“I guess I’ll have to read it to you more often, then.”
Really?
He shook his head lightly at whatever expression I had made.
“You are adorable. Did you know that?”
At that comment, I ducked my head, cheeks heating. I was anything but that.
“Sweet, too.”
That didn’t help the heated cheeks, which I was glad my hair covered my face.
As Sabastian passed, taking the pan of whatever it was to the table, he paused to press a kiss to the top of my head.
Chapter 24
Sabastian
He was sweet and adorable.
Oakley was different than the bought people I’d been around before. I hated calling them slaves, even though that was exactly what they were. A piece of meat, a thing that was expected to do as they were told at any given moment.
But, they were all human despite the circumstances they all found themselves to be in. Oakley is included.
The boy was human, very much so. A scared, skittish one, but I could see the little changes here and there that have happened since I brought him into my home.
He wasn’t entirely frightened of me, which was a small blessing. I’m not sure how I’d be able to do much of anything to gain his trust if he hid away the entire day and night, like so many slaves in the past were known to do.
As the days passed, his eyes lightened up. Maybe he wasn’t so sure that death was knocking at his door any longer.
He wasn’t happy, and it didn’t take much to see that small fact. But he could be if I could figure out how to show him that there was life to be offered. Money wasn’t an issue for me, at all, and I’d happily spoil him rotten if he’d let me.
“Are you sure you didn’t get hurt?” Oakley’s timid question was spoken just loud enough to draw me out of my thoughts, forcing me to pause with the spoon halfway to my mouth.
“Positive.” I forced a tired smile. A few bruises on my knuckles, which would be easy enough to play off.
I’d have made a comment about him seeing the other guy, who was now dead and floating down a river somewhere, but I didn’t think he’d enjoy that idea.
The man who I didn’t bother to get a name from, because let's be real. Anyone who had plans to track down my boy would pay with their life. The dead man wasn’t a threat anymore, but he sure as hell had been with plans to try to get close to me anduseandtakeOakley away from me.
The boy sitting beside me wasn’t for sale. He’d never be again for as long as I was alive.
He was mine, damn it.
The man was easy to bribe to get information from too, which was slightly a shame. I wanted to draw out more pain, more screams. But he was a blabber in the end. And gave me everything I wanted and more.
His blood mostly stained my shirt because I had to help lift him the old fucker in and out of the van, one that was currently being washed of any crime committed.
Oakley’s eyes looked me up and down like he wasn’t entirely sure about that fact.
“I’m fine, little one,” I promised, setting my spoon down before reaching a hand across the table so that if he wanted, he could touch me. “It’s part of the job.”
Well, mostly it was. These days, I had men who did the dirty work. It wasn’t often I had to get my handsdirty, which I preferred anyway. Standing back and watching men under me torture answers out of others was better. And even then, it didn’t happen as often as it once had.
Oakley nodded once, either for whatever thoughts that ran through his mind or at my answer. I couldn’t tell which, and I was too tired to figure it out.
It really had been a long day, and not just because I was protecting what was mine. It’d been a long week if I wanted to think about it.
