Guardian

by Brook Wilder

  “Remember, I always will keep you safe, Cheryl.”

  “Of course, you will,” she answered immediately as he stepped back. “You promised.”

  Jack’s expression softened just a hair before he exited the house.

  “Well,” my mom stated. “I will fix us all some breakfast then. Alice, show your boyfriend around, will you? We want our guests to be comfortable here. Derrek, welcome.”

  “Yes, Mom,” I forced out, feeling the fatigue set in.

  I would need a nap soon if I was going to keep up with the rest of them.

  But a nap would mean being alone with Derrek, and I didn’t know if I was ready for that.

  Chapter Seven

  Derrek

  “Bathroom. Towels are in the closet in the hallway.”

  I followed Alice down the hallway, trying not to watch her ass as it swayed. She hadn’t pulled her hair back up, and it was falling down over her shoulders in thick, dark waves that she kept pushing around as if it annoyed her.

  If I had my preference, I would ask her to wear it down all the time, bury my hands in it whenever I could.

  But it wasn’t the time or the place to discuss what I wanted to do to her. I could tell that she was nervous about me being here, around her mom and their personal business. I couldn’t blame her. It must be tough to care for a woman who couldn’t remember what was going on from one moment to the next.

  No wonder she had reacted the way she had about her father. Hell, I had reacted just the same. Jack? A father to Alice? Never before had he mentioned any other kids, and by the look on Fox’s face, even his second-in-command hadn’t known.

  It was a crazy fucking turn of events, that was for sure.

  Alice walked into a bedroom at the end of the hall, and I followed her, wincing as I entered.

  “Let me guess. You were going through a dark period in your life.”

  She looked about the room, her hands on her hips. The entire room was black, from the baseboards to every wall in the small bedroom. Hell, even the iron-framed bed was black.

  “I… Well, you know,” she said, pulling open a drawer on the black dresser. “Everyone goes through an awkward period in their life.”

  I crossed my arms over my chest as she rummaged around in the drawer.

  “I had one of those. I cut my hair into a mohawk.”

  She looked over her shoulder.

  “No, you didn’t.”

  I nodded.

  “I thought it looked cool. My mom didn’t think that much for it.”

  Alice pulled out a bundle of sheets from the drawer and dumped them on the bare mattress.

  “How old were you?”

  “Five,” I smirked, earning a smile from her. “Needless to say, it wasn’t even.”

  Alice fluffed out the fitted sheet, and I grabbed the other end, tucking it around the mattress.

  “I imagine you didn’t have any weird, awkward years.”

  I laughed as she smoothed out the sheet with her hands.

  “Hell, yes I did. I had a face full of acne and no mass to my body.”

  She eyed me, disbelief in her eyes.

  “You’re joking.”

  I grinned.

  “I haven’t always looked this good.”

  Her eyes widened, and she busied herself with the top sheet, apparently flustered. I had never met anyone as easily flustered as Alice was.

  And it was turning me on. She was different in so many ways from the women I was used to. I hadn’t had a serious relationship in years, preferring to stick to those that were looking for a fun romp and not much else.

  But Alice… She was new to this game, and I wanted to teach her all the rules. If I did that, then I was flirting with the fine line between women who were looking for their happily-ever-after and those that were just looking for a fun time. I had no intentions of settling down right now.

  A woman like Alice, however, could make me change my mind.

  **

  A little while later, we were sitting around the small table in the kitchen, eating eggs and bacon.

  “This is good, Mom,” Alice replied, taking a sip of her coffee. “Thanks.”

  “Oh, you are welcome,” her mother replied, giving me a smile. “How are your eggs, Derrek?”

  “Just fine, ma’am,” I grinned.

  She threw her hand up my way.

  “I’m Cheryl, not ma’am. I don’t believe Alice told me how you both met. Did Jack introduce you two?”

  I swallowed the eggs I had put in my mouth, glancing at Alice as to what she wanted me to say. I didn’t want to throw out anything that would cause issues later on, but I wasn’t going to lie. I was enjoying this too damn much.

  “We met at college,” Alice finally said in a soft voice, not meeting my eyes.

  Cheryl’s expression was marred by a frown.

  “College? But you haven’t graduated high school yet.”

  I watched as Alice reached over and patted her mom’s hand, like a mother would to a child.

  “Mom, we talked about this. I’m in college, remember? I’m almost done.”

  Cheryl still looked confused, and I instantly felt for the woman.

  “She’s pretty amazing in her classes,” I added. “She’s the only reason I’m getting through my classes.”

  Alice’s expression was hard to read, but her mother pushed back from the table anyway.

