The Exit Strategy Bundle

by Jocelynn Drake

  Liam released his hold on Devlin and took a cocky step out from behind the desk, no longer paying attention to the gun still tightly clutched in Gabriel’s hand. He squeezed the trigger, but there was only the ominously soft click of the hammer releasing and striking an empty chamber. Out of bullets.

  “Important lesson. Always aim for the head.” Gabriel lifted his gun and fired just one round, hitting the center of Liam’s forehead. The man was dead before he hit the ground.

  Gabriel groaned as he lowered the gun, pressing his hand to the throbbing hole in his gut. Devlin stepped over Liam’s body and rushed to Gabriel’s side.

  “Are you okay?”

  “Justin is not going to let me live this down,” Gabriel grumbled. He flashed Devlin a weak smile.

  “Jake!”

  “Justin is getting him. You need to stay here and call the police. Probably an ambulance too. I’ll go check on those two.”

  Gabriel pressed the back of the hand holding the gun into the wall and pushed off it. Pain screamed through his entire body, and he felt fucking lightheaded. He managed only a couple of steps before his knees completely gave out on him and he found himself seated in the middle of the hallway.

  “Gabriel!” Devlin called out. He rushed to Gabriel’s side, his cell phone clutched tightly in his hand.

  “Call the cops and stay in the office!” he ordered, trying to fight the swell of panic. If he couldn’t get to his feet, he couldn’t help Justin. He needed to be there, to protect his lover’s back. He needed to get to Justin.

  A cold chill swept down Justin’s spine at the sound of gunshots. Every instinct screamed for him to turn around on the back stairs and head for the front of the house, where he knew Gabriel was dealing with this Liam bastard. But he couldn’t. He needed to find Jake. Gabriel could take care of himself just fine.

  At the top of the stairs, he was greeted with the sight of a large man trying to kick his way into Jake’s bedroom. He was just lucky the man was tall and the hallway was narrow. There wasn’t room for him to get enough power behind his kick with the first one. Justin holstered the gun he’d been carrying and snatched up a small aluminum baseball bat leaning against the wall. On one of their rambles through the woods, Jake had told him that he’d planned on starting little league that year, but they’d had to put it off because of their “vacation.”

  With a third kick, the bedroom door was thrown open and slammed against the wall.

  “Hey, beautiful! I got something for you!” Justin called out. He would have preferred to slam the bat into the bastard’s head, but he had the same problem with the narrow hall. Not enough room for a proper swing.

  The guy turned and Justin rammed the top of the bat straight into his gut. On a gasp, he bent forward and Justin managed to get another awkward hit in, but he wasn’t able to do the kind of fucking damage he needed to at least knock him out.

  Still bent, the attacker charged Justin like a bull, spearing him straight in the stomach. They crashed to the hardwood floor in a heap. He tried to roll on top of the man, but he could only get partially there before they hit the wall. A meaty fist clipped his chin while another hammered his gut. Pain and white light flashed behind his eyes as the wind was knocked from his lungs. Fighting the need to gasp for air, Justin threaded his fingers together and brought both fists down hard on the top of his head. The fucker’s head bounced off the floor.

  They rolled the other way, each struggling to get on top of the other, getting in strikes where they could. More gunshots rang out on the first floor, followed by shouting, and Justin tried not to think about it. He would not let this bastard near Jake. He just kept reminding himself that as long as he was hearing gunfire, Gabriel was still alive.

  And then it got quiet.

  Quiet was wrong. Quiet he couldn’t stomach.

  Snarling, Justin dropped one of his hands to his side, forcing him to lower his guard. The assassin took advantage and leveled two hard hits to Justin’s face. But they were his last. Justin palmed a knife from his side and buried it deep in the man’s throat.

  The bastard shoved away from Justin, gasping and choking for air. Justin jumped on his chest and finished the cut, slicing through his airway and severing critical arteries. It was a race, but Justin was pretty sure he’d bleed out before he suffocated. Either way sucked.

  As he got to his feet, he swiped at the blood that had splashed across his face, trying to look less like as nightmare as he hurried into Jake’s bedroom. There was no sign of the little boy.

