"King?" Lex cried out as he released me and tried to step forward. He bumped into Brewer who refused to let him pass. The big animal moved back and forth to keep Lex where he was. I reached out to grab Brewer by the collar so he wouldn't inadvertently trip Lex. Admittedly, it hurt like a son of a bitch to watch Lex stumble toward the man who'd attacked me.
"King?" Lex repeated as he took a tentative step forward. His right hand was extended in front of him while his left was lower, like he was searching for any object he could use as a point of reference. But the room was in disarray because of my fight with his brother, so nothing was where he was used to it being. I stepped forward and grabbed his elbow to keep him from bumping into the overturned chair where I normally kept my clothes. Seeing my jeans and shirt scattered on the floor by the bed was a reminder that Lex and I were both naked, but I waited until Lex was clear of the chair and the path in front of him was debris free before I stepped to my dresser to grab a pair of sweats. My eyes stayed on King and Lex as I slipped the pants on.
King, for his part, stood in silence as he stared at his brother. I didn't know anything about the man except that he threw a mean punch.
But there was no mistaking the look of complete and utter disbelief on his face as his younger brother moved slowly toward him. I wanted to snap at the man to get over himself and put his arm out so Lex could find him, but I held my tongue. Clearly, King hadn't been expecting to see the advanced stages of his brother’s blindness. It made me wonder why that was. I remembered Lex mentioning that he’d told Grady about losing his sight before he’d told his brothers, but I’d just assumed he’d eventually told them. But what if he hadn’t? Either way, it was clear that King, at least, had had no clue how advanced his brother’s vision loss really was.
King finally put his arm out and then stepped forward to meet Lex. "I'm here," he said gruffly and then he pulled Lex into his arms. It was hard to see Lex being comforted by someone other than me. Especially considering how the events had played out. But it was just further proof that my feelings for Lex ran deeper than his did for me. Maybe his entire reaction to me admitting that I loved him had been his way of trying to tell me that he didn't love me back.
I felt sick to my stomach. In addition to the searing pain along my cheek and jaw, I felt lightheaded and dizzy.
"Come on, Brewer," I said quietly as I headed toward the door. I definitely needed to lick my wounds a bit before I could face Lex again. Hell, at the rate things were going, I wasn't sure I could face him at all. How had we gone from having such a strong connection in bed to being worlds apart again outside of it?
"Gideon, wait," Lex called from behind me.
"It's fine, Lex," I murmured without looking back. "Talk to your brother."
I was halfway out the door when Lex's seeking fingers landed on my back. "Gideon, please, please don't walk away."
I wanted to keep going. I really did. But as much as I wanted to escape, I wanted him more.
Lex pressed along the length of my back while his arms wrapped around me from behind. "Please, Gideon," he whispered.
I sighed and found myself turning around. Lex pushed into my embrace and all my efforts to resist him fell away. I tucked him against me and dropped a kiss to his head. It was Brewer growling that drew my attention back to King. The man was slowly approaching the two of us, his hard eyes on me. He had Lex's pants in his hand, so I called Brewer's name. The husky immediately fell quiet again, but he stayed by my side. Since Lex hadn’t moved, I held out my hand and took the pants from King.
"I'll be in the kitchen," he said stiffly as he moved past us.
I wanted to tell the fucker to get the hell out of my house, but I knew it would just upset Lex. I also had a sneaking suspicion that if King left, Lex could very well go with him and despite my frustration with the man in my arms, I didn't want him to leave.
Lex clung to me for several long seconds after his brother left. When he finally did put some space between us, it was only so he could seek out my face with his hands. I grabbed him gently by the wrists. When his face fell, I quickly said, "There's blood."
I'd only told him so he'd know why I'd stopped him from touching my face, but all he did was gasp and then his hands were on my cheeks anyway.
"Gideon," Lex said softly. I could hear the heartbreak in his voice.
