“You took out a lot of his men. He’ll need to recoup; by then I’ll be settled, and he won’t even know where.”
Gideon was grinding his teeth so aggressively, I swore I could hear cracking. “I’m sorry, Penn. I can’t let you out of my sight right now.”
“Hmm…I see, so now you are taking me against my will?”
Gideon sighed. “If you must see it that way, fine. Let’s go.”
There were sirens in the distance, so I knew this wasn’t the time to fight. Sandwiched between Alex and Gideon, we left through the rear and got into an idling SUV.
There were already two guys in the vehicle, one driving and another in the back. Alex took the passenger’s seat, and Gideon got in beside me. The second the doors shut, we were off.
I wasglad there were no kids in sight at Gideon’s house. Rita, however, was there and speaking a mile a minute in Spanish. Dean was also there, clear fear on his face.
“I’m fine,” Gideon said to Rita. “Calm down, please.”
“Calm down?” she yelled, and I did not want to be part of this screaming match, so I went to the farthest side of the room and sat on a plush chair.
Through the window, I saw a lot of armed people fanning out around the property. For fuck’s sake, I had to figure a way to get the hell out of here.
“And you.” I faced Rita, who was pointing at me. “Stop running away from this house. Do you see now? Do you see who you’re dealing with?”
“I see a war between two men who hate each other, ignited by me doing a good deed. I’m not really part of this, just a piece, and I’m sure when I’m out of the equation, it’ll be one less thing to contend with.”
Rita did a slow pan to where Gideon was standing. “Was he hit in the head?”
“Possibly.”
“I was not!” I rolled my eyes. “I just want no part of this.”
“Well, too bad, because whether you like it or not, you are, and the only thing keeping you safe right now is my protection. So, maybe make all our lives easier for a while and stay put.” Gideon’s face turned red, a vein in his temple was bulging, and there was exhaustion in his eyes.
“Fine, can I at least shower? I have crap all over me.”
“I’ll show you to a guest room that has an en suite. That way you can rest if you’d like also.” Rita smiled now, a lot calmer, thankfully.
I glanced at Gideon before climbing the stairs behind Rita, and the intensity in his eyes almost made me stumble. I couldn’t tell why he was looking at me like that, but I had a feeling that if I stayed here long enough, I’d find out.
Rita showed me where the first-aid kit was, and I promised to clean my knuckles—which were a mess from pummeling thatguy. I’d forgotten about them and while they didn’t hurt, I could hear Tenny in my head, telling me“That’s why we keep clean and check all the time.”An infection could kill me, and I wouldn’t know until it was too late.
I showered, then cleaned my knuckles, applying the ointment as Rita had told me. When I stepped out of the en suite, a towel wrapped around my waist, I froze.
Gideon was sitting in a chair by the window, a pile of folded clothes in hand.
“I didn’t think you’d want to put on dirty clothes after a shower, so I have these for you. They belong to my brother; you’re both about the same size.”
I grinned and walked over to him. I didn’t miss the way his gaze moved along my body, and I’d have been lying if I’d said I didn’t like how he watched me.
“You could’ve left them on the bed; you didn’t have to wait for me.”
He smirked, and how that made him even more gorgeous I had no idea. “I wanted to make sure you were okay.”
“You mean this?” I lifted my hands. “Or the fact that you’re holding me here against my will?”
He stood abruptly, the clothes tumbling to the floor. I had to take a step back, but he just followed. “It’s for your protection.”
“Why?”
That pulled him up short. “What do you mean, why?”
