Total pages in book: 114
Estimated words: 103918 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 520(@200wpm)___ 416(@250wpm)___ 346(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 103918 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 520(@200wpm)___ 416(@250wpm)___ 346(@300wpm)
I found myself once again seated in one of the kitchen chairs, though I had no clue how I'd gotten there. This time, Gideon was sitting next to me. He had an arm wrapped around my shoulders and he was whispering something in my ear.
He was telling me to breathe.
I wanted to be strong, I really did. But all I could think about was my brother and the agony he had to be going through. And poor little Gio…
I was dimly aware of the kitchen door opening and slamming shut, but I couldn't find the energy to ask Gideon where King was going. I knew enough about my brother to know that whatever he was going through, he wouldn’t want me to see it… or hear it, anyway.
We'd all worked tirelessly to bring Gio home and while we'd always known that this kind of outcome was a possibility, there hadn’t been any way to prepare for it. Like with my vision loss, King would feel the most helpless. He and Con were the fixers in our family, though they went about it in different ways.
"Lex, come lie down with me for a while," Gideon murmured in my ear.
I nodded but that was all I could manage. I felt like I was slogging through water as Gideon led me back to his room and got me settled in the bed. He lay down at my back and wrapped his arms around me, but he didn't say anything. There was nothing he could say. He didn't try to reassure me that everything would be all right or that we’d figure things out.
He just did exactly what I needed him to.
He stayed.
It was the robotic voice of the controller for my insulin pump that woke me up. My eyes felt like sandpaper as I opened and closed them a few times. I didn't see any kind of light, so I knew the room had to be dark. The warm body wrapped around me reminded me that I wasn't alone.
That I'd never be alone again.
"What time is it?" I asked.
Gideon's lips skimmed my temple. "It's just after four in the morning," he murmured. "I know you probably don't feel like it, but you need to eat something, Lex."
I nodded. "In a minute," I said. The last thing I wanted to do was eat, but it wouldn't do anyone any good if I had another episode. The last thing Luca or any member of my family needed was to have to deal with my illness.
"Are you all right?" Gideon asked.
"No," I admitted.
Gideon dropped a kiss to the top of my head. I had my cheek pressed against his chest and my left hand resting on his abdomen. One of his arms was wrapped around me and he was skimming his fingers over my bicep.
"I spoke to your brother last night after you fell asleep. He says your nephew has been admitted to a psychiatric hospital. He had some kind of mental break when Luca showed up. He's denying he's Gio."
I hadn’t wanted to believe it could get any worse, but obviously I'd been wrong. "Poor Luca," I whispered. "He gave up everything to find Gio."
"You all did," Gideon responded. "King told me what you guys have been doing. How you've been helping other kids like Gio. He said you used your skills with computers to track the kids and the guys who bought and sold them."
"I did it all from the safety of a computer screen," I said quietly. "Vaughn, King, Con, Luca, they—"
"Couldn't have done it without you," Gideon interjected before I could finish my sentence. He tightened his hold on me. "The things you must've seen on that screen of yours. In what universe did you ever think you weren't strong enough, Lex?"
I shook my head. "I wasn't strong. I went home every night and cried myself to sleep as I thought about what all those kids were going through. I couldn't disconnect from it."
Gideon suddenly rolled me on my back. His strong fingers settled on my cheek. "And yet every day you went back to that computer and turned it back on so you could help your brothers bring another kid home. Call yourself weak or call yourself strong, Lex. But in my book, you, like your brothers, are a hero and I’m proud to call you mine." His mouth brushed over mine before I could even respond to his declaration. "I love you, Lexington Parker."
"I love you too," I said and then I pulled him back down for another kiss. He obliged me, but then he was breaking it.
"I heard your brother come in about twenty minutes ago. Why don't you go check on him?"
"Did you give him a key?" I asked in surprise.
Gideon grabbed my hand and put it to his face. "Feel that? For future reference, that's my are-you-fucking-kidding-me look."