Cowboy Gangster 03 - Outlaws of Love (15 page)

Angel rolled his eyes again and laughed. “He’s incorrigible,” he told Axel. “I swear it’s something in the club water. They’re all like that.”

“Aren’t you one of them?” Axel inquired with a small smile.

Angel cast him a sidelong mischievous look. “I wasn’t excluding myself,” he murmured then laughed.

They found the two younger kids in the backyard, sitting on the grass. Maddy was rolling a brightly colored tennis ball around which Jonah seemed determined to attack and conquer. The two kids laughed as the pup began to growl and jump around the ball.

“Hey,” Angel said, and Maddy looked around quick. His eyes skipped from Angel to Axel and he stood up. The girl beside him glanced back at them then crawled to her feet as well. Jonah wrestled with the ball a moment longer then took notice that others had arrived. It stared at them a moment, panting, ears pricked up as much as possible for his breed, his little pink tongue lolling out the side of its mouth –giving the impression that he was grinning.

An instant lump formed in Axel’s throat as he stared at the pup. He sank slowly to his heels and gazed at Jonah, his eyes stinging. The pup broke from its stationary position and bolted across the grass, piling into Axel. Its small paws and sharp puppy claws dug at Axel’s shirt as it struggled to get to his face and lick him enthusiastically. Axle laughed and swallowed thickly. He scooped the pup into his arms and hugged him fiercely as the animal’s wet tongue lathered his face and neck.

“I think he missed you,” Maddy grinned.

Axel buried his face in the pup’s fur and hugged him tighter, his throat straining with emotion. “I missed him, too,” he whispered unsteadily.

He stood up with Jonah in his arms, and cleared his throat, blinking back tears. He looked at Maddy. “Thank you,” he said quietly. “For taking care of him.”

“No problem,” Maddy smiled and scratched Jonah’s head. “I loved having him here. Me and Savannah will watch him anytime you need a babysitter.”

“Savannah
and I
,” the pretty blond girl beside him corrected, then smiled at Axel. “By the way, I’m Savannah.” She looked at Maddy and Angel and rolled her eyes in a way that was quite adorable. “These boys have no manners.”

Angel chuckled. “That’s true.” He cast Savannah an apologetic look and gave a small bow. “Forgive me, M’Lady?”

She sighed. “Sometimes I think I’m the only adult in this family.”

“Of course you are, darling,” Dane spoke from the doorway. “You’re the only girl.” He grinned and descended the porch steps. “Don’t you know by now that boys never grow up?”

“That’s encouraging,” she mumbled, flashing Axel a small, amused smile that told him she adored them all just the way they were.

“Now come here and give me a hug, beautiful,” Dane said. Savannah eagerly embraced the man.

Angel flashed a mock scowl. “I notice I lose ranking when the girl is around.
I
used to be
beautiful
.”

“No you didn’t,” Maddy snickered. “So-so looking, but trust me –you were never
beautiful.
”

“You little brat,” Angel socked the kid in the arm.

Axel laughed and stroked Jonah’s fur. The pup had started to calm a bit, but continued to paste him with the occasional “kiss”.
I’m sorry I sent you away. Please forgive me.
He cuddled the pup against his neck and tried to hold back other memories that were linked with the animal.
I don’t want to think about him. Please, God, I just want to forget him.

♦

Dane re-entered the house when his cell rang and he saw that it was Gabe. “Hello?”

“Hey, it’s me,” Gabe said with a tautness to his voice. “I need to talk to you. Soon. Can you come to the club?”

Dane switched the phone to his other ear as he halted in the rear hallway. “Yeah, no problem,” he murmured. “Is something wrong?”

“Axel’s still with you guys, isn’t he?”

“Yes,” Dane replied slowly. “Why?”

“Good,” Gabe said. “Bring him and Angel with you.”

“Okay,” Dane frowned, his pulse quickening. “What’s going on?”