  “Jake! Where are you? It’s Justin!”

  He dropped to his knees and looked under the bed, but there was no sign of him. He paused, looking toward the open door. There was a chance that he could have run out of the room while Justin was fighting the would-be killer. That would put Jake in the direct path of the man trying to kill Gabriel and Devlin.

  Quiet still reigned on the first floor. Justin’s heart pounded in his chest, demanding that he go downstairs. That he find Gabriel. But Jake had to come first…

  A small, muffled whimper came from the closet and Justin nearly cried out himself. He hurried across the room and jerked open the slated, folding door. Tucked in the corner, surrounded by a pile of clothes, was the tear-streaked little boy.

  Justin dropped to his knees and held his arms open. “Hey, big guy,” Justin said in a slightly shaky voice. “It’s safe now. I took care of the bad man. You’re safe. You want to come with me to get your Dev?”

  A choked sob escaped Jake as he lunged from the clothes and into Justin’s arms. He wrapped his little body around Justin’s, louder crying now wracking his slender frame. Justin carefully rubbed his hand up and down the boy’s back as he got to his feet. He carefully adjusted him so that Jake was positioned on the left side of his body, while keeping his right hand free. A terrified part of him didn’t know if the quiet on the first floor meant that Gabriel had things in hand or if everything had gone horribly wrong.

  Oh God, let it all be okay.

  “G Love?”

  Justin’s cautious voice rang through the house and Gabriel sighed with relief. He was getting closer.

  “We’re clear,” he called back and then coughed. Fuck, he hurt. Breathing hurt. He tried to shift into a higher slouch against the wall, but any movement made the pain worse.

  Justin appeared around the corner a second later, and he hated the way he swayed just a little at the sight of Gabriel on the floor, one blood-covered hand pressed tight to his stomach. “Problems?” Justin said, swallowing hard.

  “Just a minor one,” Gabriel replied with a shaky smile. “You?”

  “Nothing major. Devlin?”

  Gabriel jerked his head the office. “Talking to 9-1-1.”

  Justin hurried to the office where Gabriel could hear the joyous reunion of father and son. It took only a couple of seconds before Justin was kneeling in the hall beside Gabriel. He lifted one shaking hand and carefully ran his fingers through Gabriel’s sweaty hair. His other hand hovered over Gabriel’s stomach as if he was afraid to cause the man more pain.

  “Talk to me,” Justin said, his voice thick and rough.

  “One shot to the gut. If the stupid ambulance gets here soon, I’m sure I’ll make a full recovery.”

  “Gabriel…there’s so much blood. You’re pale,” Justin said thickly. His wide eyes kept darting down to the wound and then bouncing up to Gabriel’s face.

  “It’ll be okay.” Guilt swamped Gabriel, helping to at least temporarily take his mind off the pain. He’d seen that terrified, panicked look once before on Justin’s face, when he’d found Gabriel half-dead in a freezing German basement. He’d sworn to never put Justin through another moment like that and he’d broken his promise. Gotten sloppy. Too cocky. “I’m sorry,” he whispered.

  “I know, G Love. I know.” Justin ran his shaking hand through Gabriel’s hair over and over again in a tender caress. “You saved Devlin. That’s what’s important.”

  “Never wa
nt to hurt you.”

  “I know. It’s just the nature of our work. Our lifestyle.” He bent his head and pressed a kiss to Gabriel’s forehead. “You know I’m going to give you so much shit over this.”

  “I was counting on it.”

  “I mean like for the next twenty or thirty years.”

  Gabriel tilted his head so that he could meet Justin’s eyes. “I’m looking forward to every moment of it.”

  Chapter 20

  Justin hated hospitals.

  Of course, he knew that thought alone was pretty damn stupid. He really doubted that anyone liked hospitals. If someone was there, it was a good chance they were either sick, dying, or visiting someone who was sick or dying.

  Sure, babies were born here, but it all happened around sick and dying people.

