Forsaken (The Protectors 4)

“He came with the name,” Eli said as he worked. “He used to belong to Dom. His wife named him that.”

“Dom gave him to you?”

Eli nodded. “After Dom found me…”

His voice trailed off for a moment and I saw him pause what he was doing. But then he seemed to shake off whatever had brought him down and said, “After Dom found me, I started having panic attacks. Baby was able to bring me out of them. When Dom brought my mom back to Seattle and helped us find a place to live, he told me he didn’t have time to give Baby all the attention he needed and asked me if I’d take care of him for a while.”

“He sounds like a great guy,” I said softly.

“He is…they all are.”

“They?”

“Dom, Logan, Dom’s brothers, their partners and kids – it’s a big family,” Eli said with a small laugh.

“I’ll bet you missed them when you left.”

Eli glanced at me. “You know about that?”

I was glad that he didn’t appear angry at the reminder of the research I’d done on him. “I know the basics. Your mom got married and you left for college a couple years later. Johns Hopkins, right?”

Eli nodded. “Yeah, they had a great pre-med program.”

“And a great medical school. Why come back here to go to medical school? I mean, you got accepted to one of the finest medical schools in the country and your mom and her husband had moved to DC…”

There was a slight pause as Eli worked, but he didn’t look at me and it took him a while to answer. He finally said, “It’s a different world out there.”

I waited for him to expand on his statement, but he remained mute as he started chopping several green onions.

“Can I ask you something?”

“Okay,” Eli answered quietly. I hated hearing the reservation in his voice.

“The guy who stopped by here the other day…Brennan. Is he your boyfriend?”

Eli stopped what he was doing and turned to face me, butcher knife in hand. “What?”

Jealousy wasn’t a great color on me, but the idea of Eli and the good looking young man together had been driving me crazy from the moment Brennan had entered the apartment like he’d had every right to do so. And while I’d suspected I’d been the first one to ever kiss Eli, I wasn’t completely sure and it didn’t mean he wasn’t pursuing a relationship with the other man. I dropped my eyes to focus on the hand I was still running over Baby’s head. “I mean, it’s okay if he is. That kiss-”

“Please don’t,” Eli suddenly interjected and I snapped my eyes up at the desperate plea.

“Don’t what?” I asked.

“Don’t say it shouldn’t have happened.” Eli walked towards me, the knife still in his hand. He finally remembered the knife when he reached me and lowered it to the table.

It was what I’d been about to say, but not because I meant it. But because I’d been trying to pass it off as something inconsequential. I straightened in the chair and barely noticed when Baby removed his head and flopped to the floor near my feet. “Why not?” I whispered as I bit back the urge to reach for Eli who was standing so close, his legs were nearly touching my knees.

“Just don’t, okay?”

I nodded. “Okay.” And then I was reaching for him and when I tugged him onto my lap, he came willingly and without hesitation. Neither of us spoke as we just stared at each other and I wasn’t sure which of us moved first, but when our mouths finally met, I felt all the tension drain from my body. I let my hands coast up and down Eli’s back as his fingers threaded through my hair. The kiss was deep but unhurried and we took turns exploring each other’s mouths. Eli finally pulled back, his face flushed with color.

“Brennan is a friend…a brother really,” Eli murmured. “There’s no one…no boyfriend. There never has been.”

I shouldn’t have been glad to hear that, but I couldn’t deny the thrill that went through me. But even as my body ached to take more of what Eli was very clearly offering, warning bells began ringing in my head. He’d basically confirmed my guess that he wasn’t the kind of guy to just fuck around and since I wasn’t the kind of guy to do anything but fuck around, there was no place for us to go. I was trying to figure out the right thing to say when Eli tensed up and I had no doubt he’d picked up on my hesitation. He slipped off my lap and I instantly missed the feel of his warm body.

“Are you okay if I make the enchiladas a little spicy?” Eli asked casually as he grabbed the knife off the table and returned to his preparation.