  “I’m sorry. I don’t feel well.”

  “Why don’t you go lay down,” Alice suggested, standing. “We will get the kitchen cleaned up.”

  “I believe I will,” she answered. “Please, finish your meal.”

  I watched as the older woman walked out of the room before looking at Alice, who was biting her lip.

  “I’m sorry.”

  She let out a breath.

  “It’s not your fault. She was having such a good morning. I thought that she might continue, but that’s how it goes. You never know what she’s going to remember and what she isn’t.”

  “You are doing a great job,” I said, feeling like no one had ever told her that before. “Hell, I couldn’t do half of what you are doing.”

  “Thanks,” she said gathering up the plates.

  I stood and stopped her, seeing the lines of exhaustion on her face.

  “Why don’t you let me handle this? You probably need to sleep.”

  A grin crossed her lips.

  “You know how to wash dishes?”

  I grinned as well.

  “Of course, I can. I do know how to be self-sufficient.”

  She thought about it for a minute before stepping back.

  “Well, okay. They are all yours.”

  I waited until she had left as well, before my grin slid from my face. Wow. I couldn’t believe the change in her mother, just like that. No wonder Alice worried about her.

  What was more impressive was that Alice shouldered this all by herself.

  Gathering the plates, I frowned as I walked to the sink, starting the water so that I could wash the dishes. That didn’t sit well with me. Maybe it wasn’t good that we had interfered in their lives. Of course, they were at risk now, probably more than ever, and it was my job to ensure their safety. While the house was pretty secure, I was going to set up some traps that would buy me some time. The duffel bag Fox had passed to me before they had left was full of guns and ammunition, just in case I needed them.

  I had two women, two important women, to keep alive, one that didn’t know who the hell she was, and the other I couldn’t keep my hands off of.

  After cleaning up the kitchen, I checked the locks on the door, modifying a few to make them more secure. Exhaustion was starting to creep into my body, and I was going to have to lay down, at least for a few hours, to keep going at this rate.

  Briefly, I thought about that small bed in Alice’s old bedroom. That was going to make for some close quarters for us, but the thought of having her in my arms, against me, caused me to adjust myself to
make some room. I was fucking rock hard just thinking about it.

  What the hell was going on?

  My cell vibrated suddenly, and I scrambled to fish it out of my back pocket.

  “Yeah?”

  “You surviving?”

  I chuckled.

  “Sure, I’m having a fucking blast.”

  Fox echoed my chuckle.

  “I’m sending over a couple of guys to watch the street. Becky’s place was hit. Gary has taken her into hiding.”

  “Shit!” I breathed, running a hand through my hair. “Are they okay?”

  “Yeah,” Fox answered, a note of anger in his voice. I knew how protective he was of his cousin. “Gary says she’s shaken up. They are getting bold, and no one is safe, dude.”

  That was not what I wanted to hear.

  “I got it over here. If anyone wants to come in, tell them to call me first. I got some things set up.”

  “Got it,” Fox said before clicking off.

  I tucked the phone back into my pocket, staring down the hallway to the bedroom with the door ajar. What was Alice doing? Was she waiting on me or was she fast asleep on that bed?

  I hoped for the latter. After today, Alice needed a damn week off to sleep.

  God, what was this protective streak I was feeling for her? I didn’t even know the chick, yet every time I thought about her, I wanted to shield her in my arms and never let go.

  I wanted to do much, much more than be her first everything.

  “You’re an idiot,” I grumbled to myself, raking my hand through my hair again. I shouldn’t touch her. She was Jack’s daughter, for God’s sake, and he would shoot my cock off if I even thought about it.

  But I was drawn to her, far more than I liked. There was something about Alice, something that needed me.

  Now I had to just make her see the same.

  Chapter Eight

  Alice

  I stared at the page in front of me, finding myself rereading the same damn sentence for the third time. I was trying to study a little before napping, attempting to get rid of the nervous energy that was still floating around in my body.

  The problem was, all I could think about was Derrek and the way he was attempting to handle my mom’s condition. I had been shocked to the core when he had attempted to have a conversation with her, to help me out when she had a relapse. It wasn’t that I thought he would be ugly about it, but I didn’t think he would even attempt to be part of it.

  But he had, and my cautious heart had leaned just a little bit more in his direction.

  Throwing my pencil down, I rubbed my face with my hand. This was crazy. I couldn’t be falling for him, for the type of guy that he was. He was a heartbreaker, a man who wasn’t likely to be looking for some meaningful relationship. I would think that if he had been, some lucky girl would have already snatched him up by now.

