Page 83 of His Boys to Protect

Dakota sniffed, and tears began to show on his eyelashes. He dashed them away and added, “The part of that story that we never tell anybody…is that Charlie was in the car with her.”

“Oh god,” Ward gasped.

“Physically, he got lucky. Walked away basically without a scratch. But his door got smashed, so he was trapped in the car—frantic, as I'm sure you can imagine—until they were able to cutit open to get him out. So in the meantime, he was stuck there, with his big sister…”

Holy shit. “I am so sorry.”

“That was why he couldn't look. He was afraid to see any of us hurt.” Dakota paused. “Especially you, I think.”

Ward blinked. “Me? Why?”

“Purely as a matter of context, because you were in the driver's seat, just like Sabrina. But also, because he cares about you. I think he cares about you a lot more than even he realizes yet.”

Despite the guilt raging inside him, Ward felt a rush of joy at that pronouncement.

“Now would you please go upstairs and show him that you're okay?” Dakota said. “I'll be up in a few minutes with his soup.” With that, Dakota turned and headed into the house.

Ward watched him go, feeling dizzy with relief once more. Dakota could have easily sent him away with threats to never go near his baby brother again.

He took a moment to compose himself, then hurried inside and went to check on the boys.

Charlie stuck near him the rest of the day. When it came time for Ward to leave, Charlie spent several minutes making Ward promise not to touch his phone on the drive home. Then Ward had to promise to send him a text, saying he'd arrived safely, but onlyafterhe was inside. With the door locked. And his shoes off.

Ward promised. And he did everything Charlie asked.

The next day, Ward got similar messages in return, first from Charlie, then from Skylar, letting him know they'd gotten back home safely. The intensity of Ward's relief took him by surprise.

He had it bad for these two boys.

Now the next two weeks really couldn't go by fast enough.

Chapter 31

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SKYLAR

SKYLAR STOPPED to stare at himself in the mirror as he got ready for work.

“Fuck.” He scrubbed a hand over his face. “Get a grip, Sky. It's just another job. You've done this for years.” He sighed heavily. “Three more months. You can do this.”

He checked his reflection, nearly expecting it to respond, then shook his head.Fuck!That trip down to Paso Robles had gotten him completely screwed up. Having both Ward and Charlie inside him at once—the three of them coming together in that perfect explosion—was like a dream.

And a nightmare.

Because every job he'd taken since then had nearly killed him.

“Fuck!”

Skylar grabbed the nearest thing to hand—his hairbrush—and flung it across his tiny bathroom. It clattered to the floor as he planted his elbows on the edge of the sink and hung his head in his hands. He'd never felt so wanted, so treasured—soclean—as he had that evening.

Which meant he'd never felt so dirty ever since.

Skylar sucked in a deep breath, bracing himself, feeling like he might be sick. He nearly had gotten sick, that first job back after that weekend. The next job, he hadn't been able to keep the disgust off his face. Uncle Zeke had gotten an angry call from the client over that, which meant Skylar had gotten a stern talking-to. Skylar had lied and said he simply hadn't been feeling well, then promised that he'd do better.

But the next job after that, Skylar had to hide his face against the pillows as he cried.

And the one after that, he'd barely gotten home from the appointment when his stomach brought back up everything he'd eaten that day.

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