A Mended Man (The Men of Halfway House Book 4)

by Jaime Reese

  Aidan looked around for something to cut the rope and spotted a few discarded tools at the side of a worn wooden table. He grabbed the rusting coping saw from the stack and held the handle between his thighs. He ran the rope back and forth on the serrated edge, finally seeing a slight tear in the threads begin to spread.

  The rip grew until it was finally halfway when an arm wrapped around his neck and pulled him back with force, swinging his body to the side and down onto the ground. He immediately rolled and righted himself, holding his bound hands in front of him, staring down Michael who mirrored his pose.

  Michael inched to the side when Aidan shifted toward him, circling each other in an odd dance, each waiting for the other to make the first move. Aidan maintained his focus squarely on his opponent while twisting, turning, and pulling at the rope binding his hands, increasing the frayed edge with each shift.

  "Here's a tip. When you knock me down, you should make sure I stay down," Michael said.

  "And you should have killed me when you had the chance." Adrenaline pumped through Aidan's veins, recharging every tiny muscle and tendon in his body. "I'm a man of my word. Snapping your neck would have been an easy kill. I want you to suffer, you son of a bitch."

  Michael reached down into the side of his boot, withdrawing a short spear-point blade. "C'mon, asshole," he taunted, folding his hand in a come here gesture.

  "Where's Jessie?"

  Michael sneered. "Safely locked away." He lowered his chin and held up his arm across his body with the blade gripped firmly in his fist, aimed at Aidan in a combat stance. "You're not the only one with formal training here." He stepped forward and swung his arm, and Aidan stepped back, bowing his body to avoid the swipe. The monster attempted a few more swings, forward and arching upward, growing impatient each time Aidan managed to avoid him. In a split second, the rope around Aidan's wrists finally broke free and Michael barreled forward with a yell, pushing his body into Aidan and throwing them both onto the ground. Michael raised his arm and brought down the knife, stopping only when Aidan held his wrist in the air in a tight grip.

  They bared their teeth like enraged animals, grunting and rolling on the dirty, hay-covered ground, one trying to overpower the other.

  "Get away from him!" A new voice echoed in the open space.

  Michael whipped his head around, and Aidan took advantage of the momentary distraction. He broke free from the hold and jammed his thumb into the wound on Michael's arm. Michael let out a howl of pain and rolled onto his back, giving Aidan the second he needed to land a punch to his opponent's face. Aidan threw another punch, then another. Michael struggled and kneed Aidan in the torso, intentionally aiming for the freshly opened wound.

  Aidan gasped from the pain and his vision blurred. He barely had a chance to focus when Michael slashed the knife across his chest. The anger thrummed through Aidan's body, numbing him to the burning new slice of his skin. He gripped Michael's shoulders as a growl-like sound emerged from his throat. He head-butted his opponent to weaken him then held down Michael's body as he pulled back his arm and began repeatedly punching Michael, channeling every ounce of rage and vengeance into his fists and his bloodied target. There was no flashback or monster from Aidan's past demanding his attention. His focus was vivid, sharp, and squarely aimed at destroying the monster who had stolen so much from Jessie.

  "Get off him!" the voice yelled again, a split second before a shot rang through the air.

  Aidan's body instantly bowed and his jaw slackened with the searing burn that pierced his core, each hissed breath racing in and out of his lungs like a blaze of fire. His lips curled into a sneer, biting back the sting of pain rippling through his limbs.

  Michael grabbed him by the throat and thrust him to the ground, straddling him, pushing the weight of his body onto Aidan. "You're a weak son of a bitch," Michael said with a twisted, bloodstained smile. He hooked his other arm backward, taking aim at Aidan's body with the blade in hand.

  Aidan gasped and gripped Michael's wrist with both hands in the air, stopping the blade before it pierced his body. He grunted and snarled as he worked to twist Michael's hand, shifting the tip of the blade to the side and slowly around, aiming it at its new target. Michael's eyes rounded as his arm shook, trying to redirect the blade away from his body.

