to ask if he’s okay, Savage beats me to it by asking, “Do you want to come with me? Wherever I go?”
“Huh?” I answer dumbly. Did he just ask what I think he did?
Savage grabs my hands after I clean the last bit of blood from his palm. “I’m leaving, Abel. I don’t want to come back here, but I don’t want to leave you here, either.”
Tearing up, I drop to my knees in front of him. “You want me to come with you?” I ask incredulously.
He sighs, squeezing my hands tightly. “Please, Abel. I can’t … I can’t see my life without you. Not anymore. I can’t … go back to the way I was before you came into my life. I need you with me.”
I stare at him, heart hammering, so overwhelmed that he would want me to be with him. Blinking rapidly, I say, “Yeah, Sav. I’ll come with you.”
Pulling me up into a hug, I feel him shudder against me. “Thank you, baby. Thank you so much.” He lets me go and looks me in the eye. “Quin and I may have an escape plan, but it’ll be tricky and it might not work. If it doesn’t,” he says haltingly and a look of sympathy creeps into his eyes, “you won’t be safe with me. You’ll constantly be on the run. It’s a shitty of me to ask, I know, but—”
I put my hand over his mouth to stop him from talking. “Sav, I know what I would be up against. And I still want to be with you. What’s the plan?” I try to keep the excitement out of my voice, but it’s hard. Savage wants me with him! He wants me to come! He might not love me, but he wants to be with me. That’s more than I could ask for. I would go anywhere with him, no matter the risk. No matter the consequences. I am his. Wherever he wants me, I’ll go.
Savage shakes his head. “The less you know, the better. Just know that I’ll keep you safe. I’ll protect you.”
“I know that, baby. I trust you. Just let me know what I need to do when I need to do it.”
He brings my face to his and kisses me fiercely. Looking at me when he pulls his lips from mine, he asks, “How can you be real?”
Laughing lightly, I stand and go back to the sink to wet the cloth one more time to clean him up. When I’m through, I pull him up, bringing him to the mirror. “See, all better,” I joke, rubbing his back. Getting more serious, I ask, “You sure you want me to go with you? You’ll have your hands full looking after me. I don’t want to make your life harder, baby.”
He looks at me through the mirror, a serious look on his face. He takes a deep breath and says in a voice barely above a whisper, “My scars don’t make me ugly or unwanted.” Then he repeats it in a louder voice. A voice stronger and more confident.
My breath catches in my throat and I feel tears well in my eyes. This is better than a yes. Better than a long, drawn-out explanation. Better than any pretty words he could say to me. I know how hard it is for Savage to believe the words, but he’s saying them for me. Because I asked him to. Because I want him to believe me. I really love him. So much.
I hug him from behind and he spins around in my arms, holding me close. “We’ll be ready to go in about two months. I have to get everything over to Paddy, finish my paperwork with the lawyers, and get my finances in order without it looking suspicious. Can you wait that long?” He looks down at me, a pleading look on his face.
