THE INNOCENT: A Cowboy Gangster Novel

by CJ Bishop

  Cochise frowned, “What’re you getting at?”

  “I don’t know,” Clint mumbled and put the car in gear and pulled away from the curb. “When I figure it out, I’ll let you know.”

  •♦•

  “What’s going on?” Maddy asked. Savannah stood beside him at the kitchen counter, along with Abel, Angel, and Caleb.

  Max exchanged a look with Horatio, then explained, “We have kind of an emergency situation,” he told them. “Are you up for a massive rushed shopping spree?”

  The young people frowned and looked at each other, confused.

  “Shopping spree?” Abel queried. “That’s the emergency?”

  “Well, in the sense that we need a lot of clothes right away,” Max said.

  “For who?” Caleb asked.

  The anguish of his recent call from Anthony pressed heavily on his heart. He relayed the situation to the young people in his kitchen.

  “Oh my God,” Angel whispered, stricken. “Those poor kids.”

  Horatio produced a shopping list and a debit card. “We need shirts, sweaters, jackets, pants, socks and shoes, warm boots, gloves, and under clothes. There are six girls and six boys. We don’t know their exact ages, just that they range from about five years old to sixteen.” He handed the debit card and list to Abel. “Spare no expense. Get multiple pairs of everything for each child.”

  “Five years old?” Abel asked sickly, his face paling a bit.

  Horatio nodded.

  “I’ll take care of the girl stuff,” Savannah murmured. “I’ll call Emmy and Miranda. I’m sure they’d be glad to help out as well.”

  “Good,” Max smiled. “That’s a good idea.” He looked at the boys. “You can handle the rest?”

  Caleb smirked. “We’re gay. Trust me, we know how to shop.” He draped his arm over Maddy’s shoulder. “And we’ll educate this straight boy in the ways of fashion.”

  “Hey.” Maddy scowled. “What’s wrong with my fashion?”

  “Nothing. Nothing.” Caleb made a comical face at the others. “Not a thing.”

  “Shut up,” Maddy laughed and shoved him away. “I’ll show you I know shopping. Let’s go.”

  Max chuckled, then cleared his throat. “Take everything over to Anthony’s as soon as you’re finished.”

  “Okay,” Abel nodded and ushered the others toward the door.

  “By the way,” Angel grinned impishly at the two older men. “Just exactly how much is on that debit card?”

  Horatio smiled and shook his head. “Enough. That’s all you need to know.”

  “That means a lot,” Caleb murmured in Angel’s ear.

  Max laughed quietly; a lot was an egregious understatement when it came to Horatio Kaplan-Raines’ bank account.

  •♦•

  Jacob rarely managed more than a shallow sleep, but he’d begun to drift away into a deeper slumber when the truck came to a halt with a short jolt. Jacob was afraid to open his eyes. Afraid of waking to the nightmare all over again.

  “Jacob,” Eric whispered and gripped his arm. “We stopped.”

  Raising his head slowly, Jacob blinked; the warm jacket remained wrapped around his shoulders and the two men who had boarded the truck with them were still there. Jacob tensed when the driver left the rig and walked around to the back. The younger kids pressed closer, fear and uncertainty etched across their faces as the rear door unlatched and rolled up.

  “We’re here,” one of the men said; the same man who had told them that they were safe, and everything would be okay. He had kind eyes and a friendly smile—something Jacob hadn’t seen on the face of any man in a long, long time…if ever. But years of abuse had honed his distrust and he wasn’t capable of letting down his guard and accepting these men at face value. The man motioned them forward. “Let’s get you all inside where it’s warm.”

  The other kids looked to Jacob to lead them. He didn’t know if he was guiding them into a good place or a bad place, but they had no choice but to go with the men. Jacob and Eric went first, and David, 14, the next oldest of the boys, took up the rear with 14-year-old Nina—a pretty Spanish girl. With the younger ones in between, they slowly unloaded through the rear of the truck.