A brief silence, then Gabe spoke low. “I talked to Clint. He told me why he’s been away these last couple days. Why he took off in the middle of the night.”

“And?”

Gabe cleared his throat. “I’ll explain when you get here. Just…don’t say anything to Axel about Clint calling me.”

“All right.” Dane’s frown tightened. “Are
you
going to tell him?”

“Not just yet. Like I said, I’ll explain when you get here.”

“Okay, then,” Dane murmured. “We’ll be there in fifteen to twenty minutes.”

When he ended the call, Dane’s heart thumped against his ribs in an erratic tempo. Clint had warned them to be alert. Had the threat level just gone up?

♦

The nurse was flustered and making a valiant attempt to stand her ground –and failing miserably, caught in the burning fury of the cowboy’s jade eyes. “Sir…” she tried again. “Visitors can’t be in here in non-visiting hours.”

“Don’t think of me as a visitor,” Clint growled and the woman recoiled. “Think of me as his fucking
bodyguard
. I am not leaving him alone in this fucking incompetent hospital.” He raked his hair and his glare hardened. “He was
shot,
for fuck’s sake. So you let just any random fucker walk right into his room? If you’re so fucking rigid about the visiting hours –how the
fuck
did that bastard get into his room during
non-visiting hours?
”

At a loss for an explanation, the nurse murmured submissively, “I’ll have you speak with Mr. Romero’s doctor.”

“You do that,” Clint ground out in a brittle tone.

The woman quickly left the room.

“I’m not leaving,” Clint told Cory. Cochise stood in silence by the window. The two older men had gone in search of coffee, but wouldn’t be leaving the hospital until they knew for certain Cory had a twenty-four hour watch on him.

“I’m sorry, Uncle Clint,” Cory whispered. “I didn’t know.”

“Stop apologizing,” Clint said gruffly. “It isn’t your fault. He’s fucking playing with us –first coming in here, then walking right up to my fucking car and speaking to me directly. He’s one confident motherfucker.”

Cochise shifted his feet. “Or arrogant,” he muttered. “There’s a difference. If he’s
confident
, then he poses more of a threat. But an arrogant man is a weak man, and his arrogance will get his ass in a sling.”

“Then let’s hope it’s arrogance.”

Cory pushed himself up in the bed a fraction, wincing. “Did you call Gabriel?” he asked, his voice uneven. “Tell them to keep an extra-close watch on Axel?”

“Yeah,” Clint mumbled. “I explained the situation.”

Sighing heavily, Cory sagged into his pillows. “I need to get home,” he breathed. “I need to be there closer to him.”

“Until you recover,” Clint said. “You’re going to be staying with your dad.” Cory started to speak and Clint jabbed a finger at him. “No arguments, you got it? You’re in no condition to be of any help to him, anyway, should…” He faltered. “…Anything happen.”

“I don’t need mobility to pull a trigger,” Cory murmured stiffly. “And maybe I wasn’t just talking about physical protection,” he added with a slightly softer tone. “Axel needs his friend
Jimmy
for moral and emotional support.”

Clint felt the sting of Cory’s implications as surely as if the kid had reached out and slapped him in the face. “He’s with Angel and Dane. He’s got…support. He’s covered. You don’t need to worry about him.”

“If that’s true,” Cory asked quietly. “Then why are
you
still worried about him?”

Clint tried to deny his own fears, but they were bubbling up and boiling over without his consent or control. With every passing second, he had to force himself not to rush home, just to see with his own eyes that Axel was still in good hands –and safe.

Home.
The word was beginning to haunt him. The first place he’d felt any sense of home was when Nathan Sanitini took him in. But even that hadn’t had the feel of Axel’s apartment…Axel’s arms.
Home is where the heart is.
Or maybe the heart itself was the
home
.

“My concern is for us
all
,” Clint spoke low, tight as his stare flicked to the Egyptian who watched him, unwavering. “This fucker is a threat to every one of us. Axel is not my
only
priority.”

