Shattered (The Protectors 11)

I sighed and looked up at him. “Can I have your phone?” I asked.

He handed it to me.

“Do you trust me, Jace?” I asked.

“Always,” he responded without hesitation.

I smiled, then turned my attention to the phone. Once I dialed the number I wanted, I leaned into Jace’s side as he put his arm around me. When the voice on the other end picked up, I said, “Mav, it’s Caleb. Jace and I are okay, but we need some help—”

That was all I got out before Mav interrupted me to ask where we were and that he was coming to get us.

I closed my eyes and smiled.

Thank God for family.

Chapter 19

Jace

We’d been here before.

Driving in Ronan’s SUV from the private airport where we’d landed mere minutes earlier in his personal jet.

A few things were different, though.

Mav and Eli weren’t with us.

But we were plus one infant.

And the Caleb who was pressed against my side was no longer the vulnerable teenager I’d saved two years earlier.

Sure, he was technically still a teen, but he’d acted with more maturity and responsibility than many adults I’d met.

Myself included.

While I’d been practically paralyzed with grief, Caleb had taken on the task of caring for a newborn with next to no experience. As if he hadn’t already had enough on his plate, he’d somehow still managed to be there for me, too.

I’d been drowning.

Pure and simple.

The second we’d gotten to the hotel room and we’d been safe from the reach of the man who’d murdered my sister, I’d given in to the numbness my body had been craving. I’d spent hours in a place in my mind where my sister was still alive and I was back on that boat with Caleb, contemplating what our future would look like.

Now I had to contemplate a different future.

One in which I was now a father.

I didn’t even know what to do with that.

But I’d known that was what I was as soon as I’d picked Willa up this morning. She’d been crying pretty loudly when I’d woken up. The fact that Caleb had slept through it had been proof of how exhausted he must have been. Strangely enough, having Willa wake me up kept me from having to go through the stages of grief all over again. Acknowledging that my sister really was gone had taken a back seat to trying to figure out what Willa needed from me at that moment.

Silver had been right.

The second I’d picked her up and she’d looked at me with her big, watery eyes, I’d felt it. And the resentment I’d felt had slipped away as if it’d never been. There’d been no question that Willa was my future.

It was what Maggie had wanted.

It was what I wanted.

I hadn’t been one hundred percent sure about Caleb, but I’d had my answer the moment I’d turned to see him watching me and Willa. The look of contentment in his eyes had been enough to assure me that whatever I was facing, he’d be at my side.

What I hadn’t been expecting was all the help that Caleb brought with him. It was utter insanity that my first thought when I’d been trying to figure out how to get Willa out of Germany hadn’t been to reach out to Ronan and Mav. I’d been trying to determine if Dalton would be able to work with my contact in New York to get me what I needed. The fact that Caleb was the one who’d had to remind me that Dalton wasn’t the only one in my corner had been an eye-opener. Despite my behavior toward Ronan, Mav, and Memphis, there was no chance in hell they would have left me to my own devices, even if Caleb hadn’t been with me.

Asking for help wasn’t something I knew how to do, and I’d need to work on that.

For Caleb’s sake.

And Willa’s.

While Mav had been the one Caleb had talked to, it’d been Ronan who’d flown to Germany to pick us up, passport and a mess of baby stuff in tow. There'd been no issue with getting Willa out of the country, and Caleb and I had practically passed out on the plane, leaving Ronan to take care of Willa.

Caleb's fingers tapped against mine as he held my hand. We were getting closer to the house that Ronan and Seth owned on Whidbey Island. Ronan had informed us that Mav and Eli had gone to the house to escape the crush of reporters that had descended after Jack's acquittal. Fortunately, Eli had managed to get through his finals for his second year of medical school before all hell had broken loose with the trial, so he at least had some time to recover from the ordeal without the added stress of school. Ronan had determined that it made sense for Caleb and me to stay at the house as well, since it already had top of the line security. Caleb still hadn't been implicated in the shooting at the Jennings’ house, but I also had no clue what kind of progress, if any, Ronan, Mav, and Memphis had made in determining who'd put the hit out on Caleb. Until we had some answers, he'd be under twenty-four-hour guard.