  The men helped the smaller ones down and Jacob and Nina picked up the two youngest, Samson and Susie, and carried them into the large house through the double entrance doors. Instant warmth enveloped them, and Jacob caught a whiff of food cooking. It smelled good; really good. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d smelled hot food…or had a hot meal. What food they were given was always cold and usually tasted bad. The aroma sifting through the wide hallway now kicked in hunger pains and his stomach growled.

  Samson held onto Jacob’s neck and lifted his small face, breathing in the pleasant scent. “It smells so good,” he whispered wistfully but didn’t ask if they would get some. The two little twins hadn’t been with them long, but long enough to know that good things weren’t meant for them.

  “Yeah, it does,” Jacob murmured.

  The tantalizing aroma infected all the kids and the longing, hopeful looks on their dirty faces brought tears to Jacob’s eyes. It wasn’t fair that any child, anywhere, had to go hungry…or be so viciously abused.

  They were led into a large room where four other men were waiting. One of them was younger, maybe nineteen or twenty. The first to approach them appeared to be in his late twenties, early thirties. He spoke to the one who had driven them here.

  “I want to give them each a quick examination,” he said quietly. “Make sure there aren’t any health conditions that require immediate attention.”

  The driver nodded. “All right.”

  “I called Dr. Perelli. He’s on his way over. He will want to administer thorough examinations.”

  Was this man a doctor, too? He’d said he wanted to examine them. Jacob glanced at the other three who had yet to approach. There was nothing threatening in their eyes…only sympathy and compassion.

  The “doctor” came over to Jacob. He smiled softly. “I’m Adrian. I’m a nurse and an in-home care provider. I need to give each of you a quick examination, just take your vitals, mainly.” When Samson shrank away, the man’s smile stretched a little. “I promise, it won’t hurt.” He met Jacob’s wary stare. “I can start with the youngest ones.”

  Jacob swallowed, then nodded. When he started to set Samson down, the little boy whimpered and clung to his neck in a death grip, nearly choking him. In Nina’s arms, Susie started crying, begging them not to hurt her brother. Nina tried to soothe her as Jacob squatted down and set Samson’s feet on the floor. The child refused to let go of him. He rubbed the boy’s back, assuring him it was okay, that the man just wanted to make sure he was healthy. When that didn’t work, Jacob asked the child, “Want me to go first?” The little boy nodded, his face buried in Jacob’s neck. Jacob hugged him. “Okay.” He stood up and handed Samson to Eric. The child released Jacob and quickly grabbed onto Eric’s neck.

  “Go ahead and take off your jacket,” Adrian said as he produced a stethoscope.

  Removing the warm coat, Jacob stared at the man silently.

  The doctor breathed on the metal piece of the instrument to warm it up then stepped closer. “What’s your name?”

  “Jacob.”

  “It’s good to meet you, Jacob,” he said with a small smile. “This won’t take very long.”

  Over the course of the next few minutes, Adrian listened to Jacob’s heart and lungs, checked his blood pressure and his pulse, shown a penlight in his eyes and looked inside his mouth and ears.

  When he was finished, he looked at the frightened children watching them. “That’s all there is to it,” he smiled, then asked Jacob, “Did I hurt you, Jacob?”

  “No,” Jacob answered and turned to the kids. “It’s okay.”

  Samson still wasn’t having any of it, so the doctor didn’t try to force him or Susie to comply, and moved on to the other children who, though scared, cooperated
with him.

  He finished with Eric last then addressed the twins. “What if I examine the two of you at the same time? You could sit on the older kids’ laps while I check you.”

  Jacob and Nina took the twins and sat down next to each other in a couple cushioned chairs. Susie was a little braver than her brother and grasped his hand. “It’s okay, Sam. He won’t hurt us.”

  Smiling, Adrian brought a chair over and sat before them. He looked at the little boy. “Your name is Sam?”

  “Samson,” Jacob said. “Susie is the only one who calls him Sam.”

  Adrian winked at the little girl. “I guess that makes you Susie?”

  Susie nodded.

  “You’re not afraid, are you, Susie?” Adrian asked. “I didn’t hurt the others. I won’t hurt you or your brother.”

  “I’m not scared,” she said quietly. “Not anymore.”

