“I’ll keep a close eye on you,” I promise. “If you get dizzy, if you feel off…hell, if you have to piss…I’ll know.”
He smiles sleepily. “You always seem to be watching me.”
“Damn right,” I mutter, brushing hair from his face. “Now come on, baby. Let’s get this over with.”
He leans into me more than he probably realizes.
As I help him to his feet, his fingers curl instinctively into the front of my shirt.
Fuck, he’s exhausted.
As we head down the stairs and out the front door, I make myself a promise. Not the stupid, impossible kind where I pretend I can out-muscle his condition, but the one Icankeep.
I’ll be watching him every second tonight.
If he sways, I’ll catch him.
If he goes down, he won’t hit the floor.
If his body shuts off again, it’ll shut off right into my arms.
He’s not fainting alone again.
Not while I’m breathing.
I hold him steady as he gets his balance, his hand still on my chest, his eyes half-lidded but trusting.
I want to pick him up and carry him, but I also know he needs to feel strong enough to do this on his own.
“Easy,” I murmur. “Lean on me as much as you need. Hell…lean more than you need.”
His lips twitch into a tiny, sleepy smile.
And with one arm around his waist and the other ready to grab him if he so much as blinks too slow, I guide him toward the clubhouse.
Club meeting or not…brothers or not…bomb or not.
My eyes aren’t leaving him for a damn second.
***
“Has anyone seen my fucking phone?” Maverick asks as we all settle into the war room.
It takes everything in me not to pull Eli into my lap where he fucking belongs. He doesn’t realize that every brother in this room would throw themselves in front of a bullet the second they understood he was mine… but those same brothers are big, loud, and carved out of intimidation.
So I gave him space.
Not much…but enough.
“Want me to track it?” Foster asks.
“Not unless you can track it to its exact location within this compound,” Maverick says. “I had the damn thing five minutes ago.”
“It’s in the kitchen,” Foster grins.
“How the hell—”
“Security cams,” he says smugly. “You grabbed a water and set it on the stove.”
