He gasped for breath, realizing the gasps were coming out as sobs.
“I’m right here, Harrison. I’m okay, just keep going, baby.”
Dashing at his tears, he ran and prayed.
Ryder
The sound of a four wheeler engine echoed over the area just as they reached the top of the hill.
“Okay, we’re going to need to run again,” he said and took Harrison’s hand. The man’s pupils were blown with fear. The hand that he gripped shook.
“Just a bit longer. You can do it.”
“I want him dead,” Harrison growled.
Ryder silently agreed, and took off at a dead run, pulling Harrison behind him. There’d be time to get this asshole, but not when Harrison could be hurt.
Off the beaten path, he took a thin deer trail that took them up the side of the mountain about a quarter of the way. The four wheeler’s engine grew distant. He headed due west and came out above the lake about two miles away from the cabin.
“A friend of mine has a cabin up here. I’m going to see if they can give us a ride to town or lend me a vehicle,” he explained to a very quiet Harrison.
“If anything happens to you…”
“Hey.” He stopped and drew the slightly sweaty man into his arms and against his heart. “Nothing is going to happen to me, or to either one of us.”
Harrison sniffled, then wiped at his face, leaving a streak of dirt behind. Ryder lifted his shirt and wiped the smudge away.
“Come on.” He turned, leading the way down the incline that dropped into Gunner Morgan’s backyard. The dogs set up a racket.
“You better be barking at something and not a damned rabbit,” he heard the man scolding the dogs.
“Gunner?”
Ryder eased around the side of the solid wood fence, keeping Harrison hidden.
The gun in the man’s grip was quick and efficient. Three large dogs spun at his voice and sprang across the distance, savagely barking.
“Down,” Gunner ordered and two of the dogs stopped and crouched. The third was too excited and had trouble following orders. Ryder braced a shoulder for impact, but the dog never made it.
“Milo, heel,” Gunner growled and the big German Shepherd spun on its haunches and launched back to sit near Gunner’s boots.
Piercing eyes stared at him across the distance. Gunner didn’t say a word. He looked behind Ryder toward the edge of the fence, and when Ryder turned, Harrison was peeking out near his side.
“What brings you to this side of the lake?”
“Trouble.”
“What kind of trouble?”
“The deadly kind.”
The Texas transplant wore a black hat, shit kicking cowboy boots, blue jeans, and a tight t-shirt. Gunner stood as tall as him at six feet four and weighed in around the same of two hundred and thirty pounds of pure raw muscle and power.
“Get in here, before you’re both seen,” Gunner drawled.
Ryder gripped Harrison’s hand and Gunner smirked at the gesture. Entering the back door, they stepped into a large kitchen.
Gunner turned back to the door. “Guard,” he growled and moved his hand, and the dogs took off like rockets.
“Thank you,” Harrison told Gunner and the big man rubbed at the back of his neck.
“You don’t worry about a thing. My boys will tear anything out there to pieces.”
“Whoever it is has a gun.”
“Bah.” Gunner turned back and opened the door and let out a shrill whistle. Before another minute passed, the three big dogs were charging into the kitchen.
They headed toward Harrison, who crooned at them. The dogs decided they liked Harrison and pushed into the young man’s hands.
After a moment, Ryder ushered Harrison onto one of the kitchen stools and brushed his hair back from his forehead.
“Let me see your palm.”
Harrison held up his hand and Ryder grabbed a paper towel, wet it, and dabbed at the scrape. “Not too bad.”
“Thank you.” Harrison’s soft voice drew his eyes up and Ryder squeezed the man’s uninjured hand. Here was the part where he was supposed to tuck Harrison away and go out there and kill the bad guy. Only he didn’t want to leave Harrison’s side. And he knew the truth, it was staring him in the face. He’d fallen for the beautiful young man.
“Harrison, this is Gunner. He works for Logan,” he said absently, lifting a hand and gently brushing back the fall of hair across Harrison’s forehead.
“Sometimes,” Gunner drawled.
“Yeah, sometimes.” Ryder smirked and dropped his hand.
Harrison slipped off the barstool and crouched to pet the dogs.
Ryder turned to Gunner. The man was watching Harrison interact with the hounds.
“Shall we go see if we can kill us a poacher?” Gunner asked.
“No!” Harrison’s voice sounded panicked and his hands were clutching at him. The young man had held it together so well, but now there was pure blind panic in his blue eyes.
“I’m not going anywhere,” he assured Harrison with a calming hand on the younger man’s neck.
“Got anything to drink?” he asked Gunner.
Gunner pulled open the fridge and set a pitcher of juice and glasses. “That’ll help with the shock.”
“I need wheels.”
“I have a spare pickup truck.”
“I’d appreciate it.”
“Anything you need.”
With a glass of juice in hand, Harrison migrated out of the kitchen into the living room and dropped to the couch with the dogs.
“How’d they find you?”
“I think someone spotted us in Boulder. I felt like we were being watched. I should have trusted my gut,” Ryder said quietly, gazing at Harrison.
“When was this?”
“Almost two weeks ago?” He sighed and turned back to the kitchen and Gunner.
“Why wait that long to come after him?”