  “That’s good,” Adrian smiled. “No one here is going to hurt any of you.” He noticed Samson eyeing the stethoscope and asked the boy, “You want to listen to your heartbeat?”

  The child hesitated then slowly nodded.

  Adrian chuckled softly and carefully hooked the earpieces in the child’s small ears and let him listen as he moved the metal piece around his chest.

  Samson blinked then looked up at Jacob, a hesitant smile on his face. “I can hear it, Jacob. I can hear my heart.”

  “Cool.” Jacob swallowed thickly and blinked back tears.

  “You listen.” Samson plucked the instrument from his ears and held them up to Jacob.

  “Okay,” Jacob smiled and commenced to the listen to Samson’s heartbeat. “Wow. That’s a loud heartbeat you got there.”

  Adrian allowed the twins to play with the stethoscope for a few minutes until they were relaxed and at ease with him before he went ahead with their examinations. This was the first time since the twins had been abducted…that smiles touched their little faces.

  Hope pressed tentatively against Jacob’s heart as his eyes drifted between the men in the room. He wasn’t ready just yet to let the hope in…still afraid this was all a dream. But with each passing minute, it was beginning to feel more and more real…and safe.

  Maybe…it was.

  Chapter 4

  Donald was waiting on Axel’s front porch when Axel and the boys returned home. “What’s going on? I saw you and Cory take off down to the park. Is something wrong?” He looked down the street. “Where is Cory?”

  “Come inside,” Axel said. “I’ll tell you about it while I fix the kids some hot chocolate.”

  The boys shed their thick jackets and shoes then bundled up in warm blankets before the tv.

  Axel heated up milk in a saucepan while he explained to Donald about the call from Clint and the incident at the park.

  “Shit,” Donald breathed, his brow pinched. A sick look crept across his face as he glanced into the living room at the kids. “It makes you paranoid to let them out of your sight. It’s like there’s no safe place in this world anymore. Not sure there ever was, though. Not really.”

  “I know,” Axel whispered. The reality of what almost happened was only now sinking in, filling him with nausea.

  “Where’d Cory take the guy?”

  “To Clint and Cochise,” Axel murmured dully. He took down four mugs and opened an equal amount of Nestle cocoa packets and dumped them in, then filled the mugs with hot milk.

  Donald stared at him. “Is something wrong?”

  Sprinkling mini-marshmallows into each mug, Axel shrugged. “I just think I had a right to be a part of that fucker’s fate. I love these kids as much as they do.” He picked up two of the cups and took them into the living room for Jules and Reuben and placed them on the coffee table. “It’s really hot,” he warned. “Let it cool just a bit so you don’t burn yourselves.” The little boys nodded. Axel returned to the kitchen, retrieved the last two mugs and delivered them to the twins. “Again, very hot. Drink carefully.”

  “Okay,” Noah murmured as he took a mug. “Thank you.”

  Axel paused. “Are you okay, Noah?”

  The boy nodded as he cradled the mug in his palms. “I’m just a little freaked out still.”

  “Me, too,” Axel admitted. “It’s okay. It was a scary situation.”

  Noah hesitated then whispered, “What is Cory gonna do to that man?” The look in Noah’s eyes insisted he had his suspicions.

  “He’s taking him to Clint,” Axel said. “Clint will decide what to do with him.”

  Though no one had said so straight out, Noah knew that Clint and Cochise had gotten rid of his and Noel’s stepdad. The boy understood what Clint and his men were capable of.

  “Don’t worry,” Axel told him. “I promise, you’ll never see that man again.”

  Noah met his stare knowingly and took a small sip of his cocoa.

  Axel returned to the kitchen and sat down at the table, his brow furrowed with troubled thoughts.

  “You know why Clint doesn’t want you to be a part of all that,” Donald said quietly.

  “I know.”

  “He hasn’t recovered from what happened to you. He may never fully recover.” He shook his head. “Shit, I’m not sure any of us have.”

  Axel sighed. “I understand that. And I know what it did to him. But…he can’t protect me from everything, and I don’t need him to.”

