Page 14 of Merciless Protector

Given my mouth and nose were covered, I had no choice but to breathe it in. As I did, a white van pulled into the lane. I heard the grandmotherly woman say to the men, “Drive out. If she’s being followed, they will follow you. If they pull you over, cooperate. There’s nothing in there that will land you in jail. They’ll look like fools.”

My heart sank as I slowly drifted off to dreamland. I felt myself being shoved into the trunk of the sedan before darkness overtook me.

9

MATT

The second call I made was to my sister.

“Hello, this better be dumbass,” she answered.

“Lizzy,” I said, happy to hear her voice.

“Matty, I’m going to kick your ass when I see you,” she spat. But then her tone gentled. “How are you?”

There was a bond created with your womb mate that couldn’t be explained. She knew me better than anyone ever would, including our parents. “Better now that I hear your voice.”

“What aren’t you telling me?”

I could feel myself breaking, but I maintained my composure. This call wasn’t about me. “How’s my nephew?”

When Lizzy had gotten pregnant, Connor had made the choice to stop his personal quest to slay the dragon of his nightmares. Instead, I’d taken on the beast with an ego that had eventually been humbled. The sum of my experiences prior to that night had given me a hero complex. I was free of that notion after three months on the inside.

“Your nephew’s good. Babbling a lot. But tell me how you are. For real this time.”

If there was anyone I could unburden myself with, it was her. Yet it wouldn’t be fair. “I’m good, for real,” I lied.

“I’m going to let it go for now. But you know you can tell me anything, right?”

I nodded, even though she couldn’t see me. “I know.”

And for the next few minutes, she regaled me with everything that had happened to her over the last few months.

“Mom is asking about you.”

It wasn’t as if I was surprised by the admission. The subject of our parents came up in almost every conversation we had. And because I hadn’t shared all the details behind my reasons for keeping my distance from them.

“What did you say?” I asked.

“The usual. You were fine and not much else.”

I hadn’t expected my sister to betray my trust. But me being locked up for so long was something different. Then again, Lizzy knew Mom couldn’t contact me. As much as I had my reasons for keeping them out of my life, I also didn’t want to bring harm to them.

“Is Connor around?”

“Yeah, let me grab him,” she said.

There was a rustling of fabric as she moved. “Babe,” I heard her say softly as if she had the phone at her side.

A second later, there was a muffled conversation before Connor took the phone.

“Matt.”

Though Lizzy called me Matty, hearing Connor call me Matt came as a shock. Not because he’d ever called me anything else. It just was different not being called Shawn. I’d known Lizzy all my life. It would have been a shock if she called me anything but Matty. I hadn’t known her husband that long. Hearing him call me by my birth name was a reminder that I wasn’t Shawn.

“Connor.”

“It shouldn’t have been you,” he said.

---