“Are you hurt anywhere else?”
Stephen looked away from Jaxson to Brenden, who was standing beside his partner. Jaxson removed his hands from his shoulders and stepped to the side. He stood with his arms crossed over his chest and suddenly Stephen felt as if he gained a protector without asking for one.
“Um… no, I’m fine,” he answered. It surprised him that Brenden was talking to him much less checking on his well-being. He couldn’t read Brenden’s expression and wondered if he was asking out of concern or curiosity.
“Good,” Brenden grunted, then walked away, leaving Jaxson and Stephen alone.
Stephen sighed and looked away from Brenden’s retreating back.He’s never going to forgive me. Oh well, there’s nothing I can do about it.
“Give him some time,” Jaxson said, breaking into his thoughts. “He’s trying to deal with everything you told him.”
Well, so am I.But he didn’t say that out loud. “I guess he told you?” Jaxson nodded. “I shouldn’t be surprised.” He wasn’t offended that Jaxson knew why there was so much tension between him and Brenden. “Hey, do me a favor.”
“If it’s killing someone, I’m going to have to pass on that one,” Jaxson joked.
“Nothing so detrimental,” Stephen said smiling. “Don’t mention this to my uncle, I still haven’t told him yet. He’s out for blood because he doesn’t know the entire story and that’s partly my fault.”
“Shit, you don’t make things easy,” Jaxson commented as they walked out of the assisted living home.
The staff, who was able to get out before Lawrence cornered them, were helping the uninjured residents back into the building. Some residents stayed inside of their apartments when they heard the sounds of the gunshots. A few of the officers were going around to check on them. Ambulances were loading the three victims that were injured. Sadly, one person had died. He looked at the rows of cop cars parked in front of the place, Lawrence Redding was sitting in the back of one of them looking pretty beat up.
“We need to get someone to Lawrence’s house,” Stephen told Jaxson.
“Already done,” Jaxson answered. “We heard he killed his mother and brother. Excellent work by the way. Keeping him calm enough so that he didn’t hurt the hostage.”
“Thanks.” He smiled. “Hey, and thanks for backing me up.”
“You’re one of us, of course we will be there for you,” he said then looked back at Brenden, who was talking with one of the tactical team members. “Why don’t you get checked out, get your lip looked at,” he advised as he brought his fingers to Stephen’s face by the chin moving it from side to side, then whistled. “That’s going to leave a mark.”
He pulled away from Jaxson and smiled. “I’m good, honest. Look, I’m going to head back to the office,” he told Jaxson who nodded his head. Stephen backed away and pulled out his phone, the caller answered on the second ring.
“What’s up?”
“I need to see you, now. I kind of got into an altercation and need to make sure that everything is alright,” Stephen told the person on the phone.
“Okay, how far are you?” the caller asked.
“I’m about ten minutes away,” he answered.
“Okay, see you in a few minutes, meet me in my office, I will have everything set up for you when you get here.”
“Okay, thanks,” Stephen said, getting into his car and driving off.
** ** ** ** **
Brenden walked out of the building and went to stand beside his partner. “He did a good job,” Brenden said to Jaxson.
“Did you doubt he would?” Jaxson asked.
“No, I know how capable he is at his job. He jumps in head first sometimes. But I can give him a pass on it this time.”
Brenden looked around; things were starting to clear up. The residents were a bit shaken, but that was to be expected. The police were directing traffic so that the ambulances could easily get out. Brenden felt a bit unsettled. When he heard that Stephen was the only agent in the building with a crazy gun-wielding man, his heart stuttered.
The only thing he could think about was him getting killed. He didn’t know if he could be a father to a child he’d never met if something were to happen to Stephen and he wasn’t there to protect him. Brenden realized that he was going to need to swallow his pride and talk to Stephen. He realized that he couldn’t keep hiding behind his job and his anger. It wasn’t Nicholas’ fault that he was thrown in the middle of his and Stephen’s drama.
“You see him as your little brother, don’t you?” Brenden asked Jaxson.
“I do,” Jaxson answered. “There’s something about him that just screams ’protect me,’ even though I know he can take care of himself. I felt it the first time I met him.”