“We’re pretty far back in here. It may have taken them that long to locate us after Boulder.” He rubbed at the back of his neck.
“But why shoot at you from a distance? Why not just wait at the SUV and kill you?” Gunner questioned.
“My guess? They don’t want Harrison thinking they’re a killer. They want to kill me from afar and then swoop in and offer Harrison help. Like save the day kind of shit.”
“That’s insane. Harrison would know it was them if they swooped in.”
“I didn’t say they were sane.”
“Fair enough. How many are after him?” Gunner quirked a brow.
“Detectives think it could be a few. My guess, it’s only one.” He filled Gunner in about the stepmother hiring men and about the entourage following Harrison.
“You think the stepmom paid for a professional hit?”
“I don’t think so. If it was professional, I wouldn’t be standing here. They shot the SUV three times trying to hit me. Whoever this is got a piece of me before we left Denver.” He lifted his shirt and showed Gunner the healing wound.
“Bastard means to get you out of the way.”
“Yeah,” he rasped and lowered his shirt.
“I’ll gas up the pickup,” Gunner said and disappeared.
Ryder glanced into the living room where Harrison was combing through the dogs’ fur.
Ducking back into the kitchen, he called Logan.
“What’s up?”
“They found the cabin. Someone shot at us.”
“What the hell? Where are you?”
“We made it to Gunner’s place, but we can’t stay here.”
“How the hell did they find you?”
“I took him into Boulder. Fuck. I felt like I was being watched, but that was two weeks ago. I think reporters found us.”
“That may or may not be how they found you. I’ll have Hayden check for articles.”
He shouldn’t have risked going into the city, but it was too late now. The fact that his fuck up could have
cost Harrison his life weighed on him.
“I’m going to back out. Name the drop off location and I’ll meet one of the crew there.”
“Why the hell would you do that?” Logan snapped.
“Because I can’t keep him safe,” he growled.
“That’s not how it looks from where I’m sitting,” Logan responded. “What happened to the man that doesn’t quit?”
“You’ve been talking to Jaxon too much,” he accused.
“We both care about your wellbeing,” Logan barked back.
“I can’t keep him safe,” he repeated, this time his voice croaked, feeling an instant heartburn coming on.
“What are you talking about?” Harrison said from behind him.
Ryder closed his eyes at the sound of the accusatory tone of voice. He turned and found Harrison’s wide, shocked eyes locked on him.
“Logan, I’ll call you back.”
“Call me when you get your head out of your ass,” his boss snapped and hung up.
“Answer me!”
He closed his eyes for a brief second and let out a deep breath.
“I only want you safe.”
“By leaving me?”
“I can’t protect you.”
“Stop right there,” Harrison yelled. “You’ve done nothing but keep me safe. Why can’t you see that?”
“I should have known he’d follow you.” He shoved his fingers through his hair and turned sharply away.
“How the hell could you have known that? This cabin is out in the middle of nowhere.” Harrison grabbed his arm and turned him back around.
“I felt like we were being watched in Boulder,” he admitted.
“Still, you don’t really know how he found us. Nobody does.”
He stayed silent, racking his brain, but Harrison was right, he couldn’t have known. Not really.
“Blaming yourself for something you couldn’t predict is a waste of time.” Harrison’s voice softened. “Ryder, you’ve had my back from day one. Baby, you took a bullet for me.”
He swallowed hard.
“I don’t want you to pull out. I don’t trust anyone else to keep me safe, not the way you do.” Harrison moved closer and put both soft palms on his arms. His muscles jumped beneath the man’s touch and he pulled Harrison into his arms.
“I can’t have anything happen to you.” His voice was muffled against Harrison’s slim throat. “It would kill me.”
“Do you really think someone else can protect me better than you?” Harrison’s lips brushed against his temple.
“No,” he croaked and lifted his head. Gazing down into Harrison’s face, he added, “How’d you get so smart?”
“You’re just now realizing that?” The young man gave him an impish smile. Ryder felt his own lips stretch in response.
Content for the moment to hold Harrison, he rocked him back and forth, absorbing every bit of the slim young man. He couldn’t remember a time in his life when he’d felt so connected to another human being. Harrison nestled in and clung, content to stay in his arms.
After several long moments, he brushed his lips against Harrison’s temple.
“I need to make another call.”
“Okay.” Harrison nodded, cupping his cheeks to hold his gaze. The smile on Harrison’s lips annihilated him and he stole another kiss before the man slipped from his arms to disappear back into the living room.
Ryder pulled out his phone, took a deep breath, and punched in the second phone number.
“Ryder?” the deep voice answered on the first ring.
“Dad? I need your help.”
Hitting Colorado Springs an hour and forty five minutes later, he took the exit to his parents’ place. Instead of turning down their country road, he drove past it. Gunner had called them not too long ago. The ATV tracks had disappeared around a truck and trailer tracks. It appeared the gunman had left the area.
Ryder kept watch in the rearview mirror for ten miles down the road until he reached a gated road. Quickly, he turned into the entrance at the gate.
“Drive through for me.”
He jumped out and opened the long metal gate and Harrison drove the pickup through.
