Atonement (The Protectors 6)

He paused for a moment and looked around the desolate cemetery. “She was so fucking strong, Dante. You should have seen her,” he murmured. “And Matty…she loved him so much. She even managed to stay clean long enough to have him. She was terrified he’d end up being born an addict…or worse.”

“She sounds like an amazing girl.”

Magnus nodded and shifted closer to me so that our arms were pressed together and I couldn’t help but wonder if he needed the contact because it was starting to get colder out or if he had a different reason.

“I didn’t see it coming,” he said in a hushed voice.

“What?” I asked.

“The drugs.” He shook his head. “How could I not see it?”

“Sometimes you can do everything right and still have everything go wrong,” I finally said.

We were both silent for a while and then I felt the weight of Magnus’s head as he rested his cheek on my shoulder. “I’m tired, Dante,” he whispered and I didn’t need to look at him to know the tears he’d used the alcohol to keep at bay had finally started to fall.

“I know you are, Magnus.”

I didn’t know what else to say, but as more and more moisture soaked through my shirt, I turned my upper body and wrapped my arm around him, urging him to my chest. He pressed his forehead against me for a moment, but he was too quiet.

“It’s okay, Magnus. You can let go,” I whispered in his ear. A moment later, a strangled sob escaped his throat and his arms went around me. His hold was brutally tight, but I welcomed it. I pulled him closer until his face was resting in the crook of my neck and I dug my fingers into his back so he had no doubt that I wasn’t letting him go.

I was emotionally drained by the time Magnus’s shaking body settled and his breathing slowed. He eased his stranglehold on me, but didn’t release me all together. I leaned us back against the headstone, but kept Magnus tucked up against my side. Since he was resting quietly, I pulled my phone out of my pocket with my free hand and dialed Colton’s number. I was glad I’d had the forethought to exchange numbers with him earlier since I didn’t know if Magnus had his phone on him or not.

“Hey, it’s Dante,” I said when he answered. “I found him.”

“He okay?” Colton asked, his voice thick with worry.

“Yeah. I need a favor.”

“Of course.”

“You’ve got a horse trailer, right?”

“Yeah, I do,” Colton responded.

“Can you come pick up the horses? At the cemetery.”

There was a long pause and then Colton said, “I’m on my way.”

“Thanks.” I hung up the phone and realized maybe I’d misjudged the man.

After a few more minutes, Magnus sat up, forcing me to release him. He wiped at his eyes and then hung his head, presumably in embarrassment. I didn’t know what to say to him to ease the humiliation he had to be feeling. The man was a master at controlling his emotions around others and I had no doubt he was smarting now that he’d exposed such a raw part of himself to me.

“Dante.” Magnus’s voice was laden with pain and exhaustion.

“Yeah?”

“Can you take me home now, please?”

I wanted to do so much more than that, but I kept that fact to myself and said, “Yeah, Magnus, I can.”

I climbed to my feet and reached my hand down to his. He took it without hesitation. Once he was on his feet, he wobbled a bit, but stayed upright. I reluctantly released my hold on him, but stayed near his side as we began walking towards the SUV. I remembered the horses and was about to tell Magnus to hang on while I went to get them, but one glance over my shoulder showed that both animals were following us. Once we reached the truck, I opened the passenger side for Magnus and steadied his arm as he climbed in. When he made no move to buckle himself in, I realized I’d need to do it for him and since the SUV was too high for me just to reach over him to buckle the seatbelt, I had to stand on the running board. As I was leaning across his lap to lock the belt into the buckle, his hand came up to brush my face and I stilled at the rush of longing that went through me. I straightened enough so that our faces were nearly even. I tried to speak, but the power of speech seemed to have left me because I could do nothing but stand there in stunned silence as his thumb followed the line of my jaw and then brushed over my lower lip.

“So beautiful,” Magnus murmured and I felt my insides clench painfully.