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“My name is Sebastian Gerald. I, too, have witnessed things that haunt me. My wife and my child were murdered one night. I survived so that I could testify against the men who had done it to them. When I woke up from my coma, my life was forever changed. My wife and daughter had been gone and buried for two years by then. My grandma suffered for a month before someone helped her along by going back to the hospital and murdering her, too. I testified against Parker Roman. The boss mobster that wanted me to work for him, and I turned him down.”
“He is still out there. You were put in protective custody, given a new name, an identity that they found out about.” He nodded at her. “You disappeared. That’s why Dick was trying to find you. He knew that you were on your way here. They won’t stop, you know this, right?”
“I do. But when I heard from Wilhelm that my brother was looking for me, I told myself that this was a good way to end all of this. This hiding out. Not doing anything that I want to do. Like being with my little sister.” She told him, not asked, that he’d changed his mind. “I have. I don’t know why that only after a few hours, I’ve felt better than I have in a very long time. It’s a feeling that I’m sure you’re unfamiliar with, as I was. But being here, being with this family gives me more hope than I’ve had in a good long time.”
“I’m happy for you, but what does that have to do with me?” Before he could tell her, she sat down in the chair that she’d just vacated. “They’ll come for me now that I’ve killed one…his name was Roman as well, I’m betting. I’m a dead man.”
“We both are.” She sat in the chair for several minutes. The others had left them there, and he was glad for it. Sebastian had already told them more than he’d wanted. It had taken nothing for him to share it, either. “I’ll help you against them. I’ve learned a few things myself since I’ve been out of the hospital.”
“I’m a green beret. Special forces, as well as a part-time marshal. I’ve learned from the best.” He nodded, knowing on some level that he didn’t get all the information that she’d been trained to do. “What makes you think that I want to live any more than you did before coming here.”
“I can see it in your face that you’ve had enough.” She glared at him. “I’ve got a sister, remember? That doesn’t hurt me.”
“I don’t want to…” She stood up, and he did again. “I’m going home. I think you have enough to deal with without me being here. I can almost feel the questions that they have for you.”
“Don’t. Please don’t leave yet.” She headed to the door. “Please, Toby. I’ve nothing to say to you to hold you here, but I will tell you that I’ve never felt so helpless until I met you. I feel that. I know that you’re not going to like this, but I feel better with you around. Like you could be my rock when I need it.”
“I don’t want to be anyone’s rock, Sebastian. I have enough shit going on right now to fill up several needy bags.” He laughed. Sebastian hadn’t had a reason to laugh in a very long time. “You think I’m funny that I have baggage?”
“No. I don’t think you’re funny at all. But I do think it’s funny how you described it. Needy bags? I like that.” He put his hands up to hold her, but she took a step back. “I think I should have remembered that from last night. But I’m asking you, as a desperate man in a house full of people who want to help me, to please help me by staying.”
She looked at the door and then back at him. Toby didn’t say anything, but she was thinking. Not that he’d ever play poker or any other game of chance with her, but he knew that she was weighing her options. When she told him that she didn’t want to be his friend, a little part of him hurt. But he nodded.
“I have a home near here. Do you think that we could go there for a little while? I need to chill out. To hit the bag.” He asked her if that was going to be him. “No, dumbass, a punching bag. It’s been a hard day for me. You too, I guess, but I’m not concerned about your pity party right now.”
After telling Caleb that they’d be back—at least he hoped so—the two of them got into the limo and headed back to her home. Christ, he thought when they pulled into the beautifully maintained drive, she really did have some money.
True to her word, she went upstairs to change. When she returned, with him a pair of trainers and a shirt, she made her way to the basement. The entire room that they entered was filled with the kind of equipment that would keep anyone in shape. Toby went to the heavy bag and began working it. Once he was changed into the too-large pants, he sat down at a state-of-the-art rowing machine. Hell, he thought, he’d live here with her if only he could use her gym. It was better than anything he’d ever used in most places before.
Rowing relaxed him. He also built up a good sweat. When he’d rowed about as much as he could, he went to the treadmill. Sebastian noticed that Toby was now on the rowing machine, and he was happy that he remembered to wipe it down when he was finished. After about two hours, she told him she was going to take a shower and that he was fine to join her.
“Is there any kind of sensor from your head to your mouth? I mean, you just asked me to join you in a shower.” She told him that if he tried anything, she knew how to take care of herself. “Of that, I have no doubt.”
