No part of me believed that God was condoning the death of Gideon and his folks. No matter how terrible they were to me, they were still God’s children. Arrow shrugged and used his body to block me between him and the island.

I looked up into his face and wondered how this stranger could make me feel so secure.

“You better be careful before you get struck down from your blasphemy.”

“I’ll be straight. I want you to relax and just exist. Here is the last place anyone tied to Gideon would come looking for you. You will be okay here. The compound has everything you need, but you are not a hostage here. I just ask that you don’t leave Rushin Mills at all, but mostly until the Baxters have been handled.

“What about your father? He would one hundred percent recognize me.”

There were so many factors that he wasn’t considering that I couldn’t afford to let fly.

He had sons in Rushin Mills for goodness’ sake. There was no way he never saw his sons and vice versa. Over the years,I’d never met anyone in Gideon’s family but his parents, but to know that I was locked away with his stepbrothers had me feeling like they would pop up randomly. My thoughts were trying to take over what Arrow was saying, and I didn’t know how to shut them up.

Arrow might have felt like he had this situation under control, but he couldn’t always be around.

“Randy Baxter hasn’t been around here in years. Honestly, he’ll probably be shot on sight if he were to cross the line into the Mills. He has no chance breathing in our direction.”

I sighed. “I don’t want to talk about this anymore. I still need to finish dinner. You’re more than welcome to keep me company while I cook.”

Arrow chuckled. “Thanks for the permission. I’m gonna shower, grab Drix, and be back.”

I shook my head at the nickname but didn’t give my feelings a voice.

All this shit was weird, but at least Arrow wasn’t turning me over to Gideon. I felt like I could breathe a little easier, but I probably wouldn’t be okay until I could move freely. Arrow told me that time was now. However, that wasn’t the full truth. My movements in Rushin Mills could be done without looking over my shoulder, but the rest of the world was off-limits. By the time Arrow returned with Hendrix, I had our pizzas done and the kitchen cleaned.

It felt good to not be watched like a hawk and just be.

“I forgot to ask you what kind of pizza you liked, so I made cheese. If you want toppings, you’ll have to put them on yourself.”

“That’s cool. His shit sagging, so I brought his stuff down so you can handle that.”

I giggled and took Hendrix from him. “Thanks. Are we eating in here or in the dining room?”

Arrow looked at his furniture and hiked his left eyebrow.

That one face gave me my answer, so I didn’t wait around for his response. I took the diaper and wipes he brought down and walked to the other side of his sectional. Arrow cut on the television and immediately went to the sports channel.

I couldn’t help but roll my eyes because, clearly, all men were programmed the same.

“What you over there deep sighing for?”

Chuckling, I wrapped up Hendrix’s diaper and said, “Do men watch anything other than sports? What’s your favorite TV show, movie?”

“I barely watch television, but sports is background noise for me.” He was quiet for a second, and I thought he wouldn’t answer my question until he said, “Favorite movie has to be anything action based. I need something to keep me up, or I end up falling asleep ten minutes into the movie.”

I scoffed, stood, and handed him the baby.

Arrow got up and followed me to the kitchen. Once there, I washed my hands, grabbed a few plates and set the pizzas on the island. We were eating in the dining room, but the island had a lot of room where I could spread out the food. I watched Arrow with Hendrix, and it did something to my heart.

His actions could be blamed on the newfound relation, but I knew it wasn’t that.

“Do you plan on holding him while we eat?”

“Don’t mind our business. I got him. You just make sure that you eat so he can be nice and full later.”

“It’s crazy how you just swooped in and are taking over my baby.”

Once again, Arrow shrugged and tucked Hendrix into his arm like a football and grabbed the salad bowl.