Vengeance (The Protectors 5)

And the damn questions.

I’d been worried that he’d press me with things I didn’t want to answer, but he’d backed off early on and had only asked me the simplest of things. Until yesterday. And of course, that was because I’d given him permission to give voice to one of the questions I’d known was burning through him.

Seeing how broken and hurt Brennan had been yesterday when he’d walked into the hotel room had done something to me that I hadn’t expected. I’d wanted to fix whatever had been ailing him. Even after knowing it involved Tristan, the young man I knew he was in love with, I’d still wanted to make it better, despite the sting of knowing the faceless young man was the one who held Brennan’s heart. It was a reminder that I’d gotten in way too deep and I needed to get the hell out.

I was fully prepared to vent my anger on Brennan as he pulled his car to a stop next to mine in the driveway, but I saw that he wasn’t alone. It didn’t take much thought to guess who the young man in the passenger seat was. I couldn’t see his face because his head was hung, so I settled my gaze on Brennan as he got out of the car. I saw him say something to Tristan before he closed the door and walked towards me. Tristan remained in the car.

When I saw the worry written into every line of Brennan’s face, I bit back my anger that he’d violated my privacy by coming to my home without an invitation and waited for him to close the distance between us.

“I’m…I’m sorry,” he stammered as he glanced over his shoulder at his car before looking back at me. I noticed that Tristan had yet to look up and I suddenly remembered the bruise on his side Brennan had mentioned. My gut tightened as my instincts kicked in.

“I know it wasn’t right to just come here, but the hotel said you’d checked out and I wasn’t sure you’d agree to see us if I called you and then I remembered your address from your license when I was getting the condom from your wallet that first day in the motel,” he said in a rush.

“Brennan,” I said, reaching out to cover the hands he was clenching together. “Tell me what happened.”

Brennan finally seemed to take a deep breath and then his eyes filled with tears. “It’s really bad. Please, will you help him?” He looked at Tristan once more and dashed at his tears. “I didn’t tell him about you and me…I mean, I told him how you saved my life and stuff but nothing else.”

“Baby, take a breath,” I murmured as I reached out to cup Brennan’s cheek. The move seemed to help settle him and he sucked in a deep breath.

“Wait here, okay?” I said as I walked around him and went to the car. Tristan still hadn’t looked up and even when I opened the passenger side door, he didn’t react. All I saw was a mop of shaggy brown hair. I lowered myself until I was crouching next to the door. I noticed several things about Tristan right away, but what stood out besides his clean-cut clothes, hunched frame that made it seem like he was trying to make himself as small as possible and his refusal to look at me, was the splint on the pinkie finger of his right hand.

“Tristan, my name is Memphis. Do you want to come inside and talk for a bit?”

A single tear rolled down Tristan’s face and I felt my insides twist painfully. My need to protect the vulnerable young man kicked in and I reached up to gently touch his chin in the hopes I could get him to look at me. As soon as he did, the rage took over and it took everything in me not to let him feel it in the way I was touching him. His entire left cheek was a dark, ugly shade of blue with splashes of purple lining the edges. There was no doubt in my mind what had caused the injury. I released Tristan’s chin and used my thumb to swipe at the next tear that fell.

“It’s okay, Tristan. You’re safe now.”

Tristan swallowed hard and then swung his eyes over his shoulder to where Brennan was standing where I’d left him. They shared a look between them and then Tristan turned his eyes on me and nodded. Despite the bruise, I couldn’t miss how beautiful he was with his startlingly big gray eyes and perfectly shaped mouth. His hair fell over his forehead as he tilted his head slightly and I resisted the urge to brush it aside.

As Tristan climbed out of the car, I took his arm to steady him and tried to ignore the flash of awareness that sifted through me. To my amazement, Tristan sucked in a breath and then looked up at me in surprise. He held there as his eyes dropped to where I was still holding onto him and then he carefully tugged his arm free.