Page 13 of Mine to Keep (Bloody Desires #10)

The rambling is back and I smile. He might still be hurting, but it looks like food and no longer worrying about where they were going to sleep until they can fly home did wonders.

“Yeah. Let’s go.” I leave enough money on the table to cover our bill and I escort them out.

We hail a cab and I tell the cabbie to take us to the same hotel Javier and Talon were already familiar with. Even though they said they wanted to get away from Cole, they’re okay with staying there.

When we get to the hotel, I step up to the desk while the two of them sit in chairs in the lobby and wait. “Two rooms,” I say, pulling my wallet from my back pocket. “One with a double bed and one with?—”

“I’m sorry sir,” the attendant behind the desk says.

“We only have one room. The executive suite. But it has two bedrooms and a sitting room that separates both bedrooms. One bathroom only, but it has a standing shower as well as a bath. You’ll have privacy.

” His face is a mask of apology as he rambles off details of the room.

Honestly, I couldn’t give a fuck less if it were one room or not. As long as I could be away from cameras, it was fine. I’ve been careful thus far, but I could slip up at any time.

Before I can tell him as much, Talon steps up beside me. “We don’t mind if you don’t. I just wanna lie down.” He sways a little, his eyes drooping.

“Okay, little one,” I say. For a reason I can’t name, I wrap my arm around his shoulder and kiss his forehead like I caught Javier doing all day.

Talon freezes for a moment, just as I do, then he melts into my side, hugging me quickly before walking back to his friend.

Javier looks at me with a raised eyebrow, but there’s no anger in his gaze.

Looking back at the concierge, I say, “I’ll take the room for a week.

” That’s the shortest amount of time they have to stay for their flight.

If they allow it, I’ll pay for them to leave early if they want.

I’ll propose the idea, but if I’m reading Javier correctly, he’ll turn me down.

It’s already too much that I’m paying for their room—I doubt he’ll want me to pay for more than anything he can’t immediately pay me back for.

The concierge looks uncomfortable. “Um, the room…it’s three hundred and fifty dollars a night.”

I look at him without blinking. “A week for the room, please.” I hand him my card and the identification that corresponds with it, careful not to give him my Knox ID.

He quickly takes my card and runs it. When it goes through, he hands it back and codes our keys.

He tells us when breakfast is served, how we can reach room service, and gives us locations to all kinds of tourist places nearby.

I don’t care about any of that, but maybe Javier and Talon will want to go out.

After we’re all checked in, I guide my boys to the elevator.

Wait, what? No, they’re not mine. I feel a sense of protectiveness for them, but they’re their own men, not boys. Not my boys.

When the elevator reaches our floor, I usher them inside the suite and Talon looks around, prancing from room to room, taking it all in. When he steps out of the first room he entered, he says, “This bed is bigger in here. So you should take this room, Knox. It’s because of you we’re even here.”

I put my bags in the other room, with the queen bed. “I take it the two of you will be sharing a bed.” They nod. “No need for me to take a king when it’s just me. I insist,” I say when they both try to plead their case.

Talon sighs. “Fine. I promise we’ll pay back every penny.”

“Go lie down,” I tell him gently, and Javier nudges him to the room.

We both watch as he drags himself into the room, shutting the door softly behind him.

I sit on the couch, fatigue crashing down on me. Sitting and talking to the two of them had me forgetting how bone-tired I am. Leaning my head back, I let out a long sigh.

“You like him,” Javier says, sounding both defensive and amused.

“I’m not sure,” I answer, not opening my eyes. I just need to rest them for a few moments, then I’ll go to my room and stretch out. My body is so tired, I can’t do anything but move my mouth to speak. “He seems?—”

“Fragile,” Javier finishes.

“Like he needs someone to take care of him,” I agree.

“He does. Talon is sensitive. He’s too good for this world. Cole wasn’t the one to do that.”

“But you are.”

“Or you are,” he fires back quickly.

I crack a lid open to look at him. “You need someone to take care of you, too,” I mention for a reason I can’t name. There is something about the two of them that has my insides all tied up.

Javier looks nonplussed. “No. I uh…I’m good.”

“Until you need someone.”

He stares at me, open-mouthed, like he wants to deny it, but knowing he can’t. They’re both fragile. Javier may come in a bigger package, but he’s as breakable as Talon. I don’t want anyone or anything to break either one of them.

He doesn’t get a chance to answer before his phone buzzes in his pocket. Javier pulls it out and groans, running a hand down his face.

“What is it?” I ask, opening my other eye and leaning forward.

Instead of answering, he hands me his phone.

I grab it and see he’s on his social media page.

A video is playing, but the sound isn’t audible.

I click the button and hear yelling between Javier, Talon, Cole, and a woman.

On the upside, the woman is on their side, asking Cole why he didn’t inform her he was still in a relationship with the American boy he always used to talk to.

Javier’s face is red, his lean, muscular arms trying to reach over and grab the front of Cole’s shirt, while Talon and a few others try to pull him back. Talon has tears running down his face, anger and hurt clouding his expression.

“You could have just told me,” Talon says when the shouting dies down. “I would have let you go.”

“No, you wouldn’t have,” Cole says in a nasally, snarky tone. “I’ve been trying to quit you for months, but you held on.”

Talon gasps, more tears running down his cheeks. “Sorry I was such a burden to you.” He sounds hurt, his voice thick with emotion. “Let’s go, Javier.”

The person who recorded the video flips it to himself and says in a heavy English accent, “That’s tough. Cole is a right git for two-timing. Hey! Let it go!” The video starts shaking, then it turns off.

Javier bursts to his feet, pacing. “I should have beat his ass.”

“And ended up in a Canadian jail, leaving Talon alone? Nah. It’s best it happened this way. Now Talon knows who Cole is. You can shoot your shot now.”

“What? No. That’s not what we have. We’re friends. Best friends.”

“You’ve never thought about it?”

“Once or twice when we met. But we’re better as friends.” He looks towards the room, then comes to sit beside me. “Can I tell you something?”

“Yeah.”

He runs his hands through his hair, nerves dancing across his face. “It’s weird telling you this, since I don’t know you. But me and Talon would need the same thing. I’m good for him as a friend, but like you said…we need someone to…”

“Take care of you,” I say in a low voice, reaching out to thumb gently across his cheek.

He sighs. “Yeah. It’s weird. I know I can take care of myself.

I know I’m capable of beating ass and sticking up for both of us, but …

I don’t know. It’s better when I have, when we have, someone else.

We’ve talked about it before and we’d be great together, but neither of us can change what we need or who we are. ”

I tip his chin up, watching his pupils dilate as his lips part to take in a shaky breath. “You don’t have to explain. I can see how much you two need it. Together or separately, you both deserve that. You say he’s too good? You are too. I can feel that “

They both remind me of what I lost. Of what was snuffed out before her fire got a chance to burn bright. Not in a romantic way, though, in a caretaking way.

“Knox?” Javier sounds as fragile as I imagine him to be.

I open my mouth, not sure what I’ll say, but then a small voice says, “Javier? Can you come here, please?”

Javier snaps out of his daze and pulls back from my touch. He stares at me for a few beats, then says, “Yeah, here I come.”

He hurries off to the room, sparing me one last glance before he slides inside.