“Despite my mistakes, I will always protect you when you need me,” he admitted. “I did a shit job of it years ago, but I’ll do what needs to be done to keep you safe, D’Artangnan. You’re worth protecting, and I hope and pray someone back home for you does that daily. You deserve that and more.”
That hurt Michael so much.
Because there was no one back home to protect him like Graham had. Oh, he had family, but he’d never had his heart after he’d left him.
It stayed with Graham, and now, he saw that. Riley…he had been nothing compared to this man.
As they sat there, Michael wanted to weep.
This proved one thing to him.
The universe was in charge. He’d just said last night he wanted someone to protect him for a change, and here, he had just that. Graham had dove into the water not knowing what the odds were, and he’d somehow broken him free.
He’d saved him.
How did he make that make sense?
Up to that moment, this was the man who had broken him into pieces all of those years ago, and in one courageous act, he managed to start putting the pieces back together again.
He was confused.
He was scared.
He was…aroused.
All of those feelings came back in a wave, and they overwhelmed him like nothing else ever had. Seven and a half years had passed, and it felt like seconds.
The pull back to this man was there, and Michael couldn’t pretend it wasn’t.
The heart loved who it loved, and sometimes, that never went away.
He considered his last year with Riley, and all of the moments that they shared together. Each and every one paled in comparison to those moments with Graham.
In their shit apartment.
Fighting a rich man’s war.
Sacrificing blood, body, and soul to do battle against an enemy of right from wrong.
As his arms moved around him tighter, Michael let him hold him.
Because he needed this.
Along with the notes he’d left, and the truth he’d told in them, Michael knew one thing.
He.
Wasn’t.
Angry.
Anymore.
As he’d sat in that chair all night, watching over the sleeping man, he’d desperately wanted to climb into the bed and just weep.
He wanted to be near him so he could feel again. What he’d realized was that he’d not felt a single goddamn thing for the years that followed him leaving.
And that was his fault.