"It’s not too bad," I said. "I need to go clean up, though." I reached up to touch the cut on his temple where he'd hit the headboard when he’d tried to flee. "You do too," I murmured.
"I'm sorry," he said with a shake of his head.
I was too tired and in too much pain to try and hash things out between us, so I simply took his hand and led him to the bathroom. When I asked Lex to sit on the closed toilet, he did so without argument. He didn't make a sound when I cleaned his wound and put a bandage on it. Only when I was done did I take a look at myself in the mirror. His brother had really done a number on me. It was no surprise that he’d put Grady in a coma. The guy had fists like a battering ram.
As I began cleaning my wounds, Lex stared straight in front of him. His skin was pale and there was a fine sheen of sweat on his brow. "Lex?" I said as I tossed the washcloth I'd been using into the sink and went to kneel in front of him.
"Tired," he murmured. He swayed to one side without warning, but I managed to catch him before he fell. "King!" I shouted even as I sat Lex back up and looked at his abdomen. The insulin pump patch was gone. I tried to think back to the last time I'd seen it on him, but I couldn't remember if it had been there when we'd undressed each other.
God, had it come off while we’d been making love? He and I had both been so engrossed in each other that it would've been easy for neither of us to notice. Guilt went through me as I realized I hadn't given any thought to checking his blood sugar before, during, or after the three-hour video game marathon.
"Lex, baby, where's your pump?"
Lex pitched forward a little so his forehead was resting on my shoulder. "Out of cartridges," he murmured. “Used pen but dn’t eat…”
King threw the bathroom door open a moment later. I'd taken Brewer into the bathroom with us, so the husky began snarling when the big man stepped into the small space.
"Brewer," I called sharply, and the dog immediately fell silent and dropped to the ground. To King I said, "Get his testing kit. Black bag, either in the living room or the bedroom!"
To his credit, King didn't argue with me, he just turned and disappeared as quickly as he’d shown up. I cradled Lex against my chest and then lifted him as I stood.
"S'ry, Gid-on… love too," Lex mumbled tiredly against my chest. I didn't have time to dwell on Lex's garbled words as I carried him to the living room. King met us there and tossed Lex's testing kit to me as he strode toward the kitchen. My fingers shook as I searched out the supplies I needed. By the time King had returned with a carton of orange juice and a glass, I'd managed to prick Lex's finger. As soon as I saw the number on the screen, my stomach dropped out and I reached for the orange juice. King had already poured some into a glass.
"Lex, sweetheart," I said as I held the glass to his lips. "I need you to drink this for me."
He mumbled something I couldn't understand, but he took a sip of the juice and then another. I stroked his face repeatedly as I urged him to continue drinking. When the glass was empty, I handed it back to King who immediately filled it again. But he seemed to know the drill because he hung on to it rather than returning it to me. I glanced at the clock to track the time. Lex's eyes were closed, but he seemed to be breathing easily and I didn't see any signs of further distress. I pulled him against me so I could pick up on any changes with his body, like whether he was shaking or not.
King set the glass of orange juice down on the coffee table in front of me, along with the carton. Then he took up residence in an armchair in the corner of the room. I didn't give a shit that he was watching me like he was trying to stare me down.
A good five minutes passe
d before the grim-looking man said, "What happened to his head?"
I wanted to tell him it was none of his business, but the reality was that it was. As much as I disliked the guy, he was Lex's brother. "He hit it when he was getting out of bed," I said simply. I didn't give him any additional details because the fact that Lex had hurt himself while trying to escape me after I'd admitted that I loved him was really none of King’s business.
"You're the caretaker," King said.
"I am," I responded. I wondered exactly how much Lex had told him. I wanted to believe that Lex hadn't betrayed my confidence by telling his brother things that hadn't been meant for his ears, but the only way to know for sure was to ask the man across from me and I wasn't about to do that.
