Page 75 of His Reluctant Savior

I had Easton watching over us. He would stay inside, but he had the night watch tonight before we all headed home to my family. Hopefully, they would come to trust me again.

The plan was to bring Dalton and Owen with me, despite Dalton’s insistence and my protests. He convinced me that with them there, the plan would be to calm everyone down or at least not react impulsively with a child around. It was risky, and I worried about Owen, as did Dalton, but I was confident my family wouldn’t hurt the boy. We didn’t have many rules at The District, but killing children was a huge no-no. That was where we drew a line in the sand, a line Dalton planned to erase and move.

I carried Owen inside as he held onto Danny with tight arms. He looked tired and wary, and I was surprised the boy let me carry him at all. Savannah did a thorough workup on the boy and said he’d be fine physically, but psychologically? Who could say? He was stressed, especially seeing his dad for the first time in weeks, covered in bruises, black eyes, and a busted lip.

Owen barely said a word, which stressed Dalton out. Hell, it stressed me out, too, because my failure to prevent their attack caused that.

“Dalt, go up and get some sleep. You’ve been moving way too much with that concussion.”

“No, I need to—”

“Go. I’ll get Owen fed and keep him entertained.”

He glanced at his son with sadness on his face and nodded before heading upstairs.

“Sleep in my room,” I said as he went up.

I took Owen into the living room, sat him on the couch, and turned on the TV. He kept his eyes on my every movement, clinging to his dino.

“What do you like to watch, Little Man?”

“D-do you have ‘Wild Kratts?’” he asked shyly.

“I’ll see what I can do.”

I’d never heard of it or any kid show other thanSesameStreet, so I looked it up on my TV and found it. Then, I let him choose what episode he wanted.

“I wanna go back to school,” he whispered.

“I know, kiddo. We can’t just yet, but soon. I promise.”

Dalton had to permanently withdraw Owen from school because he had been gone so long. I had Veil set everything up and make arrangements for homeschooling, or at least, making it appear that way for now. The last thing Dalton needed was to be dragged through the court system, but I hadn’t lied to Owen. Hopefully, soon, things would go back to normal, and we could find him another school to go to.

I squatted in front of him. “Are you hungry?”

Without looking at me, he nodded.

“How do you feel?”

Owen shrugged, eyes still glued to the TV. “My head hurts a little.”

It was probably from the drugs. Surely, Dalton brought some pain relief for him in his bag, so I went in search of it. A minute later, after looking at the proper dosage, I gave Owen someChildren’s Tylenol.

When I headed to the kitchen to make the boy something to eat, I found Easton sitting at the table, drinking some root beer I had bought for him, watching me carefully.

“Can I make you something to eat?” I asked him.

“I’m not hungry.”

After grabbing a frying pan, I opened the refrigerator and pulled out some butter and sliced cheddar. Then, I grabbed the bread from the pantry to make Owen a grilled cheese sandwich.

“Is there something on your mind?” I asked him.

“You acting like a father is… new.”

“I’m clearly not his father, and I’m not trying to be, but he does need someone to take care of him. How would you like me to act?”

“I’m… not complaining,” he finally said after a beat of silence.

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