Page 23 of Just a Bit Guarded

And one time, he found Gadiel already looking his way.

Their gazes locked, and something shifted in Gadiel’s expression, the look of bleak helplessness finally gone. He seemed... mortified?But then again, of course he would be mortified. He was usually so sassy and cheeky, and this Gadiel couldn’t be more different. He looked miserable and meek. Tense. Almost afraid.

It bothered Will more than it should have.

Before he could stop himself, he winked at him.

Gadiel blinked, looking stunned.Some of the tension eased from his frame, his posture becoming more natural and relaxed. After a moment, Gadiel winked back, a small smile tugging at his lips.

Sheikh Mustafa said something, his voice sharp, and Gadiel turned to him, the tension in his body returning, like prey sensing a predator.

It set a pattern for the rest of evening.

Over the next hour, as Gadiel became visibly distraught, he started looking at Will with an ever-increasing frequency, as if trying to reassure himself that he wasn’t alone here.

It made Will feel strange. Alert and… something else. It took him a while to realize what exactly he was feeling: satisfaction. Helikedit.He liked that he made Gadiel feel safe. It gave him a rush of satisfaction that had nothing to do with his job. It was more personal. More primitive. More… male.

What the fuck.

Will usually scoffed at the whole alpha male bullshit. He usually scoffed at the notion that a man was the provider and protector; this was the modern world, after all, and Will knew plenty of women who were better providers and protectors than men. But this primitive satisfaction he derived from Gadiel finding his presence comforting was too close to the alpha male bullshit he didn’t believe in.

More than a little disturbed, Will looked away from the kid.

That was why he didn’t know what prompted Gadiel to suddenly push his chair away from the table and get to his feet. He said something in Arabic, his voice tight and shaky, before storming toward the house.

Frowning, Will followed him.He didn’t bother informing the head of security that he was leaving—he was Gadiel’s bodyguard, not the family’s. Gadiel was his only responsibility.

He found Gadiel already waiting for him in the car.

“You okay?” Will said, noticing the moisture in Gadiel’s eyes.

Gadiel gave a small, crooked smile. “I’m fine,” he said, his voice not quite steady. “Let’s get out of here.”

Frowning, Will got into the back seat beside him, and Gadiel told the driver something in Arabic before closing the partition between them and the driver.

“What did he say to upset you?”

“Nothing I haven’t heard before. Never mind it. I’m fine.”

“It’s okay not to be fine, you know,” Will said, studying Gadiel’s white-knuckled grip on his white thobe.

“I’m fine,” Gadiel ground out, without looking at him.

Will hesitated. Normally, he would leave it alone. Frankly, it was none of his business. Itwasn’this job to guard Gadiel’s emotional state.

But the same maddening, illogically protective instincts didn’t allow him to leave it alone.

“You’re not. Your father upset you.”

Gadiel snorted, as if Will had said something funny. He crossed his arms over his chest, though it looked more like he was hugging himself. “It’s fine, really. I’m used to it. It doesn’t matter. I don’t care.”

Will eyed him for a moment, taking in the way the kid’s lips trembled faintly before he pursed them. Didn’t care, his ass.

“From what I could tell, your father is the sort of man who loves to hear the sound of his own voice,” Will said. “He barely let your brothers speak too.”

Gadiel’s lips twisted. “Yes. But the difference is, he loves them, in his own way. I know he does. Omar and Zain are thesons born by the wife he loved while I’m…” He chuckled. “I’m just a mistake, born by the wife he hated for not being her. He despises me, my very existence. Every time I go to that house, I feel like it would have been better if I didn’t exist.”

Christ.

---