  No, Derrek was not the man for me, and I had to be extremely careful not to get too wrapped up in his good-guy attitude. Because if I did, I could be nursing a broken heart at the end of this all.

  “Studying not going so well?”

  I looked up to find Derrek leaning against the doorframe, his arms crossed over his chest.

  “I’ve been struggling a bit.”

  He chuckled as he pushed into the room.

  “It’s because you should be asleep, not studying. It’s been a long twenty-four hours, and you got to be exhausted.”

  “So should you,” I added.

  The few hours we got in my apartment was nothing compared to what we both probably needed.

  He gave a shrug.

  “How’s your mom?”

  “She’s asleep,” I answered softly, thinking of the still form on her bed when I had checked in on her. “Hopefully for a while.”

  She got tired quickly these days.

  “Good,” he answered, reaching down to unlace his boots before kicking them off. “Come on, let’s get some sleep too before she wakes.”

  I swallowed as I climbed off the bed, placing my books on my dresser. I had desperately tried not to think about Derrek in my bed, my childhood bed, but the thought crept into my mind more than I cared to admit.

  It was crazy, thinking about him laying next to me, but in the same breath something about it felt so right.

  I was looking forward to it.

  “I can sleep on the floor, you know.”

  I turned around. Derrek was waiting on me to make the next move.

  “What?”

  He pointed beside the bed.

  “I can sleep there. I’ve slept in worse places, I swear.”

  Now that was ridiculous.

  “Of course not. I can go to the couch.”

  He shook his head.

  “I don’t want you out there by yourself.”

  “I will be in the house,” I argued, curious to know what he was worried about. There was a tension in his expression, one that hadn’t been there before. “Surely that will be safe enough.”

  His jaw clenched. “I can’t take that chance. Wherever you go, I go, for now.”

  “Fine,” I answered, crossing my arms over my chest to mimic his stance. “Then I guess we are back to sleeping together.”

  He arched a brow, and I felt the heat on my cheeks. “I mean, sleeping in the same bed together.”

  Gah, he could make something innocent feel so naughty.

  He dropped his arms, reaching for the hem of his shirt.

  “Alright then, let’s do this. I’m beat.”

  I forgot to breathe as his chest came into view, the middle sprinkled with dark hairs that chased down his abdomen and disappeared into the waistband of his jeans. His shoulders were broad, his abs well-formed, and I licked my lips, suddenly wondering what it would be like to run my hand down the length of his chest, to feel his warm muscles under my touch.

  But it was more than just his muscular body. Each shoulder was covered in intricate tattoos, the whorls of ink almost Celtic in nature.

  Oh, my…!

  “You like what you see?” Derrek asked softly. “You can touch if you want, Alice.”

  He was giving me free rein to touch him. Derrek knew I was immature in all things adult sex, and he was letting me know that I could control this situation.

  If I wanted to.

  Oh, it was so tempting to fall under his spell, to reach out and touch him, lose myself in him for a few hours, and forget who I was and what I was currently dealing with. I could let him do things to me that no one else had ever done before, learn what it meant to be with a man.

  But if I did, I could lose my heart. No, correction: I would lose my heart. I couldn’t deal with that kind of emotion right now. I couldn’t go through that, not with him.

  So, in the end, I walked out of the bedroom and into the bathroom, where I stared at myself in the mirror. My face was flushed, my eyes wide and sparkling in anticipation. It would be too easy to go back in that bedroom and let Derrek take over.

  Too easy.

  After taking a few minutes, I walked back to the bedroom, finding Derrek already in bed, his arms behind his head and the sheet riding dangerously low on his waist.

  I had never seen anything so enticing before.

  “Don’t worry,” he said softly, watching me as I closed the door behind me. “I’ve got something on under this sheet.”

  Thank God. I couldn’t have taken that either.

  “I wasn’t worried.”

  He chuckled as I kicked off my shoes.

  “Of course, you were. It was written all over your face, Alice.”

  I ignored him, hating the fact that it was written all over my face. I wished I was braver than I was, that I could throw caution to the wind and just have sex with anyone.

  But to me, it was a big deal. It would be my first experience, and I wanted it to be… Well, special. Call me old fashioned, but it was my virginity to give up, not anyone else’s.

  Luckily, I had changed out of my clothes earlier, opting
for a baggy t-shirt and shorts as my pajamas. No matter how baggy my clothes were, however, I could feel Derrek’s eyes slicing through them, baring my very core. I was totally self-conscious about my body. I wasn’t one of those girls that had a great body, being plumper than I cared to admit.