Unbroken (The Protectors 12)

I jumped at the sound of the voice coming from inside the kitchen and dropped the glass I’d been holding.

“Sorry,” Con said as he approached me.

The glass hadn’t broken, so Con picked it up and handed it to me. “Can I get you something to eat or drink?” he asked.

“Um, something light for my stomach,” I said as I forced myself to move into the kitchen.

“Sure,” Con said. “We use this house as a safe house every once in a while so it isn’t typically stocked with perishable food, but I try to make sure there’s plenty of snacks and stuff. It’s been a while since we’ve used it, but there should be something.”

Con went to a closet on the far wall and opened the door, then pulled the string for a light hanging from the ceiling. I followed him to the small room but stayed outside it. The shelves were full of a variety of food.

“What’s your fancy?” Con asked.

“Do you have any crackers or cereal?”

Con grabbed a couple of boxes and handed them to me. “These okay?”

I nodded, then he was snagging some bottles of water from the refrigerator. He grabbed two more bottles of something else… it looked like colored water.

“Sports drink,” he explained as he handed me the bottles. “You’re pretty dehydrated. These will help.”

“Thank you,” I said with a nod.

Con moved past me to shut the screen door and the main door but he didn’t lock them.

“Don’t worry, he can’t call anyone or anything. The nearest neighbor is more than ten miles away. He just needs to keep moving… probably wants to smoke a bit more.”

“You know about that?” I asked.

Con smiled. “I know everything there is to know about all my brothers, Aleks. Who do you think left that pack of cigarettes for him to find?” He looked at my full arms. “You need help with any of that?”

I shook my head. “No, thank you.”

I quickly turned and headed for the stairs.

“Aleks,” Con called just as I reached the first step.

I barely managed to not flinch. “Yes?”

“Everything will be okay, I promise.”

I held the good-looking man’s eyes and saw only truth there. I nodded and went up the stairs. I didn’t doubt Con’s honesty, but the “everything” he was talking about was only about me. And I couldn’t help but wonder if maybe it needed to stop being about me and needed to start being about someone else who was in the same place I’d been two years ago.

Wanting to go home.

Chapter 13

Vaughn

I woke up to the sound of crunching. It wasn’t particularly loud, but it was one of those sounds that my brain knew didn’t fit. I was alone in bed with just a pillow tucked up against my body, so I lurched upright.

“I’m right here,” I heard Aleks say.

My heart slammed against the wall of my chest as I quickly scanned the room. He was sitting on the bench that was built into the picture window that overlooked the front yard. There was a box of something between his legs.

“Sorry,” he murmured. “I didn’t want to get crumbs in the bed.” He held up the box.

“It’s okay,” I said. My arm felt like it was on fire, but I ignored the sting and got out of bed. I snagged the gun off the nightstand and then went to make sure the bedroom door was locked.

It was.

I went around the bed to the bench and sat down on the opposite side. The window wasn’t big so Aleks’s legs were touching mine as I made myself comfortable. I was glad he didn’t move his legs when I was finally settled.

“What is that?” I asked.

“Con gave it to me,” Aleks said. “I needed something light for my stomach. It’s cereal.”

“You talked to Con?” I asked.

How the fuck had I managed to sleep through that?

“I went downstairs.”

“Aleks—”

“I was careful, Vaughn. I would have screamed for you if I’d needed you.”

His voice sounded surprisingly strong. As proud of him as I was that he’d ventured out on his own, now was the absolute worst time for him to exert more independence. Before I could tell him so, he said, “Why is there a rabbit on this box when all the cereal pieces are shaped like fruit or flowers? Is it because rabbits eat those things?”

I laughed as he held the box out to show me the front of it.

“I think they just needed a memorable spokesperson… or rabbit, in this case. I don’t think the cereal was always shaped like that. The more colorful and fun they can make both the cereal and the box, the more likely they are to sell it.”

“It’s good,” Aleks murmured. “Magnus only buys the cereal that has regular-looking flakes in it. Or the stuff that has nuts and raisins. He tells Dante he needs more fiber. I don’t know what that means but this is much better,” he said as he took a few more bites of the cereal.