Page 45 of Mine to Keep
At least I pretend to. A shock of red hair in my periphery has me glancing to my right. The woman from the pub is standing on the sidewalk, her body angled away from me, talking to a man. Judging from his height and hair color, I’m almost positive it’s the man she was with when I first laid eyes on her in that pub.
I can tell by how she’s talking, her body relaxed and her gestures wild as if telling a story, that she hasn’t seen me.
It could be a coincidence, but the city of Toronto is too big for me to see the same couple that I saw in a random pub then again on the streets when I’m going on a city tour. It’s not uncommon for tourists to visit the same locations, but at the same time?
Not buying it.
My hand drifts to the knife that I have holstered under my arm, ready to pull it if I have to.
But the bus drives off without incident. It’s not until the tour guide starts telling everyone to pull their cameras out that I realize I didn’t snap a picture of the couple for Peggy.
I curse myself, but pull out my phone anyway, shooting a quick text to my handler.
Me: Just saw a couple that looks suspicious. In front of the Toronto City Bus Tour. Turner Street facing south ten minutes ago.
She doesn’t answer right away, so I pocket my phone. She’ll know I need her to check the CCTV cameras to find them. It could be nothing. They could be a couple of tourists that are here enjoying the sights.
Or they could be ops that are after me. I curse again, thinking about how I’ve been going without disguises since I got off the train in Siloq. Anyone searching for me will find me.
And they’ll find my boys.
I tamp down the panic that threatens to claw up my chest. No one is after me. If they were, Peggy would have told me. I wouldknow. After what happened with Olivia, Peggy would try to get word to me that I’m being hunted. Since she hasn’t, I need to chill.
Easier said than done. Outwardly, I’m calm, laughing with my boys and pointing out landmarks along the tour route, but internally, I’m making our exit plan. I need to get online and find flights for the two of them, get them safely back to either North Carolina or Puerto Rico. Then I need to make sure they don’t come looking for me. It was selfish of me to disrupt their lives, but I wanted to be selfish for a little while. I wanted something for me.
I hope I didn’t put them in danger because of it.
An hour and a half later, we climb off the bus, Javier and Talon grinning from ear to ear as they show each other the photos they took.
“Look,” Talon says, bouncing over to me. “I got this one of you. It’s a really nice picture.”
I look at the photo he snapped. In the background is one of the large buildings with amazing architecture, the sky clear and the sun shining almost directly on me. He snapped a picture of me while I was looking at our surroundings, and a small smile is tipping up my lips. It was a candid picture that wasn’t faked. I look relaxed. Happy. At peace.
Fuck, Iwantthat peace. With them.Becauseof them.
But I am who I am. As much as I say I want to retire, I know I would have to go underground and hide for years, maybe decades. I would live a life of watching my back. That’s not something I want for Talon and Javier.
Though Iyearnto be who they think I am. A man that saved them. A man who isn’t a killer. Someone that deserves them.
Talon’s smile falters as I stare at the phone. “Do you hate it?”
“No, little one,” I say. “It’s perfect.”
He smiles, leaning into me. “I thought so too. Can I put it on my social media? I want to tell everyone I have a new boyfriend. Cole will be pissed. Oh! What about one with the three of us? Since we’re all…you know…doing this? Right? Did I…” He looks up at me with wide eyes. “Did I jump the gun? Javi? Fuck, I’m sorry. I didn’t?—”
Javier wraps his arm around Talon. “Breathe, babe.” Talon looks at him and takes a deep breath. “It’s okay. We’re…you and me, we’ll always be together. Always. But you know we need…”
“Something more, yeah, I know.”
Talon looks so sad, so forlorn that before I can swallow the words, I say, “I’m your ‘something more’, my beautiful boys. I’m your Daddy. Okay?” His eyes are eager, though he looks guarded as he nods. “I’m not letting you two go. We may have met randomly, but I think we were supposed to. You, Javier, and I were meant to cross paths. You believe that?”
“Yeah,” he whispers. “I do. It’s kinda like a fairytale. Meeting a handsome man and linking back up days later, completely by accident. It’s like…fate or some shit.”
“Definitely fate,” Javier says, wrapping a strong arm around Talon. I take Talon’s hand in mine as we walk down the street.
Guess I don’t believe my own words. Fuck, how am I going to untangle all this?
“Maybe it was meant to be that Cole was a fucking asshole.” Javier’s voice softens as he asks, “How are you doing with the break up? You okay?”