  The whole place, no matter how hard the designers tried to make it warm and inviting, was a grim reminder of how limited their time on the earth was. That they were all too fucking vulnerable. And too soon, Justin might have to say good-bye to the man he loved more than he’d ever loved anyone.

  He wasn’t ready for good-bye.

  He needed more time. So much more time. Years. Decades.

  And he was so ready to start that time with Gabriel.

  The cops and ambulance arrived at Devlin’s house a few minutes after Justin had found Gabriel. He was sure those were the longest few minutes of his life. Devlin quickly explained to the cops that Justin and Gabriel were his bodyguards hired to protect him and his son. Justin had never been so happy to leave explanations to another person so he could remain close to Gabriel’s side as the paramedics worked, getting him stabilized and loaded up on the gurney.

  He never left Gabriel’s side. At least, not until he was taken back to surgery. And then Justin had Devlin and Jake at his side in the waiting room. He tried several times to get Devlin to take Jake to a hotel room. The poor little guy was still in shock and exhausted. He needed sleep and so much therapy. He’d been through too much in too short a time.

  Of course, Devlin was going to need some therapy as well to find his balance again.

  Didn’t matter what Justin said. They stayed at his side and Justin was grateful. They barely spoke as time ticked by in the quiet waiting room, but Justin felt better having Devlin and Jake there with him. He even looked up at one point to see Kai standing at the far end of the waiting room, a questioning look on his face. Justin could only manage a small smile and a nod. The mercenary nodded in return and then left, his gaze straying to Devlin for a brief moment as he turned away.

  Gabriel had been right in that the injury had not been too major. The surgeon appeared after a few hours to announce that Gabriel was fine and was expected to make a full recovery.

  From that moment on, Justin lived in that damn hospital. The nurses and doctors all knew him by sight. He was right there every time anyone attempted to administer any kind of medication to Gabriel. He was there when updates were made to Gabriel’s chart. He was there for fucking everything.

  They’d dealt with Gabriel’s family, but Justin didn’t want to take any chances that there weren’t other people out there harboring a grudge. It was just too easy to give Gabriel the wrong medication, killing him before anyone discovered what had happened.

  For the most part, his lover slept. He would wake and smile at Justin, holding his hand. He never once complained about Justin’s need to interrogate anyone who stopped in his room. The one time Justin had stepped away while a nurse was helping Gabriel, Justin overheard them.

  “He always this protective?” she asked in a whisper.

  Gabriel hummed softly before he said in a sleepy voice. “He loves me.” The words were said like they were the answer to everything.

  The nurse laughed. “Yes, honey, he does. He loves you very much.”

  After nearly two weeks in the hospital, Gabriel finally convinced Justin to stay the night in a hotel so he could get some real sleep. Justin grudgingly agreed and hated to admit that he did sleep better than he had when at the hospital. But he’d shied away from his own reflection in the mirror that morning. He barely recognized the man with deep circles under his eyes and a thick growth of hair on his face. He’d shaved the beard, but it was going to be a while before he finally got rid of the circles. The first step would be getting Gabriel back home and into their own bed.

  Laughter echoed down the hall as he approached Gabriel’s room, and he smiled to see Devlin and Jake there. Those two had visited Gabriel nearly every day of his recovery. Justin could still see the guilt shadowing Devlin’s eyes. The man’s work had cost him his husband and nearly claimed Gabriel’s life. It wasn’t his fault that he’d been the target of a greedy, self-centered lunatic.

  “Are you sure you have to go home? Dev promised that we could go to the zoo this weekend. We can even dress up in Halloween costumes. You and Justin could come with us,” Jake pressed.

  Justin stood in the doorway, smiling to see Jake standing at the bedside, his arms resting on the thin mattress while he jumped up and down. Devlin said that Jake still had nightmares, but he was otherwise getting back to his cheerful, sweet self.

  “I don’t think I’m quite strong enough to handle the zoo yet,” Gabriel said. “But Justin and I can come back for a visit. Seattle isn’t far from Colorado.” Gabriel looked up and winked at Justin as if he’d always known he was standing there. He wouldn’t have put it past him. They had spent so much time together recently, it was like they’d developed a sixth sense for each other. And Justin loved it.

