His Reluctant Savior (The District #3)

17. Chapter 17

Dalton’s face was filled with worry, and his dark brown eyes grew wide, pleading for me to stay. Admittedly, I kind of liked someone worried about me. But it wouldn’t keep me here. I needed to go. I tried to ease his stress, but we both knew that heading back to my house was a risk. Regardless, I needed some things if we were going to be running for a while.

Before I left, I texted the caretakers of my property and told them to sell the cows, letting them know they wouldn’t be able to work for me, at least for a while. I told them to keep the cow money, and I’d send them a hefty payment for their services. If I ever returned, I’d hire them again. I just didn’t want to put them at risk. I loved that they didn’t ask questions.

As I drove the Bronco back to Middletown, I received a text from Dalton reminding me to be careful. I smiled as I drove up the long driveway. Everything appeared to be in order so far. The house and property looked like nothing bad had happened yesterday morning. After Veil hired professionals, it seemed nothing was amiss. Even the two windows that had been shot out were replaced.

Regardless, I wasn’t sure I’d ever be able to come back here. My safe house was compromised. No one knew I owned it since I’d been so careful that not even Layla would find the connection. Still, it would be hard to let go of.

I got out of my Bronco, pulled out my gun, and scanned the area to make sure no one was watching. They could have easily been hidden in the surrounding woods, so I needed to get in and get out.

Just before I unlocked the front door on the keypad, an arm wrapped around my chest and a sharp blade pressed to my throat. My honed instincts kicked in, ready to throw them off before they spoke.

“You realize I can kill you before you react,” he said. I closed my eyes to the familiar voice.

“Easton… but you haven’t yet when you could have,” I said, buying time.

“You gave me purpose and affection when I had none. I need to know why you left me behind. ”

“Did Malik give the kill order, after all? I thought I had more time.” I thought I knew him, that he’d want to hear what I had to say for myself before he made any decisions.

“Malik told us to find you, but not to engage.”

“Yet, you’re engaging. Are you disobeying orders?”

Easton pressed the knife to my throat hard enough to draw blood, but not to kill. “You know damn well I’m only there because of you. I belong to you . Not to Malik.”

It may have sounded sexual if anyone had overheard us, but I was a mentor and father figure to Easton. Nothing more, and only because he allowed it. Besides, he was still a damn child, not eighteen until close to Christmas.

“Malik gives orders, but I look to you for approval of them,” he finished.

I could take this opportunity to reach out to the family, but Dalton was very much against it. And if I came clean to Easton, there was no guarantee he’d let me live, but I still had a good chance at living since I wasn’t currently bleeding on the ground.

While I trained him for almost three years, Easton was a natural at knives and the bow. He’d already been trained in archery, coming from a wealthy family, but he’d branched out and excelled. And he was quieter than a mouse from Khai’s handiwork and training, who specialized in stealth.

“You’re distracted,” he said. “You let yourself get caught by me.”

He wasn’t wrong. Dalton was a huge distraction despite my telling him otherwise. Not only because of the sex, but because I chose this path for personal reasons. I had a vested interest in keeping Dalton alive .

“You’re right. I’m distracted.”

I needed to find a way to survive Easton. I couldn’t help Dalton if he fucking killed me, but I’d been careless twice now.

“Is Dalton Reed worth your family and life?”

“It’s complicated.”

“It always is.”

“Easton, I can tell you, but with the way you… are, I’m not sure you’re going to understand.”

Honestly, I was amazed he hadn’t killed me yet. Easton excelled at outwardly appearing steady and calm with affective moods, which was probably from being on the spectrum. Still, his sociopathy caused by his trauma could turn that calm into explosive anger in seconds. He was amazing at wearing masks, but around me, he stayed true to himself, and only because he got something out of it. Easton did nothing that didn’t reward him somehow; such was the nature of a sociopath.

Easton simply being here and defying orders showed how impulsive he could be. I was one of the few people he listened to and obeyed, so to Easton, I didn’t just betray the family. I betrayed him .

He pressed his face close to my ear, standing on his toes since he was five inches shorter. I could’ve taken advantage of that, but I needed to get him on my good side and to trust me again, especially if I wanted to repair what I’d done to my family.

“Tell me why before I fucking kill you,” he hissed.

