Page 34 of Promised Love

She flops down next to me onto the couch. “We’re stuck in this room, Lukas.”

Fuck. I throw my head back. My heart beats wildly as my imagination soars without restraint. Images I don’t want to see flash before my eyes.

“I’m so sorry, Lukas,” Autumn whispers.

My hand stops midair before I can press on hers and tell her that all will be okay. Instead, I curl my hand into a fist, and like a stupid prick, tap my thigh so that I have her attention.

When she finally glances at me, I state, “We’ll make it work. This room is big enough. You take the bed. I can take the couch.”

Autumn’s worried eyes widen, and she jumps in her seat. “No! You take the bed. You’re injured and I’ll fit much better on this couch than you.”

She bites her lip, looking indecisively between the bed and couch.

“Autumn.” I say her name and wait until her gaze is back on me. “If we have to survive the supercharged love-express that’s your grandmother, we’ll have to work together. We’ve fielded the grandparents nicely for four years. We can still do that.” This time, I don’t stop myself from squeezing her hand.

Autumn looks down at our hands before glancing up at me. “I always thought we were playing together. I didn’t know you had your own team on the side.”

Fuck! The sincerity in her gaze almost rips out my heart. “You’re not going to let this slide, are you?”

She shrugs. “I was really surprised to see everyone at the hospital. I always thought I knew all your friends, but then there are suddenly all these people who seem to know more about you.”

“You know them all. Do you remember my friend who’s a huge pain in the ass, but you give him a kitten or a puppy and he’ll turn into a softy?”

“You called him Daddy Pawpaw in your emails.”

I chuckle. “I did?”

She nods and, thankfully, smiles.

“That man is Gavin,” I tell her in a serious voice, and she slaps her hand over her mouth.

“No way! You mean the guy whose arms are covered in tattoos and who has a perpetual frown on his face? I can’t believe it.”

“It’s true. You know the others too. But when I”—I shift in my seat because that’s one more thing I haven’t told her about—“had to take retirement, Connor approached me. Kings Security is an awesome place for a guy like me. I decided to join him as a partner and invested in the company.”

“So you own Kings Security?”

“A part of it.”

“Then why isn’t it called Kings and Spencers?” She raises an eyebrow, biting her smile, but her chin trembles nevertheless.

I chuckle. “I didn’t want to ruin the perfect name.”

A snicker finally escapes her lips. “It is perfect, and it probably suits what you guys do there. But you still had a few more years of service left. Why did you retire early?”

I take a deep breath and look away from her. “A mission failed. Everyone except me died, but I was seriously injured. When I went to see their families, there were young wives with kids, houses with white picket fences and green lawns. Everything was waiting, but my friends were never going to return home.”

I don’t tell her that those seven days of travel were hell. I hadn’t felt that helpless in such a long time. The whip of life had hit me once again, reminding me I was someone destined to be alone.

Mom was gone.

My grandparents were gone.

My friends were gone.

I can’t help the burning fear for Autumn’s safety.

“I couldn’t take it. I felt I was somehow responsible for some of those tears. I didn’t do enough to protect my friends.”

---