Page 3 of All of Me

“Look,” Diesel said, dragging me back to the present. “I don’t care why you ran. I can imagine, but to be honest, that isn’t important. If I had to guess, it was your age,” he paused. “So, act like the grown up you’re supposed to be and go fix this shit or I’m gonna send Pink ‘round to your place.”

I nodded and palmed my keys. Pink was scary protective, but that wasn’t what scared the shit out of me. “Text me the address,” I said and left the apartment.

It was supposed to take thirty-five minutes, but I did it in just over twenty. I didn’t know what to think. How to feel. Shame and worry burned through me. What I wanted to do battled with what I should do. I wanted Shae with every fiber of my being, but I was nearly thirty fucking years too old for him.

Thirty.

And if we went there, what happened when he was the age I was now? He’d be looking after an old man. I couldn’t do that to him. I could never do that.

I loved him too much.

And that realization had been what sent me running.

But the same realization made me come back. I had a feeling it always would.

Chapter Two

Drake

I pulled up outside the dilapidated building, my stomach churning at the sight. This was no place for anyone to live, let alone someone still recovering from major health issues. I looked at the pizza joint, then looked at the address Rawlings had sent me. What the actual fuck was he doing here? With steam practically pouring out of my ears, I headed down the small alley that led to the fire escape and the apartment above.

The stairwell reeked of piss and weed, but I headed for the steps. Just as I stepped on the first one, a guy came out of the back door of the pizza place and looked at me in shock. I ignored him and took another couple of steps until he did the same. I rounded on him because neither Shae nor I needed an audience for this conversation. “That for 743C?”

He nodded. I grabbed two twenties out of my pocket and took the box, stuffing the cash into his palm.

The guy looked at the cash and swallowed. “It’s only sixteen bucks.”

“Keep the change,” I said and turned, jogging up the rest of the first flight, turning and setting off up the second. I raised my head, spotted the open door, and bolted up the second flight. He might have opened it for the pizza guy. But then I cursed, saw Shae curled up on the floor and knelt next to Shae’s prone figure, digging out my phone, heart pounding way too fast for someone always in control.

“Shae,” I nearly yelled, dropping the box and putting my fingers to his neck, only to have him bat my hand away as he sat up. “What the fuck?” I ground out, taking in his split lip and swelling cheek. I reached out again, but he jerked away, then winced.

“Who did this?” I demanded.

“None of your fucking business,” he snarled back, but I ignored him and pulled him to his feet. He let me this time and looked a bit unsteady, so I walked him to the small bed in the corner, slipping my phone back in my pocket.

“You got any first-aid stuff?” I asked, a little gentler. He shook his head, then winced again. “Looks like it’s the ER then. I can take you. I’m assuming you’re not gonna want an ambulance?”

“I’m not going,” Shae said.

I opened my mouth to insist but managed to close it before I did even more damage than I already had. It was my fucking fault he was here in the first place. Trying to work out what I could say that was the least likely to get my balls cut off, I said, “I got your pizza.”

He gazed at me like I’d lost my mind, and I shrugged. “You’ve got two choices. We either go to an ER and check you out or I take you to the team’s apartment for a few days until you tell me what happened. You aren’t staying here.”

“No,” Shae said flatly. “I’ve sponged enough off Diesel and Pink.”

He hadn’t, but any argument was pointless. “Fine,” I said and straightened up, catching the flash of disappointment in his eyes before he lowered them, and wondered if I was going to regret this. Not that I could do anything else. He wasn’t staying here. “Grab a bag.”

“I’m not going to the apartment.”

“No,” I said, still convinced I was insane. “You’re coming home with me.”

Thirty minutes later, I nearly groaned out loud at the comical expression on Shae’s face. Okay, so I knew he expected an apartment, and I had exactly that up to ten months ago when my aunty, who wasn’t even my real aunty, died and left me the farm. I had zero idea what to do with it, so I was living in the ranch house and allowing the pasture to be used by my neighbor, who ran a rescue for both dogs and horses. There was even a donkey who ruled the place, and despite them being nasty to dogs, Dolly simply ignored them.

My aunty would have hated living in a city, and she had just over eight acres when she died.

“This is yours?” Shae asked in awe as he climbed out of the truck.

“At the moment,” I said, grabbing Shae’s gym bag, which was all he seemed to have. Apparently, he’d left some clothes at Pink’s.

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