But the observant asshole seemed to pick up on it himself because he said, "Don't worry, he didn't tell me anything about you other than the fact that you were taking care of the place that he was staying in and that he was afraid he'd fucked things up with you."
I wasn't really sure what King was talking about, especially since I had no idea when Lex had talked to him. The reality was that Lex and I had hurt each other on more than one occasion before today.
"He thinks he pushed you too hard," King continued.
"He didn't," I said. It was all I was going to say to Lex's interfering brother. Three weeks ago, I had blamed Lex for pushing me too hard about needing to deal with what had happened to Bethie, but I wasn't angry about that anymore. I’d foolishly thought that I could somehow get away with not grieving for the child I'd buried as well as for the child who hated me. But all I’d done was bury that shit so deep inside me that all it could do was fester. The truth was that I’d been on the same road Lex had been on when he'd arrived in Fisher Cove. But while he'd instantly regretted his decision to pump too much insulin into his body in that one weak moment, I couldn't say that I would've had that same regret. I'd been doing exactly what Lex had begged me not to… I'd given up. Only, I’d done it three years ago when I'd learned what Serena had done to herself and our child.
"I heard him telling you to let him go," King said as he leaned forward in the chair and began rubbing his palms back and forth over each other. It was the only hint of tension in him.
"I didn't want him to hurt himself in his rush to get away from me. I would never hurt him. I'd never lay a hand on him in anger."
King was silent for a moment. "He never told any of us about Grady. I'm assuming he told you."
I nodded.
"Yeah, well, the first time I heard about the guy was when I walked in and saw him beating the shit out of Lex. I promised Lex when he was little that no one would ever lay a hand on him again."
"Again?" I asked. I found myself tightening my grip on Lex.
"He was always small for his age," King murmured. "Small kids can do okay in foster care if they're the right kind of strong."
"There's a right kind?"
"In there? Yeah, there’s a right kind." King's eyes shifted to Lex and I didn't miss the affection in them. It seemed out of place for such a cold, hard man.
"He had strength in spades. Had to, I guess. All those doctors poking and prodding him all the time. The needles, the tests… that shit would have killed a weaker kid. 'Specially one who had to do it all by himself."
I thought back to what Lex had told me about growing up in foster care… that he’d learned early on not to trust anyone, not even the adults. The only ones he’d ever trusted were his brothers. As I studied King, something clicked.
"You're not his real brother, are you?"
King shook his head. "No, none of us are." I assumed he was referring to the other three brothers, since Lex had mentioned having four brothers in all. As much as King pissed me off, the opportunity to learn more about Lex was something I couldn't pass up. Especially since King seemed to be so willing to share the information.
"Why are you telling me this?" I asked.
"Because you had the chance to keep walking in your bedroom, but you stopped when he asked you to. You stayed when he needed you to." King leaned back in the chair and scanned the living room. I wasn't sure if he was judging it or not, but I really didn't care.
"How did you meet him?"
"It was my sixth foster home and Con's fourth, I think," King said.
"Con? Another brother?"
King nodded. "Everyone knew the Bentleys were in it for the cash. They always had half a dozen kids under their roof at one time. The second Con and I saw the caseworker lead Lex into the house, we knew he'd never make it. The Bentleys would've just knocked him around a bit, but their real son—Con and I called him Pitts because he always had pit stains—anyway, he got off on messing with the younger kids… the younger boys to be exact. DCFS pretended not to know about it, but they conveniently only placed young girls with the Bentleys. Any boys who got placed there were Pitts’s age or older. They put Lex with the Bentleys because it was harder and harder to find a place that would take him because he was always so sick. Anyway, we knew Pitts would go after Lex."
"Did he?" I somehow managed to choke out. The mere thought of Lex being at the hands of someone who would hurt him like that made me violently ill.
King shook his head. "His two broken arms made it kind of tough," the man said easily.
I should've been horrified at the prospect that King or his brother had broken some kid's arms, but I wasn't. I didn't care what that said about me.