  A veil of red colored Aidan's vision. The rage, the pain, the hurt…justice and vengeance battled for control and recharged each tendon in his pained body. His blood was on fire, blazing a trail of fury in every inch of his muscles. He pushed the blade that final inch away from himself and into the hard flesh of his opponent's abdomen, seating the blade at the mark with full force and twisting the handle to eliminate any room for error. Aidan looked into the shocked eyes of the monster staring back at him, reveling in the justice of the fading life from that hollow gaze, before the weight of Michael's body fell upon him with a thump.

  "I'll kill him," the voice shrieked brokenly.

  Aidan glanced over the shoulder of Michael's slumped form and inhaled sharply, panic instantly flooding his body.

  Jessie stood still with an arm locked around his neck. A young man—roughly an inch or two taller but just as lean and fit with dark hair and light eyes—stood behind him, pointing a gun at Aidan.

  Aidan blinked a few times, trying to reconcile what he saw. He didn't care about the barrel of the gun aimed at him. He didn't care about the young man holding Jessie. All that mattered was Jessie and the haunted, vacant gaze as he stared at Aidan's body.

  Aidan's focus shifted to the cut on Jessie's lip and his bruised eye and cheek. Anger exploded. He clenched his hands and bit back the rage that clawed its way to the forefront. His heart slammed against his chest and a pounding echo pulsated in his head.

  Maim.

  Kill.

  Rip the fucker apart who dared hurt his Jess.

  He shoved away Michael's lifeless body from above him and yanked the blade out from Michael's abdomen. He slowly stood and turned to face his new opponent, wiping the blood from the knife on his jeans-clad thigh, readying himself for his next target.

  "Jess…"

  Aidan took a step forward and the man stepped back, dragging Jessie against him like a shield. Aidan took another step and staggered slightly as the adrenaline slowly evaporated from his system. He shook his head to clear his vision. In the midst of the pain fogging his mind, he sought Jessie and the sea of crystal blue, needing some telepathic surge of strength. Instead, there it was, that haunted look in Jessie's eyes. The one he'd seen when they first met. The one he'd hoped to never see again. The fear and pain bore into Aidan's soul and radiated throughout his body, compounding the aches of his muscles and weakening him.

  The man yanked Jessie's head back by his hair and turned the gun, digging the metal barrel against Jessie's temple. "You killed him!" the man yelled with a sob, the panic rising in his voice. "I want you to know how that feels!"

  "Aidan…"

  The crack from Jessie's plea nearly broke him and made him stumble.

  Save Jessie. Nothing. Else. Matters.

  He screwed his eyes shut and steadied his breathing as best he could past the pain that clamped down around his torso and burned in his lungs. He didn't want to think about where the damn pain was coming from anymore. He raised the blade and took a deep breath to steady his shaking hand.

  What the hell was he thinking? He couldn't put Jess at risk like this. He lowered his hand and took a step forward. His step faltered. The room started spinning and each breath made a wheezing sound from his chest.

  "Aidan," Jessie whispered. "Look at me."

  It took too much effort to coordinate his breathing, standing, and keeping his hands steady. He stumbled back then looked up, focusing his attention on Jessie to ground him.

  The man pulled back Jessie's head with force, a crazed, almost delirious expression washing over his features. He spoke, his tone, although a whisper obviously directed at Jessie, carried in the open space. "He's dying. You'r
e going to watch him die and there's nothing you can do about it."

  Aidan swallowed heavily as his body swayed, his attention drawn to the shine in Jessie's eyes. Aidan shook his head harshly from side to side with a grunt, trying to coordinate his body. I don't ever want you to be scared again.

  "Jess…" He pleaded, his voice broken, pushing each breath through clenched teeth. He blinked slowly, his grip on the knife loosening as he begged for a shred of mercy to come into his life at that very moment—not for him, he didn't give a shit about himself. Please don't hurt him.

  "Aidan, look at me, dammit. Look. At. Me." Jessie's tone hardened with a sudden strength that boomed across the room like a sonic message only Aidan could hear. His voice sharpened Aidan's focus and beckoned his fighting spirit to resurrect. "Every second of every day, with every breath and heartbeat. Know that I trust you just as much."