Clint trembled, the implication of his own words hitting him hard.

Maybe Axel wasn’t his “only” priority –but he just admitted he was one of them.

♦

“What are we dealing with?” Anthony sank down on the bench next to the coffee vendor, the hot drink warming his palms through the Styrofoam cup. He leaned forward and gazed blankly at the hard tiled floor. “Who the fuck is this guy?”

Angelo sat next to him and sipped his coffee. “I don’t know,” he whispered.

“It’s like trying to find a fucking chameleon,” Anthony said tightly. His nerves were frayed –
shredded.
A permanent knot twisted his guts and refused to release. “He was right there –
in his room
,” he choked, his emotions rising suddenly. “He could have…” He swallowed hard. “I am not
fucking
okay with my son’s fate in some deadly motherfucker’s hands.” His throat worked, pushing tears into his eyes. “I lost one son. I will
not
fucking lose
another.
”

His arm going around Anthony’s shoulders, Angelo hugged him and kissed his head. “We’re not losing anyone else,” he whispered with determination. “No one is getting near Cory. They’ll need the fucking National Guard to pry Clint away from his bedside. And when we get him home, he’ll be under our watch until he recovers and can look out for himself.”

Anthony straightened slowly as Angelo’s arm remained strong around him. He held the man’s stare for a long moment, seeing everything that had for so long remained veiled…yet now shone through without hindrance.

I’m sorry I stopped you. I wish we had made love.

Since that first day at the motel, though…they had kept their respective distances. What if it had been their last chance? Despite Angelo’s care and affection for him now, Anthony had to wonder if they would ever get back to
that
moment again.

Or would they go to their graves with the truth of their love still locked up tight in their hearts –confined there by an age-old guilt that Anthony no longer knew if it was real or imagined.

♦

“Aw, puppy is back!” Gavin abandoned the customer he was flirting with and rushed over to the three men entering the club. He reached out and stroked Jonah’s back, his face lit up with a grin. “Can I hold him? Please?” he begged Axel, his dark eyes sparkling with affection for the puppy.

“Yeah,” Axel smiled and handed him over.

“Where’s the cowboy?” Gavin took the pup and cuddled him.

Axel tensed and Angel spoke up quickly. “He’s out of town.”

“Oh,” Gavin nodded. He began cooing and baby talking to the pup –which caused Jonah to wriggle excitedly and smother him with puppy kisses. Gavin attempted to dodge his wet tongue, laughing.

“He’s an affectionate little thing, isn’t he?” Angel grinned. He cast a sidelong glance at Axel, who remained slightly tense.

“Who?” Tommy appeared out of the small crowd of customers and approached them, a smirk on his face. His tight black leather pants slicked to his body like a second skin, his torso bare with a light sheen of sweat. He swept his hand through his auburn hair. “The puppy –or Gavin?”

“Well, I was talking about the pup,” Angel smiled. “I don’t know about Gavin –you tell me.”

“Hey.” Gavin looked up, a sexy pout on his lips. “We dance and that’s all. No exchange of
affection
outside of the club.”

Tommy sighed with barely veiled frustration. “Unfortunately, he’s right.”

Angel glanced at Axel and the two chuckled as Axel began to relax again. “So how’s your new living arrangement going?” Angel asked Gavin, suppressing a grin.

Groaning, Gavin rolled his eyes. “Stuck in a small bedroom with him…” He tossed a nod back at Tommy. “You can imagine.” He snickered and pressed his face into Jonah’s soft fur.

“I keep telling him,” Tommy said. “There’d be more room if we’d change out the twin beds for one full size.”

Gavin looked at Angel dully. “Obviously I sleep with one eye open.”

“That’s just so you can sneak a peek at my goodies,” Tommy wriggled his eyebrows and slung his arm around Gavin’s shoulders. “Isn’t it, baby?” He kissed his cheek.