Page 79 of Gator

“Great. You start the coffee, and I’ll run down for food.”

“Sounds good to me.” I hopped up and tossed on a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt, then turned around to find him watching me.

“Aren’t you getting up?”

“I am. I was just thinking how glad I am you’re here. That you’re safe. I was so scared,mon petit. I kept thinking, what if they took your earring? What if I didn’t find you in time?” He paused and took a deep breath. “I can’t lose you, Julius. I wouldn’t survive it.”

I crawled back up on the bed and into his arms. He wrapped me up tight, and I could feel his body shaking. I’d been scared yesterday, but I’d been so relieved when he found me, so glad it was over, that I hadn’t given much thought to what it must’ve been like for him. “I’m here, Daddy. I’m here and I’m safe. You didn’t lose me.”

“I love you, Julius Petros. I love you and don’t you ever scare me like that again.”

“I don’t plan on it, but just so you know, I love you, too.”

I leaned up on my elbows and kissed him. He gripped the back of my head and deepened the kiss even more, but then my stomach growled. He pulled away with a chuckle. “To be continued. Right now, it sounds like I need to feed you.”

I was tempted to tell him he could just feed me his cock, but I really was hungry. I rolled over him and got up off the bed. “Okay, we both have our missions. Let’s make this breakfast happen.”

I went out of the bedroom and straight to Trixie’s cage. As soon as she saw me, she perked right up. “Mornin’ sunshine,” she said in a voice that sounded a lot like my yaya.

“Morning, Trix. You want to come out and play?”

“Trixie is a bird. Trixie can fly.”

“You sure can if you want to. Let’s get you out of there.”

I opened the cage, and she crawled out onto my wrist and spread her wings. “Going up. Going up.”

“Yep, we’re going up.” I lifted her to the top of the cage, and she hopped off my arm and up on her perch. “Let me get you a treat, pretty girl.”

“Stachios, Trixie is a pretty girl.”

I filled her cup with pistachios and set it on her cage. I watched her grab a nut and start chomping down on it like it was any other day. Of course, to her, it was. But not to me.

I could have woken up in that nasty-ass basement or worse, in some other basement that belonged to some asshole that purchased me from the previous assholes.

I didn’t, though. Instead, I woke up safe, warm, and in the arms of a man who loved me.

Speaking of the man who loved me, he was expecting coffee to be ready when he got back, so I needed to stop woolgathering, as Yaya always said, and get our coffee brewing.

An hour or so later, we’d finished breakfast when Gator’s phone rang. He flipped it over and looked at the caller ID.

“It’s Chance. He probably has an update for us.”

“Or more questions for me.” I rolled my eyes. I swear, last night it had felt like that would never end. “We might as well get it over with.”

Gator nodded and answered the phone. He listened for a minute and then said, “We’ll be right down.”

He hung up the phone and looked at me. “You ready?”

“Sure. Let’s do it.”

We walked into the conference room on the eighth floor. The Three Bears were already there. Hawk leaning against the table, Wolfe with his arms folded, Axel and Maddox trading a droll look. Chance stood in front of the whiteboard, FBI shoulder badge clipped to his belt, and when he saw us, he gave a little nod that was half thanks and half apology.

“Agent Kelly,” I said.

“Julius. Thanks for joining us. I was just about to brief the team, and I thought you might want to hear what I have to say. And you might as well call me Chance, all these degenerates do.”

Gator pulled out a seat for me and then sat down next to me. As soon as we were situated, Agent Kelly… Chance, began.