  Jessie's few words awakened a surge of strength within Aidan. He narrowed his eyes, forcing his vision to sharpen further and took one deep, steadying breath. He straightened his arm with renewed determination and aimed the blade at the man threatening the life of his Jess a few yards away. Aidan flicked his arm back then forward with a final thrust of power before launching the blade across the room just as everything faded to black.

  Beep. Beep.

  He hated that fucking sound. It always seemed to surround him when shit hit the fan. Through the rhythmic high-pitched beeping that pierced his brain, he heard another sound—the peaceful melody of a piano sonata echoing in the background. A soothing rise and fall of music, offering a subtle, steady, comforting reminder he was still in the realm of the living.

  Aidan opened his eyes, and a blurred scene of white filled his vision. He blinked a few times until the scene stopped warping in and out and finally sharpened. He slowly turned his head to the right, blowing out a relieved breath, never happier to see those crystal blue eyes staring back at him. "You're okay?"

  Jessie nodded quickly. "How are you feeling?"

  "Like I got shot, stabbed, and my ass kicked."

  "Smartass," Jessie said, his hitching breath betraying his facade of casualness. "Doctor said you were lucky the bullet went clean through and didn't nick anything."

  Lucky? Maybe Lady Luck wasn't pissed at him after all. "Did they take long to find us?"

  Jessie shook his head and swallowed heavily. "The team tracked your phone and found the dart. It was some rare, animal-grade controlled drug that required a registration with each purchase." He looked down and rubbed his fingers together, busying his hands. "That's how they found us. The farm was in that man's name. The team thinks that's how Michael would avoid leaving a footprint." Jessie quieted, an odd distant look filling his gaze. "Michael picked him up when he was a kid more than ten years ago. The man had a really warped view of things…that happened to him." He looked up at Aidan, an odd mix of fear and worry lingered in his eyes. "He fell in love with Michael. How could he love that monster?"

  The emotion in Jessie's eyes tore at Aidan's heart. The monster had taken another person a few years after Jessie's escape, someone who shared entirely too many physical qualities for it to be a coincidence. He didn't even want to think of all the internal arguments and what-ifs racing through Jessie's mind at that moment. He reached out and threaded his fingers with Jessie's to still his hands, relieved when Jessie sighed at the contact. "Whatever you're thinking, stop. This is not your fault."

  "Who's the mind reader now?"

  "Hunter once told me, bad things happen sometimes for no reason and trying to make sense of it would drive someone nuts." He squeezed Jessie's hand. "It's over. Focus on that part."

  Jessie pulled up their clasped hands, kissing Aidan's bandaged knuckles. "You said nuts."

  Aidan gave him a lopsided grin, knowing Jessie was trying to force his mind to steer toward the positive. He scanned every inch of Jessie's features. His chest tightened at the cut on Jessie's lip and the darkened bruise on the side of his face. "Aside from the cut lip and the bruise, did they…hurt you in any other way?"

  Jessie shook his head. He rested his cheek against Aidan's hand and ran his fingers along the bandage around Aidan's wrist. "Everyone's waiting for you to wake up."

  "Who's everyone?"

  "Ty, our friends, the team. Cole bought you a cape. He says you're his new superhero. Your captain's here too and several other guys from the precinct have been in and out of here for the last two days to see how you're doing." He placed a few kisses on Aidan's bandaged knuckles.

  "Wait. What? Two days?"

  Jessie nodded. "Your team's been here the whole time. Even Manny flew back early from their honeymoon when he heard what happened. They all took a break to grab something from the cafeteria, but they should be back any minute," Jessie said, reluctantly releasing Aidan's hand.

  "Two fucking days," he mumbled to himself. Aidan scowled and grabbed Jessie's hand again, firmly threading their fingers.

  Jessie rubbed his thumb along Aidan's skin. "They'll see."

  "I don't care. I came too close to losing you, and I'm not wasting another second. Besides, they've already been gossiping about us for months. Might as well give them a visual to go with all the stories."