  “But he’s going to try,” Donald said. “Because that’s who he is. He will always feel the need to protect you, to keep you safe—whether you need him to or not. He blames himself for what happened to you and…he always will. It isn’t going to matter what you say to him or what anyone else tells him. In his mind, he is directly responsible for you almost dying. And for a man like Clint…that’s a hard reality to face.”

  Axel had no challenging argument. He saw the look in Clint’s eyes every time Axel took off his shirt and exposed his scars. The radiating guilt and pain weren’t as prominent as it had been a few months ago, but it was still there and still flared up at the sight of Axel’s marred flesh. Maybe it had faded some, but as Donald stated—it would never go away entirely.

  “I understand all that,” Axel murmured. “And I get why he wants to keep me away from the gangster world, but he’s been a gangster for over twenty years. It’s woven through his DNA, it’s who he is. And if he won’t share that part of himself with me, then I’ll end up as little more than a spectator on the fringes of his life. Because that is his life. And I was aware of that reality when I committed myself to him. If we get married…how much of his life will I be excluded from?” He rubbed his eyes. “It isn’t like I want to go out on jobs with him, but he won’t even talk about any of it when he comes home, he won’t confide in me about the things he had to deal with out there.” Axel swallowed and shook his head. “Sometimes it feels like he’s got a shitload of horrors bottled up inside him and he won’t let it out. And…and it fucking scares me what that will eventually do to him, holding it all in.”

  Donald nodded. “I totally get where you’re coming from. I see Cochise holding a lot back from Kane, and all of us. Though, sometimes I think if he did ever talk about things…it would be with me. Maybe because I was right in the middle of everything along with the rest of you. What happened to Zoe—and to you and me—I think it made him even more determined not to bring his work home with him, so to speak. I mean, Kane and Zoe and John…they’re like one-hundred-percent from the world out here, and I don’t think Cochise wants to…infect that.” Donald smiled small. “Shit, I know the big guy loves the fuck out of us, even if he isn’t so good at saying it. But, like Clint with you, he wants to protect us from the dangerous world he’s lived in for so long.” He reached out and squeezed Axel’s wrist. “This is how they show us how much they love us,” he said gently. “By doing their damnedest to keep the horrors they’ve experienced from touching our lives. We’ve got to cut them some slack, my friend. This is all still new to them, but they’re doing their best the only way they know
how.”

  Axel stared at him. “So…you’re saying I should quit my fucking whining, accept that Clint is doing what he thinks is best for our relationship, and just love my cowboy for who he is?” A small smile quirked his lips.

  Donald chuckled. “Now, you’re getting it.”

  Laughing softly, Axel gazed at him and sighed. “You’re not really going to move out of the house and back to the city, are you? I like having you right here to talk to.”

  His mood shadowing a bit, Donald said, “I’ve been looking for an apartment. I never intended to move in permanently. After what happened, I was scared to be alone. But I’m over that now.” He swallowed and shifted his eyes away. “I think it’s time I left.”

  “You’re part of their family now,” Axel murmured. “And ours.”

  Donald stared blankly across the kitchen.

  “It’s because of John, isn’t it?”

  Ducking his head, Donald rubbed his eyes. “Things have been kind of weird between us since we danced at the reception. I don’t think he feels comfortable around me anymore.” He exhaled and looked at Axel. “I shouldn’t have asked him to dance. I knew he didn’t want to, but I pushed him into it. I want to believe that he’s gay and that he does like me that way, but…” he shook his head. “I’m just fooling myself. It’s wishful thinking and nothing more. But as long as I’m living in the same house with him, I can’t make myself stop having feelings for him.”

  “And you think moving back to the city is going to magically erase those feelings?” Axel asked skeptically. “If you’re in love with the guy, you could move to the other side of the world and you would still be in love with him.”

  “I know,” Donald whispered. “But I can’t stay. Sometimes when I see him and Zoe together, I wonder what I would do if they started dating. I love Zoe like a sister, but I’m so fucking jealous of her relationship with John and how he’s so at ease with her. If they’re meant to be together, then I don’t want to stand in their way. And I will be in the way…if I stay.”