Page 40 of Hog Tied

I got closer and said, “That doesn’t relax me, Javi, knowing that the other family wants him dead.”

“That’s over. Get him, come inside. He knows thesevatos, but you don’t. I swear on my husband’s life, it’s okay.”

“I’m the husband,” a man called from the porch, then began to descend.

Javi chuckled as Daniel Montello came to stand by him. “This is him, my Danny.”

I shook the man’s hand and saw him smiling shyly. That is not what I expected of a mafia prince. Brooding dark eyes sat deep under a heavy brow, scrutinizing me. Well, he wasn’t the only was scrutinizing.

“Danny, I’m Hud. Like I told your husband, I won’t allow Theo to hurt.”

“I wouldn’t hurt him,” he said in a voice much softer than I expected. “We don’t get along, but he’s my family.”

“Okay, well, who are the men on the porch.”

“Two men need hiding until their paperwork gets finished and brought to them. It’s the flavor that was negotiated. We can explain everything inside.”

“I’ll get Theo.”

I went to the passenger door and opened it before I knelt in the dirt next to him. He was staring through the driver’s window at Danny. “Are there here to kill me?”

“No. The favor is helping hide some people; at least, that’s what I got from the short conversation. If you don’t feel safe, I’ll call Burke right now, and he can come get you.”

“I’m fine,” he said, but his hand sought mine and held it tightly.

“I’m right here with you. Right here. Okay?”

Theo nodded once hard, then turned his head to me. I saw the fear in his eyes, but he refused to show it further. “Let’s go.”

I brought him out of the car but wouldn’t let him release my hand. If they were going to know, they needed to know he was mine.

We rounded the front of the car and stood side by side in front of Javi and Danny. Theo raised his chin in the way he had. “Hello, cousin.”

“Hello, Theo,” Danny said before stepping to him and kissing his cheeks. “Can we go inside now? It’s cold out here.”

“You turned off the cameras; why didn’t you just enter the house?”

“Javi wouldn’t let me.”

Up the stairs and closer to the two men rising from the metal chairs. The one was nearly as big as me, and I don’t mean only tall. His shoulders were broad and didn’t taper much as my eyes moved over him. Even his thighs were thick as tree trunks.

Ginger was gorgeous, and holding his hand, his partner was small, like Theo, brunet, and pretty as a picture. Big eyes blinked at me, but they weren’t afraid or innocent. There was something in them that told me he’d seen a lot. Maybe too much for a younger guy that was only perhaps thirty.

“High Master? High slave? What are you doing here?”

“It’s Ryan and Brett, for now, anyway, until our names are changed,” the big ginger said, smiling down at his partner.

Forget that my blood boiled at Theo calling any other man Master; the rest confused me as much as I was angered. “Who is this, Theo?”

His mouth shut quickly; I was surprised he didn’t break his teeth. But he started shaking harder, and I viewed that as the man being a threat. “Javi, can I speak to you and Danny in private?”

“No need, Hud. Once we’re inside, everything will be revealed,” he said with laughter that I didn’t join.

I opened the door, and the men filed in, but I held Theo back on the porch. “What’s going on? Who are they?”

“You heard him. Ryan and Brett. Let’s go in and see what’s going on.”

“I see you’re afraid of them, Theo. Why? How do you know them?”

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