“I can’t leave. I’m not leaving you, and as you said—if we don’t deal with the police, they’ll come to us. We need legal counsel.”
“I’m an attorney surrounded by attorneys,” he argues.
“But you don’t want Grayson close to this. A Bennett attorney pulls him in.”
“If we need a criminal law expert, outside the firm, we’ll get one, but there is nothing to protect ourselves from right now. It’s a heart attack.”
“They didn’t say it was a heart attack.”
“They will.”
“You don’t know that.”
He kisses me, a hard press of our mouths. “Trust me.” His voice is low, rough, a demand and question all at once that only Eric could make possible. “I’m asking you to trust me to protect you and us. Help me protect the only other people other than you that matter to me. Grayson and Mia.”
My heart squeezes with the realization that they are all he has, or they were. He now considers me a part of a small, intimate group of people he allows in his life. “I so need to be right here with you right now, but yes. I trust you and I’ll come through for you.”
His eyes darken, warm, seem to soften and then harden again. “Go now. I need to know they’re out of this.”
I press to my toes and kiss him. “I’ll ask Mia to have coffee, but Grayson will—”
“Be right by my side. I know. And Davis will be, too, and he, like me, protects Grayson.”
“Because he’s a friend?” I ask, wondering why he denies Davis that title.
“He’s not Grayson.” His reply is flat and curiously hard.
I don’t know what that means, but I don’t push. Not now. I’ll understand at some point. “I’ll get Mia to help.” I turn away and all but walk right into Savage.
“Just a wall hanging out,” he says, when I stop dead to avoid blasting into him. “I’ll keep him safe while you’re gone.”
Yes, please, I think, ridiculously relieved to have Savage stay by Eric’s side. Eric can take care of himself.
I step around the beast and head toward Mia and Grayson, who are standing in a waiting area just around a corner, and in deep conversation with Davis. “What’s happening?” Mia asks the minute they spy my approach.
“He’s stable,” I say, joining them. “That’s all they’ll tell us.”
Davis discreetly steps away, headed toward the ICU, but Grayson fixes his attention on me. “How much trouble is he in?”
“He didn’t do this,” I say. “I’m certain of it.”
“Who did?”
“I’ll let Eric share his theories on that,” I say, “but Grayson, as long as you’re here, he won’t think his way out of this.”
“As long as I’m here, he’ll be forced to think beyond his damn family, and find a way out.”
My brow furrows. “I don’t understand.”
“When a Kingston is involved, that brain of his goes swimming in shark-infested waters where any productive thought dies. He needs reasons to think outside those waters. That’s me and that’s you. You’ll stay close to him and so will I.” He starts to walk away to follow Davis, and I catch his arm.
“Wait.” He turns to look at me. “His thoughts aren’t the only thing that goes swimming in those shark-infested waters. If you force his hand, if you put yourself in harm’s way, he’ll find a way to end this and I’m not sure either of us want to know where that leads him. You don’t know—”
His jaw clamps down. “I might not know the entire situation, but I do know him. I know him far better than you think I know him. He won’t go to that dark place when I’m with him. He won’t go there when you’re with him either. Keep him close. I damn sure am.”
“You said he was fine at the apartment.”
“His father wasn’t lying in a hospital bed, either.” He pulls away from me and starts walking, and it’s clear to me that Grayson does know Eric. He knows a dark side of Eric that I have sensed, but rejected. He knows that side of him to the point that he doesn’t want to l