He did join her in the shower and found that there was nothing sexual about it. He saw her scars; there were plenty of them, and she saw his. There weren’t as many on his body, but hers were hatchet marks and other sharp-bladed marks, while his were bullet holes. When they were finished up, she asked him to lunch.
They were getting along fine, he thought, but they weren’t talking about anything serious. He doubted that they would either. When lunch was finished. The two of them got dressed again and headed back to Calebs. He felt so much better about dealing with all of them—he was used to being alone than he had before. Sebastian would have to remember that. To hit the gym when he was feeling overwhelmed again. It had worked wonders on his mind and body.
Chapter 1
Sebastian slept better that night than he had in ages. He supposed it had a lot to do with the workout he’d had yesterday, but he didn’t think that was entirely it. The family, his new family, had welcomed him into their home and hearts. Something so calming about them at times had him thinking that he’d been smart for coming here. But, as usual in his life, time would tell.
Toby Hayden had been a breath of fresh air for him. Also, she’d been the one who had taken him to her gym to work out. It was a way that she dealt with stress on her own, and he liked it. And her.
She was brash, harsh, and she didn’t give a fuck who liked her or not. In fact, she told him that she didn’t want to be his friend. Just like that, too, she didn’t want to be anything to him. However much it hurt, he was glad that she didn’t just give him what he wanted. It might well save their lives when it came time. Being friends with Caleb and the others was going to be scary enough, with the mob boss, Parker Roman, coming after him.
There was no doubt that they were in for trouble. Sebastian had had his entire family murdered, his child and wife, when he’d turned down the opportunity to work for Parker as a hitman for him. He’s been a marksman in the service and was good at taking out a target when it came to that. However, working for a crook, no matter how much he put pressure on him to do so, he didn’t think that he’d be able to live with himself if he took the job. There was enough death and murder going on without him adding to the count.
Toby had come into his life just when he had arrived at his brother’s town. She’d actually inadvertently killed a man who came into her bar looking for him. He didn’t think that he’d ever forget the way she just pulled out a hatchet and took his arm off. But Caleb had welcomed him, as had all the family into his home. However, he wasn’t sure how welcoming they’d be if Parker found out where he was. But Caleb and the others assured him that he was in good hands. He had a feeling that they didn’t understand what sort of person that Parker was. He hoped that they’d never find out, but after the incident at the bar that Toby owned, he was thinking that they were a bit closer than he’d thought.
The man Richard Roman, brother to Parker, had come into her bar the night before last and demanded that she tell him where the Anderson person was that was looking for his brother. He’d had a firsthand view of what she’d been able to do in order to kill the man. While she knew Harlin and some about Caleb from living around town all her life, she didn’t tell him anything. When he grabbed her, demanding that she stop lying to him, she ended up killing the man because he didn’t take no for an answer. Sebastian couldn’t believe that men now days didn’t listen when they were told no. Toby was good at protecting herself, and it made him smile every time he thought of the man being killed by a slip of a girl. But she was far from that.
Looking around the room that he’d been assigned, or he supposed given was a nicer way to say it, he realized that he wasn’t keen on it. It was beautifully decorated. The bed was soft, and there were little touches around the room that reminded him of the couple that lived here. Especially Tabby. In fact, he could see that she’d had a hand in decorating all of the house without the benefit of decorators. It was homey. Clean and comfy. Old and new. It was just not for him.
Getting up, he made his way downstairs. After asking about dinner plans from the cook, he was told that Caleb and Tabby both had said that they’d be home by six. He made a decision right then that he was going to dine alone. Let them dine alone, too. Telling the cook that he’d be getting something in town, he made his way outside. It was, he just realized, a beautiful little town.
Sebastian wandered around the town for several hours. He’d found the library as well as the bank. Getting himself an account, using one of the many aliases that he’d had made for himself, he opened not just a checking account but also got himself a safety deposit box to store his cash in. It startled him every time he looked in his backpack how much money his grannie had left him when she’d passed away.
After his mom dropped him off one day and never returned for him, he lived out his childhood with his mother’s mom. She was a mean old woman, bitter about a lot of things, but she truly loved him. And he had her. While he was younger, she taught him all kinds of survival tactics. Then, when it was obvious that she wasn’t going to be around much longer, just after he got out of the service, he went to stay with her again.