Locking the gate, he got back behind the wheel and headed north as arranged by his father.
“Where are you taking me?” Harrison asked quietly when he pulled slowly down the dirt road.
“It’s a surprise, remember?” He glanced over, trying to lighten the somber mood.
“The same surprise?”
“Yep.”
“Where? Tell me.” Harrison chewed on his bottom lip.
“To meet my parents and then we’ll stay at one of their rental properties.”
Big eyes stared at him so long, Ryder stopped the vehicle around the bend in the middle of the dirt road.
“It’s not safe.” Harrison shook his head.
“Trust me, my dad and brothers are experts. They’re cops, baby.”
Harrison let out a heavy sigh, but squeezed his hand when he reached for him.
“Come, meet my family. I was bringing you here anyway. We’ll only stay a few minutes.”
This had been his intention all along. Only it was supposed to be a visit and a chance for Harrison to meet his family, not a meet and run as a result of fleeing from a fucking psychopath.
Harrison gave him a soft smile. “Okay.”
Fuck, he’d been more nervous than he’d ever been that Harrison wouldn’t want to meet them. It was, after all, early in their relationship. He could admit that being taken while scary, felt right.
But are you taken?
He glanced over. Harrison gazed out the windshield, biting at his bottom lip. Ryder squeezed the steering wheel. Yeah, we really need to talk and settle things.
He knew two things, though. His family was too important to risk for just anyone, and Harrison wasn’t just anyone to him, not anymore.
He spotted his brother, Richard, in a beat up old pickup truck on the side of the road about five miles from the turn off and about six miles from the main house. He didn’t stop, he returned his brother’s wave and eased on past. About three miles up the road, he came upon his other brother, Romero, in an SUV. He pulled over and parked behind it.
“I’ll be right back,” he told Harrison and jumped out.
“Dad said you had some trouble.”
“Yeah.” He gripped his brother in a hard hug.
“Fucker better hope he didn’t follow you here.”
“I was careful. After I bring Harrison up to meet the family, I want to see if one of our rental properties was available to hold up in.”
“I know, he told us. No way in hell are you holding up in one of those places. Your place is here with us.
“I can’t risk it.”
“Screw that, you’re staying at the house and that’s final.” Romero scowled and Ryder recognized his father’s stubbornness in his brother.
“Thanks, bro.”
“Besides, if there was one open rental, I’d be in it.” Romero chuckled and clapped him on the back.
He smirked at his brother.
Romero’s phone rang and he answered it, listened, and then tucked it away.
“All clear,” his brother said, giving him a brow waggle.
Richard came hauling ass down the dirt road and passed them in a shower of dust.
“Son of a bitch!” Romero spat in the dust. “I’m going to kick his ass.”
Ryder laughed. “Not if I get him first.” He jumped in Gunner’s old pickup and put it in drive.
Romero raced to his SUV and jumped in. Ryder revved the engine and Romero took off with a flashing smile and Ryder followed hot on his brother’s ass.
The three vehicles tore up the dirt road, leaving a cloud of dust.
“Who’s that?” Harrison laughed, hanging onto the ‘oh shit’ handle above the door.
“Those are my brothers.” He grinned and punched it. The old truck couldn’t keep up. A half
a mile from the house, they slowed to let the dust settle and then arrived at a normal speed up to the house. No sense in dad chewing their asses out because they brought dust into the house.
Pulling up to the front of the house, he shut off the engine. The area wasn’t too remote, but they couldn’t be seen by their neighbors unless they took a six-mile hike. The home was big and sprawling with a large front deck lined with tables and chairs.
Romero and Richard had already parked and disappeared into the house.
“Wow, it’s beautiful and huge.”
“Yep. It’s got eight bedrooms, a living room, kitchen, and laundry. Plus, me and my brothers helped dad remodel a few years ago to include a game room.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah. Dad said it was a present for Mom. She loves keeping the living room nice for company, and with the new den and game room, she can close the door on us when we get too loud.” He smiled broadly at Harrison.
Suddenly, the door swung wide and a whole group of people trampled outside and onto the wide front porch. Five young children between the ages of five and ten raced toward their truck. From here, he could hear the men joking around and talking.
Harrison yanked his eyes from the house to him.
“I thought you said meet your parents!”
“My brothers’ kids.” He gestured to the children jumping to see in the window of the pickup.
Harrison’s eyes showed his nervousness, and then he chewed on his lip. “Do you think they’ll like me?”
“You can bet on it,” he murmured, lifting Harrison’s hand to his lips. He couldn’t imagine anyone not liking the kind young man sitting beside him.
“Okay,” Harrison said with a quiet release of breath.
“Come and meet them.”
Ryder got out and the kids surrounded him as he walked around to meet Harrison on the other side.
“Uncle Ryder! Uncle Ryder!”
“Who’s this?” The oldest one, Chase, stopped and looked up at Harrison.
“This is Harrison, and he’s my friend,” he told his nephew.
“Hi,” Chase greeted, putting out his fist for a bump.
“Hello.” Harrison returned the fist bump, appearing charmed.
“His name is Harrison!” Riley, the middle one, yelled and ran back to the porch.
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