Fuck, I hated to reiterate my story, but Easton needed to hear it from me. “I’m trying to fix things with Dalton. We go way back since high school. He’s the reason I… killed my uncle, who’d been molesting and raping me for years, which you already knew about. Da lton, in a way, saved my life. It was because of him that I ended the violent cycle. I’d been fucking horrible to him throughout high school out of jealousy, and yet I wanted him, angry I couldn’t have him. But he accepted me and forgave me despite that. I owe him. And he has a son. Neither of them deserves to die just because we were hired. Dalton is a good man who was thrown into lies and treachery.”

I rambled all that out quickly; not because I was afraid to die. Death didn’t scare me, because I faced it on a daily basis, but I needed to stay alive for Dalton. Easton could take me out if the whim hit him.

“Why didn’t you just say that to Malik? Why didn’t you just ask the family for help?”

“All good questions. Because we kill as long as we’re paid, it doesn’t matter who we take out, as long as it’s not a kid.”

“But there is a kid.”

“True, but Dalton’s son isn’t on the hit list. I’m not about to leave him fatherless. He’s already lost one dad. I couldn’t… trust Malik not to force my hand. Maybe he would’ve listened. Maybe he would’ve told me I was compromised because it was personal and gave the job to Sully or someone else. Sully would’ve… made it painful. I took the risk to protect Dalton. I fucking owed him that much.”

Easton hadn’t eased his grip on me. Trails of blood trickled down my throat as the cut from his digging blade stung.

“Easton… let me go. Now. I need to keep him safe. He can’t do this without me.”

He obeyed and finally stepped back. I turned to face him, holding my hand over my wound. Even wearing jeans and a plain black T-shirt, you could tell he came from wealth with the way he carried himself with poise. Usually, he wore tailored clothes, but in the field, he made himself inconspicuous, as per my training.

His dark blond hair was neatly combed back from his face in a swoop, and his pale brown eyes were always scrutinizing and intelligent.

“I’m angry with you,” he said, fisting the knife at his side. I still wasn’t confident that he wouldn’t kill me. Not until he left.

“I know. I’m sorry you feel betrayed by me, but this isn’t about you. This is about me and needing to help Dalton before anyone else hurts him. I also care about him. He’s mine. He belongs to me. Do you understand?”

He shook his head. “No, you’re letting your emotions control you and distract you.”

“And you’re letting your anger control you, but… you’re right. If I didn’t feel anything for him, he would be dead. Regardless, I do feel something for him, so I can’t have that.”

Easton started to pace, fisting his hair. “Then come back, dammit! Tell them! We’re not done with my training. We can help you.”

I sighed and folded my arms, shaking my head. “Not yet, East,” I said, intentionally using my endearment for him to keep him focused and not lash out, which helped because he stopped his pacing. “Dalton is afraid for me if I come back too soon. I need to dig deeper to find out who’s involved. And we are on the run, not just from The District, but there are others. Just yesterday, we fended off an attack from the fucking Bratva right here… ”

That stopped me. Jesus… Distracted indeed. “Speaking of which, how did you find me? No one in the family is aware of this place.”

“How else? I followed the violence. I knew you weren’t coming back before Malik even did because you missed two of our sessions, and you’ve never missed them in the three years we’d been training. You didn’t call or let me know.”

Easton tapped his head with his blade. “I was angry that you just… didn’t bother to fucking call! Why didn’t you call?”

He was getting too agitated again. “I would have if I felt it was safe. So, you tracked Dalton down?”

“Not exactly. There’s been a lot of chatter between other organizations on the dark web. I took a risk that the sudden death among those hired had to do with you. This address was mentioned. I came here to investigate, looking for evidence of the recent shootout that resulted in five Bratva deaths. They’re more pissed than I am. But then, you just happened to show up here.”

Lucky me , but I didn’t say that. My luck had been shit so far. Now, I had to tread even more carefully.

“East, are you going to tell them you found me?”

With him continuing to pace, I could’ve taken him out, but that would slam the door shut at The District, and the last thing I wanted to do was to kill Easton. He also belonged to me, just as I belonged to him. Could I harm my family for Dalton? I hoped I never had to face that decision.

“Malik ordered us to find you and give him any news.” He finally stopped and looked at me. “He looks bad. Sully hurt him, but they seem to have… made up or something. ”

“Wait, what?”

“Don’t ask. I don’t know the details.”