  "Is that you talking or the meds? They won't be able to unsee things if they walk in."

  Aidan focused his gaze on the man who punctuated each beginning and end of his happily ever after dreams. "This is me talking. And I'm clearer than I've been in a long time. Whoever doesn't like it can go fuck themselves."

  "That's so romantic."

  "Don't give me a hard time. I'm opening up here." Aidan pulled their clasped hands to his lips and pressed a kiss to Jessie's skin. "C'mere."

  Jessie pulled the chair closer to Aidan's bed.

  "Closer."

  Jessie leaned forward, resting his elbows on the mattress.

  "Closer."

  "If I get any closer, I'm going to be in the bed."

  "That's the point. Please."

  The corner of Jessie's mouth curled up into a weak smile. "You know I can't resist when you say that."

  "Please, please, please."

  Jessie slowly climbed into the hospital bed, careful of the bandages around Aidan's torso and across his chest. They lay quietly on the bed, holding each other and stroking each other's skin in random patterns.

  "I thought I lost you," Jessie whispered. "When I saw you on the ground by the truck…and…when he shot you…all the blood…" He stopped when his breath hitched. He clutched the front of the hospital gown and gently rested his head against Aidan's chest.

  Aidan stroked Jessie's back and placed a few tender kisses in Jessie's hair and forehead, reveling in the peace that slowly enveloped them. "I'm okay," he whispered. He'd been stabbed and shot before. Those wounds would heal. But the potential hole in his heart from losing Jessie…that would have been unrecoverable. He rested his chin at the top of Jessie's head and closed his eyes. "I'd do anything for you, Jess."

  "I know. But I'd really appreciate it if you didn't get shot to prove that." Jessie buried his face snugly at the base of Aidan's neck, nestling into the spot he had claimed long ago as his own.

  "We need to work on your sense of humor."

  Jessie softly laughed.

  Aidan closed his eyes, enjoying the joy of that quiet, subtle sound vibrating through his body, filling his spirit with a sense of peace, mending his soul stronger than any medicine ever could. "I love you, Jess. More than I ever thought was possible." He sighed at how easily the words flowed from his lips. He ghosted his fingers up Jessie's back and into his hair, pulling him closer and brushing his lips against the silky dark strands at the top of Jessie's head. "I know I don't say it, but I need you to know that you're not just important to me but essential. I don't walk around telling the air I appreciate it and need it to breathe. I just do."

  Jessie inched back and looked up at Aidan, unable to hide the emotion shining in his eyes. "I was expecting an Aidanism, but I'll take that any
day." He reached up and brushed his lips against Aidan's. "So many mega bonus points for Team Calloway." He absently stroked Aidan's stubble, quieting for a few moments before he spoke. "That's the second time you've told me you love me."

  Aidan's brows knit together. "Second time?"

  Jessie nodded and swallowed heavily, withdrawing his hand and tucking it back in between them, huddling closer. "When you fell to the ground, by the truck. You told me you loved me. I wanted to kick you in the balls so badly for waiting until that very moment to say it."

  "You have a serious obsession with my balls." He remembered mumbling something before he passed out, but he hadn't realized how easily the words had spilled. Effortless, just like his love for the man in his arms. "Regardless of all my shit, I will always love you, even when you get tired of loving me back."

  "I'll never get tired of loving you. Because you're essential to me too," Jessie said with a smile in his voice. "Besides, isn't there some unwritten rule…when you save someone's life, they belong to you? So I guess you're stuck with me."

  Aidan kissed Jessie's forehead, thankful to have him safe in his arms. "You saved me a long time ago, Jess. I've been yours for a while."

  "I like that."

  "Good." Aidan closed his eyes and ghosted his fingers over Jessie's pale skin, reveling in the blanket of serenity and peace that surrounded them. "Because I'm told I have a hard time letting things go."

  "I'm counting on it…every second of every day."

  Four months later

  Jessie sat under the tree in the backyard of Halfway House, enjoying the football game. Not really following who led or whichever team scored a touchdown, but the game obviously memorable regardless of who scored the winning play.