  “You promise?” Jake demanded.

  Gabriel stuck out his hand. “I promise.”

  Jake took it and shook it seriously. “And maybe Dev and me could come visit you. I bet Pete and Repeat miss sleeping with me.”

  “Hey, Jake,” Devlin started.

  “I think that sounds like a great idea,” Justin quickly said. He crossed the room and came to stand on the other side of Gabriel. He leaned down and grabbed a quick kiss. His body and soul ached for more, but that wasn’t going to happen until he got Gabriel home again. He needed to stretch out naked in bed with Gabriel, to reassure himself that Gabriel was healthy by slowly inspecting every inch of his body.

  “We can’t impose,” Devlin argued.

  Gabriel reached out and placed his hand over the one Justin had resting on his shoulder. “You’re not.”

  “You lived with us for more than two weeks. You’re practically family at this point. We would love to have you back. We could have a little more fun this time.”

  Devlin gave a little laugh. Yeah, they could try a visit that didn’t force them to watch over their shoulders and carry weapons. Of course, Justin was sure that habit would take years to break.

  “Thank you,” Devlin murmured. “We would be happy to stay with you again.”

  Devlin and Jake lingered for another few minutes before saying their good-byes. They gave gentle hugs to Gabriel, who was still fighting to hide a wince. The stomach wound was slowly healing. The damn thing was causing Gabriel more pain than anything, but he was doing his best to hide it from everyone.

  When they were finally alone, Justin sighed with relief and walked over to the chair Devlin had just gotten out of.

  “No. Here,” Gabriel said, patting the side of the bed next to him. He carefully shifted, scooting over to the far edge.

  “I don’t want to hurt you.”

  “I don’t give a shit.”

  It was the first time Gabriel had shown a glimmer of stubborn attitude since the shooting, and it warmed Justin in a way he couldn’t quite explain. It was like it was the first sign that Gabriel was truly on the mend.

  “I know it was my idea for you to sleep in a hotel, but I slept like shit last night because you weren’t here holding my hand. Now get in this bed so you can hold me.” Gabriel couldn’t quite meet his eyes with that admission.

  That he could not argue with. He didn’t even want to try.

  Very carefully, Justin slid
into the narrow spot Gabriel had freed up for him. He wrapped his left arm around Gabriel’s shoulders, gathering him as close as he could.

  “Missed you,” Gabriel said in a rough whisper.

  Justin lowered his head, nuzzling Gabriel’s neck. He smelled of nasty hospital soap and antiseptic. God, he needed to get him home. Bathe him carefully in his soap. Wrap him up in his clothes. Put him in their bed.

  “Missed you too.”

  Gabriel instantly seemed to perk up. “The doctor was here before you arrived.”

  Justin’s head whipped around to meet Gabriel’s shining dark eyes. “Good news?”

  “The best news. They are working on my release paperwork now. I should be out of here by lunch. How quickly do you think you can find us some plane tickets?”

  Justin lowered his lips and took Gabriel’s mouth in a slow, tender kiss. “Tomorrow,” he whispered when he pulled away.

  “But I’m sure we can catch a late evening flight.”

  “No. Hotel tonight. Tomorrow we fly home. You need to move slowly. Take it easy.”

  “I don’t want to. I want to be home.”

  Justin kissed him again until Gabriel relaxed against him. “I know, G Love. There’s nothing I want more than to have you home, but we need to take it slow. You’ve got to regain your strength.”

  Gabriel gave him a little half smile. “How did I get so lucky?”

  Justin stared down at the face he’d spent the past two weeks memorizing as he slept. He was sure that he knew every line, every faded scar, every curve of that handsome face. His dark eyes were finally starting to look more aware and less drugged. His lover was thinner, his cheekbones sharper from his sunken cheeks. He was too pale. But he was alive.

  “You know that you’re it for me, right?” Justin murmured.

  Gabriel’s beautiful lips turned, taking on a slightly playful cast. “It? Can you be more specific?”

  “You’re it. My final lover. The owner of my heart. My forever. I will never love anyone like I love you.”