Page 14 of Crowe
Crowe
I glanced over at Noah in the passenger’s seat. He was obviously shaken up, but he was hanging in there. That didn’t surprise me. What he’d been through last year would’ve broken most people, but Noah was strong. I’d seen it in his eyes that day we rescued him from the traffickers’ basement. He was determined not to let the bad guys win. To reclaim what they’d taken from him.
What we’d found in that basement was deplorable, and yet Noah still hadn’t hesitated. He stood up, walked straight to me, and calmly asked if he could leave the basement. That bravery had brought out a protectiveness in me that was normally reserved for those I actually cared about. I was a trained paramedic, and I’d seen my fair share of ugly shit. But in that moment, all the training had faded away, and all I’d wanted was to take care of that poor wounded boy in front of me.
It had taken me a minute to pull my attention away from him and do my job, and that had scared me. That was why I’d mostly kept my distance when he was staying at HQ. The Daddy in me had wanted to take over and fix everything for him, but he’d needed time to heal and put himself back together. Unfortunately, no one could do that for him. He would have to do that himself.
And he had. He’d done the work, and it showed. He’d gotten some color back in his face and had put on a little bit of weight. My guess was he’d been working out, trying to get strong enough to protect himself. I glanced over at him. He was staring out the window, lost in thought, while he worried his lower lip between his teeth. I wanted to tell him to stop it before he hurt himself, but I didn’t. He wasn’t mine, and I had no business telling him what he should or shouldn’t do, so instead, I turned my attention back to the road.
“So,” he said after a few minutes of silence. “You never told me where we’re actually going. You said something to Wolfe about a cabin?”
“Yeah, I’m technically on vacation this week. I was staying at our family cabin. That’s why I was able to get to you so quickly, and that’s where we’re headed.”
“They called you in off vacation because I didn’t answer my phone? Yikes. Sorry about that.”
“You have nothing to be sorry about. Your safety is way more important than my vacation.”
“I should’ve had my phone on me, though.”
“I agree. You should always keep it on you in case you need to call for help, but in this instance, it’s good you didn’t. If you’d answered, Wolfe wouldn’t have called me, and I wouldn’t have been here when they showed up.”
He gave a little shiver and huffed out a breath. “Yeah, I don’t even want to think about that. I still hate that your vacation was ruined, but I’m really grateful you were so close.”
“Eh. I was getting bored anyway. I only took time off because I had too much vacation time on the books. Caden was getting all worked up about it.”
“Caden?”
“He’s Wolfe’s assistant. Well, I guess technically he’s all the guys’ assistant, but mostly he works for Wolfe.”
“Yeah, I know who he is. He was really nice to me while I was there, but why was he worked up about your vacation time?”
“Hawk and Gator are aces when it comes to planning missions, training, and protecting clients, but business isn’t exactly their specialty. Running the business end is pretty much all on Wolfe. And while he’s a great leader, he isn’t a businessman. That’s where Caden comes in. Wolfe’s great at security, but not so much at things like payroll and paperwork.”
“You run a camp, right? Julius said you don’t live in the building like most of the other guys.”
“Right. I prefer living out there. I love all the guys like brothers, they’re the best, but they’re a lot. I’ve always been more at home out in the country than in a city.” I turned off the road onto the dirt lane that led up to the cabin. “For example…” I took the curve around the big oak tree and then motioned towards the cabin.
I knew it wasn’t anything fancy. It was small and pretty rustic, but I’d always felt more at home here than just about anywhere else.
“Oh, it’s adorable,” Noah said, and I laughed.
“Adorable, huh?” I couldn’t wait to tell my brother he’d called Gramps’ cabin adorable.
“Yeah, all it needs are some flowers on the steps and maybe a dog lying on the porch.”
“Unfortunately, someone would have to live here full-time for a dog and flowers. I make it up a few times a year at most. Come on, let’s get you inside. It’s small, but it has everything we need until Wolfe figures out our next move.”
I got out and grabbed his bag.
“Do you need me to wait out here while you clear the place like before?”
“No, this place has a state-of-the-art security system. If anyone had even gotten close to the cabin, it would’ve alerted me.”
After we went inside, I crossed the room and placed Noah’s bag on the bed. I turned around and found him standing in the doorway, not moving.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. It’s nice, but is that the only bed?”
