Page 7 of Mine to Keep

“So does that mean you’ll be leaving?”

“Yes. We will schedule you Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. That way I’ll see you at the beginning of the week, middle, and right before the weekend.”

He bit his lip. “Something about you being here made me less nervous. I knew if I had an issue, you’d come running from your room.”

I chuckled. “Which has never happened. You’re going to be fine. You’ll be completely independent again soon, and I’ll be here three days a week. If at any time one of us feels you need more, we can reevaluate, but, JJ?” I squeezed his hand. “You got this.”

He hummed. “Okay.”

“Tomorrow is Saturday, so I’ll pack up and head out in the morning, but I’ll see you first thing Monday morning.”

He got up and I followed but he engulfed me in a hug. “I know you say I did all the work, but I couldn’t have done it without you, Matt.”

My chest warmed, and I hugged him back. “Wearea great team.”

“Yes, now please come have cake?”

I didn’t want to face Nick, but the puppy-dog eyes JJ was giving me were impossible to resist.

“One piece.”

He fist-pumped. “Great, let’s go.”

Trepidatiously, I entered the kitchen behind JJ. The cake was on the table, iced, and even decorated. Scrawled over the top was, “You did it, my vicious viper.”

“Aww, my Viking.” JJ turned toward Shepard, where they started hugging, which turned into kissing and then, yeah, I moved to a seat far from them.

“Oh, fucking stop!” Angel bellowed and slammed a cake slicer on the table. “Can we do this? I gotta go see Two at the facility.”

I cocked my head to the side. I wasn’t very familiar with Two but I knew Four, and I had so many questions. Why were their names numbers? Were those nicknames? Why was Two in a facility and Four in this house?

“Two is getting the help he needs after being brainwashed to kill people for his whole life. He’s been getting therapy and such,” Nick said, which earned him a smack to the back of his head from Angel.

“Maybe shut the fuck up, Chatty Cathy. What the hell?” Angel jerked his chin in my direction. “He has no idea the shit that’s gone down. You open your mouth, and we’re all gonna get arrested.”

Okay, that was eye-opening. I’d suspected there was something up with these brothers, but I’d thought maybe it was just a minor thing. Judging by Angel’s reaction, I had to reassess that.

“Now who’s the moron?” Gabe snorted. “You spilled more than Nick did with your big-boss attitude.”

Everyone turned to look at me. I had a fork in my hand and an empty plate waiting for my cake so I could get out of here.

“What?”

“What do you mean, what?” Angel glared.

“Oh, would you lay off?” JJ sighed and came to sit next to me. “Matt’s good people.”

“I literally have no idea what any of you are talking about. JJ asked me to have cake; after that I’m packing my stuff up, and I’ll be heading home tomorrow.”

“What!” Nick’s head shot up at the same time Shep said, “You’re quitting?”

JJ chuckled. “Wow. No. I’m doing so well, Matt only needs to come in three times a week. I don’t need live-in care anymore, so he can finally be at his own place more often.”

“That’s great.” Mason beamed from across the table.

“He’s really done remarkably well. He can’t go walking on his own yet, so I hope you’ll all rally to help with that. But I will be here Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays for the next month—then we will see where he’s at.”

Everyone was thrilled for JJ; there was so much love at this table. Yet when I locked eyes with Nick, he had a small frown on his face. You’d think he’d be happy I was leaving…I sure was going to be glad I didn’t have to hide…err…I mean…oh, fuck it, I was hiding from him.

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