Page 38 of Up in a Blaze

My big, beautiful, protective beast.

CHAPTER TEN

BLAZE

Finally, I could fucking breathe again. My heart slowed, and the anger ebbed as soon as Henri nodded. He understood where my mind had gone. Why I did what I did.

“Sawyer, since we don’t have answers, maybe you could help us out?” Country asked.

Henri tipped to his toes and kissed my jaw. “Love you, mon amour. Nothing will change that,” he said softly.

Grunting, I tugged him in and tucked him under my arm. With a kiss to his temple, I nipped at his earlobe. “You’re mine, firecracker. Always got my love.”

Our attention shifted to the kid when he said, “The man’s dead?”

“Da, that is what he said,” Adrick said.

“Adrick,” Saint warned. “How about you go see your injured men?”

“Why? They did their job. They will get paid well for it.”

That man only had an inch of emotions inside him, and they went to his husband, West.

Saint sighed. “Fine. Then how about you keep any comments to yourself?”

The Russian glared at Saint but crossed his arms over his chest and gave him a look, as if to say “Well, keep going.”

“What was his name?” Sawyer asked.

“Bernard Simpson,” Country supplied.

Sawyer paled.

Shit. What the fuck had that motherfucker done?

The kid gulped.

“Sawyer, what is it?” Henri asked.

The kid shook his head.

“Sawyer, you gotta tell us,” Country said softly.

“S-Sorry, I will…. I just didn’t expect it to be him. He’s been hinting for me to live with him. Telling me he can take care of me. Saying he doesn’t want me with anyone else.” Tears welled. “I-If I’d thought he was serious…. He never got angry with me. Never hurt me.”

Henri shook his head as he tapped at my arms trapping him. I dropped them, and Henri moved over to Sawyer. “It matters not if he never hurt you or got angry, chéri.” He curled an arm around Sawyer’s shoulders, which meant Loyal had to drop his hand from the kid’s neck. He didn’t look happy about it but stayed silent as Henri went on, “Did you tell him you would like to live with him? That you wanted to be with him outside of Polished?” The kid was already shaking his head. “Exactly. You are not at fault for his actions. He wanted someone he could not have, and he didn’t handle that well.”

“I-I would have come to you if he was… if he was mean to me.” He wrapped his arms around his waist. “I felt like I was being watched, but….” He shook his head again.

“You get attention like my West.” Sawyer glanced over at the Russian. “You are used to people looking at you. You probably thought the feeling of being watched was just that, the attention you get. You wondered if you were overreacting,” Adrick said.

Sawyer’s gaze widened, but he nodded.

“Adrick, can I be the one to tell West you think Sawyer’s good-looking?”

Adrick advanced on Loyal, but Saint stepped in front of Adrick with a laugh to hold him back, and Sawyer moved closer to Loyal.

Looked like the kid might have something for the biker.