Chapter Thirty-Three
E nclosed in a new hotel room in a different place, Rebel gazed out of the windows as darkness crept across the sky.
Crow placed their bags on the bed and Rebel heard the man approach from behind him.
He searched his brain for something to say, but after leaving the house where Jimmy had chained him, Rebel hadn’t said a word other than the thank you to Azrael.
He owed the assassin too damned much and had no idea how he’d ever repay him. He also owed the man standing quietly behind him, but again wasn’t sure.
What were they? Friends, lovers, co-workers? Or just two people thrown together in a hellish situation?
Crow caressed his hair with a gentle touch.
“I’m sorry,” Crow said in a low voice against his hair.
Crow needed to be specific here because there were plenty of things to be sorry about.
Sorry for fucking me? Sorry for arguing with me? Sorry for letting them take me? Although that last one couldn’t be helped. On the drive, Wrath had recounted the number of bodies Crow had killed in the hotel room after he’d been taken.
“For what?” Rebel asked. He caught sight of Crow’s reflection in the window.
“For saying there was no us. I lied.”
Rebel closed his eyes and smiled.
Crow slipped his arms around him and pulled him back and Rebel sank into the warmth of Crow’s broad chest. He nestled his ass into the man’s crotch and stayed like that.
Slowly, he lifted his lids. “I’m falling for you,” Rebel said. It seemed safer to say that than to declare love. Besides, he wasn’t sure what love was, but when he looked at Crow, he couldn’t imagine a life without him.
“I’ve already fallen,” Crow admitted, brushing lips against his hair.
“When?”
“That day you were trying on clothes in the store and you asked the lady if she had any off-brand names,” Crow said with a soft chuckle.
“And you laughed your ass off,” Rebel said with a rueful smile.
“Yeah, but it was only because you were too damned cute.”
Rebel turned in Crow’s arms and gazed up at him. “So, what now?”
“Now, it’s your choice. You have the power to choose what you want to do with your life. I’ll support whatever you decide.”
Rebel tipped his head in thought. “I want to give the ranch a try.”
Crow smiled and happiness flashed in the man’s blue eyes.
Several hours later, Rebel fell back onto the bed, gasping for breath.
They’d gone at it for most of them, exploring each other’s bodies on the big king-sized bed.
Rebel had traced all of Crow’s tattoos with his tongue. He had taken the man’s cock down his throat and tasted his come. And although it had been late in coming, they had had the conversation about being tested, which they both had been.
That added a freedom to the time they spent exploring one another.
And Rebel wished they could stay there forever.
“Where do you live?” He toyed with the short hairs on Crow’s arm.
“In Nevada. I also have a place in Colorado.”
“Two houses?” he gaped and then snapped his mouth closed.
“Once you start taking jobs regularly, you’ll have money to buy homes too.”
Rebel shook his head. He didn’t want to spend the money on that.
“What?” Crow asked.
“Will I have enough money to investigate my parents?”
“You won’t need money for that,” Crow said and Rebel heard the promise clear as day.
“Thank you.” Rebel rose up and straddled Crow’s waist and leaned over to slowly kiss the man on the lips.
“What will you do when you find them?” Crow asked, teasing his mouth with gentle nips.
“I don’t know. They aren’t really my family anymore.”
“They’re blood.”
“Yeah, but blood doesn’t mean they’re family.”
“I don’t follow.” Crow frowned and Rebel laughed, lightly pressing at the lines between the man’s eyebrows.
“You are my family and we’re not blood-related.”
The whispered words pierced Crow’s heart and he wondered how the fuck he’d gotten so lucky to meet someone like Rebel.
With Rebel, he didn’t need to hide who he was. Sure, there was an age gap between them, but Rebel kept him young, and hopefully, Crow could teach Rebel things that came with age so the young man would be ahead of the curve.
“I am,” Crow confirmed.
He was indeed Rebel’s family.
One and a half weeks later…
“Rebel?” Mira Sharp said tentatively as she stepped out of her room and found him waiting in the hallway of the hotel.
He smiled at the tiny woman who was his birth mother and took her hand.
“Good morning.” Rebel smiled and drew her toward the elevators.
He had always known he was of half Asian descent and seeing her beautiful face had confirmed it. Her nature was gentle, eyes kind, and her voice soft.
And over the past week since she’d been there, Rebel had quickly come to adore her.
His father, Justin Sharp, had died a few years ago from cancer at the age of forty. Way too young, and Rebel was sad that he had never gotten to meet the man.
Ushering her into the elevator, he punched the button and the car raced downward.
“Where are we going?”
“Breakfast.” He smiled and stepped out into the lobby.
He guided her to the hotel restaurant and a booth located by the window. Bright sunshine shone through along with a view of Fallen Nevada. The place was known as the Oasis of Nevada with its wetlands, mountains, and state parks.
“Where’s Crow?” Mira asked.
“He’ll meet us here in a few moments.”
Rebel ordered coffee with heavy cream from the waitress and his mother ordered the same.
It amazed him how much he was like her and not only in food choices but also in looks. Sometimes, her hands waved about just like his did.
An image of his fake mother came to mind. He looked nothing like her, and that should have been his first clue.
Of course, the woman had caved beneath Crow’s threats. All it had taken was stabbing her new boyfriend in the thigh. When Hank screamed and demanded Dory Miller spill the beans, it all came out.
It hadn’t been the back of a liquor store. Dory had taken Rebel from his own backyard by climbing over the fence.
Rather than kill Dory, Rebel had looked at her pock-riddled face and skinny frame. She looked like walking death from the drugs she did. At that moment, he hoped that she lived a very long and miserable life.
From there, it had taken the power of Genesis forty-eight hours to locate his real mother.
She lived in Arizona and had been there her whole life.
It took a phone call and arranging a flight to get her to the hotel.
“I love the sunrises here,” Mira said.
Rebel smiled. “Me too.”
Her eyes were on him and filled with pride and he knew why.
Mira Sharp hadn’t blinked at all when Rebel had taken the plunge last night and shared with her about his past.
She held his hand and tears filled her eyes as he glossed over Tanis and Solomon, but she had known. It was some instinctual thing with mothers. They always knew.
It was there with her in his hotel room that he had spoken the truth.
Rebel had taken a breath and told her of his job as an assassin and she had spoken softly and calmly.
“You do what you must to survive,” his mother said.
“I know that, but now… it’s who I am. I’m not going to change that.”
“Do you only kill bad people?”
Rebel was surprised at the question, but nodded. “I’ve only ever killed bad people.”
“Then that’s something you can live with,” Mia murmured and for the first time since meeting her, she had put her arms around him and hugged him.
A real hug from his real mother.
And that was priceless.