“What do you mean bad?”

“Malik was… cut up, Sully style.”

“Jesus… Are you sure Malik is safe from Sully?”

Easton just looked at me without an expression on his face and blinked slowly. “Yes, they are like pickles and peanut butter. It’s weird, but… Sully is too obsessed over Malik to kill him outright.”

Fuck, I really needed to get this shit cleared up so I could return and check on Malik. If Sully fucking hurt him… There was no love lost between Sully and me.

Back on track… “East, I need you to stay quiet about this a while longer. Please.”

He deftly flipped the dagger between his fingers, something he did before he plunged it right into your heart or threw it into your eye socket. I braced myself, with my hand slowly reaching behind my back for my gun.

“Are you going to come back? If not, I will make them bring you back. You’re mine. You’re the only reason I’m there. I need you to keep teaching me everything.”

“That’s my plan. If… for some reason, I can’t, I’ll come for you, okay? You belong with me.”

Easton finally sagged and nodded before putting on his mask of indifference, as if he hadn’t been on the verge of murdering me in spite. “Then I will stay quiet.”

“Thank you, East.”

I took the risk and reached for him, pulling him into a hug. He didn’t like to be held, but the only affection he ever really got was from me. Even if he was stiff and didn’t hug me back, I knew he enjoyed it because he never pushed me away. Or he just liked to humor me, which was a strong possibility.

“Give me a few weeks. I should have everything wrapped up.”

He finally pushed me away and stepped back. “Fine, you’ll have it. But when you come back, we work twice as hard.”

I cracked a smile. “Of course. Anyway, I’m going to grab some necessities here, and then I’m going to burn this place to the ground. If there’s anything you want of mine, now’s the time to take it.”

The house had nothing of sentimental value, but I needed to help with Dalton. Easton and I headed toward the basement, and in the security room, I loaded up my laptop, grabbed a few extra hard drives, and shoved them into the laptop bag. I also packed up extra burner phones and a couple of my favorite guns.

Easton walked over to the desk and lifted the framed photo, the only photo in this house.

“You kept the picture,” he said, almost in awe. The only emotion I’d ever seen come from Easton was anger—unless he wore one of his masks to fit in with society.

I took the photo from him and looked at it. He and I were wearing our gis after a kung fu sparring session. We’d just wrapped it up when Layla came in and took our picture. For some reason, she took a lot of photos of us, being more sentimental than any of us. She printed it out and gave me a copy.

I had my arm wrapped around Easton’s shoulder, smiling broadly and sweating. He’d just turned sixteen, and he tried to smile, but it was small and wooden. The slight leaning into me and head tilt toward my shoulder showed his affection for me, if you could call it that. Perhaps it was more of an attachment. That was why I kept the image, which was proof of his love for me in his own way, even if he never truly felt such things.

It was the closest thing I’d ever been to being a father.

I handed the image back to him. “Keep it. I’ve got a digital copy.”

He removed the photo from the frame and shoved the image into his pocket before he headed toward the gun vault.

After thirty minutes, I grabbed everything I needed, and we were running out of time. People could come looking here again in case Dalton returned.

“I’m thinking about burning the place to the ground.”

“Don’t,” Easton said. “Let it fall to ruin. Maybe one day you can come back.”

That was strangely sentimental of Easton.

“Why do you care?” I asked, genuinely curious.

“Luca.”

I tilted my head and scrutinized the young man. His admission surprised me. “What does Luca have to do with this?”

Luca was a young man a couple of years older than Easton. He’d been trafficked as a little boy and kept young and ignorant by his owners because they liked boys. Dante, one of our infiltrators, found him on assignment, and instead of killing him, he took him in. Now, Luca was a part of our family, not as a killer, but he helped around the office.

“It’s his stuffed rabbit. I told him he needed to grow up and put it away. At the time, I hadn’t understood that the rabbit had saved his life while he’d been a sex slave, and it kept the diamonds he stole hidden from his owner, allowing him to hire Dante. He’s very attached to it because I think it brings him comfort. I understand that when I want something, I won’t let it go. If this house does that for you, then you should keep it.”

I huffed a laugh and wrapped my arm around his shoulder. “Thanks, East.”

He pulled away and looked at me. “Three weeks, Sid. If not, I’m going to hunt you down and drag you back.”

“Deal.”