"So you protected him?" I offered.
King shrugged. "There were a few kinks in the system here and there that we had to work through, but we figured it out."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, with Pitts for example, Con and I each took an arm. But only one of us could take the blame or we both would've been moved out of the house and Lex would've been stuck there by himself. We were able to cover Lex most of the time. Even if we couldn't get ourselves into the same foster home as him, we were able to keep track of where he was and then it was just a matter of sitting on the house whenever we could. Most times, we just made sure to keep Lex with us during the day. That made things a lot easier. After a while, the social workers figured out that we were more trouble apart than together, so they didn't move us around so much. It meant that we spent more time in group homes because there weren't a lot of foster families that were willing to take in three boys all at once and also deal with a kid who had so many health problems, but that was fine by us. In the group homes, you knew what you were getting. You knew which guards liked roughing you up versus which ones went the other way."
Something about the way he said the last words had the hairs on the back of my neck standing up. But I didn't ask him what he meant.
"He said he has four brothers. Who are the other two?"
"Luca and Vaughn. They’re actual brothers."
"Were they also foster kids?"
King shook his head. "No, but they probably would've been better off if they had been," was all he said.
I sighed because even though he’d shared a good deal of information with me, he really hadn't told me anything. I still didn't have a clue why Lex had reacted so strongly when I’d told him I loved him. But that wasn't something that King could've answered anyway.
"So that tells me who you are, but it doesn't tell me why you're here," I said.
"He hasn't told our brothers the truth," King said. "About his sight," he added. "He only told me because he knew I'd be able to keep our brothers, especially Con, from losing his shit about it. He and Con are particularly close."
I found it difficult to believe Lex might be closer to Con considering that King had spent time in jail after protecting Lex from his ex, but it was further proof of how little I knew about Lex’s past.
"None of us have seen Lex in over a year. I had no idea it had gotten so bad so fast."
"He's dealing with it," I said. "He's learning to move around his environment, and he's taking steps to keep managing his diabetes on his own."
Ki
ng pinned me with his gaze. "Like I said, he's a certain kind of strong. But when he went off the grid so we couldn’t track him, I started to wonder if maybe keeping his secret hadn't done him any good."
I looked down at Lex and found myself reaching out to stroke his cheek. His skin felt warm, but no longer sweaty and some of the color had returned. "So you tracked him here," I said to King even as I kept my eyes on Lex. "How?" I remembered Lex never left his phone turned on for any length of time, but I'd always assumed it was because he hadn’t wanted to get any calls from his work.
"I've been having his financials monitored. He's been paying for everything with cash, but then to my surprise, a few days ago I get a call from one of my men who tells me that an escrow account was initiated by Lex's real estate attorney. From there, it didn't take much to figure out the rest."
"What rest?" I asked.
"That he was buying a large chunk of property in the middle of nowhere. Property that included three cabins that aren’t much bigger than his walk-in closet back in LA."
King's words caught me completely off guard. "He… he bought the cabins from Harvey Parnell? Why would he do that? Why would he buy himself a group of cabins he didn't need?"
"Well," King said as he leaned forward in the chair again. "That's where things get interesting. He didn't buy the cabins for himself. He bought them for you."
Chapter Twenty-Five
Lex
I wanted it all to be a bad dream. Even the part where Gideon had told me he loved me.
Because that had hurt like a son of a bitch.
And I hadn't exactly dealt with it in any kind of reasonable way. I sighed as I realized I was giving myself too much credit. I'd pretty much gone batshit crazy on Gideon.
Of course, if that hadn't been enough, there was always the fact that my brother had beaten the shit out of Gideon because he'd mistakenly thought Gideon was attacking me when, in fact, he'd only been trying to keep me from hurting myself. I knew that now. But hindsight was pretty much wasted on me. I couldn't read a situation in the present, so what did it matter if I could read it after the fact?
Foreseen: Lex (The Four Book 2) Page 22
