Neil (The Uncompromising Series Book 2) (13 page)

I didn’t know and I didn’t care. “Ask Jason.”

“We can’t.”

We who? Me and him? He and André? I didn’t ask because it wasn’t the important part. What Candle had said earlier finally sunk in and my stomach clenched. “Where is he?” I hated Jason, I hated him so much for what he’d done that I needed a new word for hate. But Candle could’ve hurt him, or worse, and Jason was still Conner’s father. “What did Candle do to him?”

Viking stared.

“Silence isn’t an answer.”

He inhaled. On anyone else, it was a simple gesture that happened thousands of times a day. But with Viking? It wasn’t an inhale. It was observation, judgment, and sentence all rolled into one. “Tanner disappeared.”

One single breath and I knew exactly what Viking thought of me worrying about Jason. “He’s the father of my son. I don’t get to ask about him?”

“I said nothing.”

“You didn’t have to. You’re judging me for asking about him after what he did.”

“I neither presume nor pretend to know what you are going through.”

Was that a trick? Was he mocking me? “Are you trying to be nice?”

“I am never unkind to you.”

“So breaking into my place twice and giving me a TV is your version of
not
unkind
?”

“The television was for the—”

I held my hand up. “No. Try again. I’m not buying that whole ‘it’s for the child’ bullshit. Tell me the truth.”

“Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.”

Christ. “Danish proverb?”

“Quote. Marcus Aurelius.”

“And he is?”

“Was. Roman Emperor.”

I got out of the SUV. “You make me feel stupid.” In so many ways.

Viking didn’t inhale, he didn’t flare his nostrils, he didn’t let the corner of his eye twitch—he did something way, way worse. He gently placed his hand on my shoulder and dropped his voice to a soothing cadence. “I am older, I have read more. You are not stupid.”

Warmth spread from his hand and dangerously threaded into my heart. It wasn’t the kindest thing Viking had ever said to me, but it was, by leaps and bounds, the most affectionate. For a single moment, I breathed it in and let myself feel the words as if they’d been intended as something more. Then I squashed the very stupidity he said I wasn’t guilty of and shoved the moment so deep I’d never find it again. “How old are you?” I needed to change the subject.

“Thirty-four.”

Smarter, stronger, older, he was more capable than any man I’d ever met. But that didn’t mean I should’ve burdened him with my problems. “I’m sorry I brought you into this.”

“I am not.”

I knew he was being honest. He was always honest. But it didn’t make it right. “Regardless, you shouldn’t have had to rescue me.”

He released my shoulder. “Agreed.”

I dropped my gaze. “Well, I’m sorry… about everything.” I’d never even thanked him for the damn TV.

“I was agreeing that you should not have had to be rescued in the first place.”

“I knew what you meant.” Viking wasn’t spiteful. “I was just saying that you shouldn’t have to clean up my mess.”

“Six dozen military-issue Israeli assault rifles are not your mess.”

My breath caught and my head popped up. “
Israeli
guns?” That couldn’t be right. “There’s no way Jason could get his hands on something like that.” Could he? “Are you sure?”

Viking’s face shut down. “We need to get upstairs.”

He opened Conner’s door, unbuckled him from his seat and held him high on his chest like he always did. Then he moved to my right but this time, he didn’t step a foot ahead. He placed his hand on my back.

A heat that was part comfort, part awareness and all Viking spread from his touch and reminded me of his warning.
Familiarity breeds attachment
. I silently chanted the edict as we stepped into the elevator, but the second the doors closed I was surrounded with Viking’s scent and his presence threatened to suffocate me. I tried to strip him from my thoughts but then I was left with the one thing I’d been avoiding.

“Candle’s going to come back,” I whispered.

Viking glanced down at me. “I will handle it.”

I stared at my son. His head innocently against Viking’s chest, he sucked his thumb and every second of the past few hours played in my mind like a warning. I knew what I had to do. I swallowed past the unbearable lump in my throat and brushed Conner’s curls from his forehead. “He’s not safe with me.”

“Not now,” Viking said with resolute authority. The elevator doors slid open and I scrambled to keep up with his long strides as he walked to one of the three doors on the floor, where he entered a code into a keypad.

“I’ve made a decision.” He couldn’t tell me what to do with my son, not when his safety was in jeopardy. “I know what needs to happen.”

“Later.” Viking swung the door open and Conner squirmed in his arms.

I forced a smile. “It’s okay, sweet boy. Remember our vacation?”

Conner looked from me to Viking. “Neil,” he whispered, tucking his head back against Viking’s chest.

Viking stroked his back and I choked on emotions thick with petty jealousy as I followed them into a sleek, modern, open-plan apartment. Whitewash hardwood floors, speckled stone countertops, leather sofas in the living room, all of it was framed by windows overlooking the Miami skyline. I’d never seen the apartments above the office and I almost wished it’d stayed that way, because now I was wondering what it’d be like to live in a place so nice.

Viking held Conner as he made a quick sweep of the apartment like he was looking for someone or something. When he returned to the living room, Conner was cradled in his massive arms like an infant, and he was sound asleep.

“How’d you do that?” I whispered.

Viking glanced down at my son and watched him a moment before quietly replying, “He was overwhelmed and tired.”

Seeing him hold Conner, watching the way he looked at him, something more than my own regrets settled around me. “Do you have kids?”

“No.” He didn’t hesitate.

“You should.” I’d never met a man who would make a better father.

“Börn er vis sorg, men uvis gläede.”
The words rolled off his tongue like an answer to the mystery that was everything Viking.

“What does that mean?”

“Children are definitive sorrow but untold joy.”

I didn’t think there was a single thing that could take me completely out of the train wreck my life had become, but I was wrong. Staring up at a man I knew next to nothing about, I knew one thing for certain. He’d suffered. A lot. “I’m sorry,” I said quietly.

“Today does not warrant an apology.”

He was wrong, on so many levels. Today was one big, giant
I’m sorry
but that wasn’t what I meant. “I wasn’t talking about today.”

Absolute and unforgiving, Viking’s gaze landed on mine. “I neither need nor want sympathy.” He tipped his chin toward a hallway. “Pick a bedroom.”

I bristled but I walked down the hall and chose the bedroom with the king-sized bed. I pulled the soft comforter back and arranged the pillows in a U-shape. Viking gently tucked Conner in as if he did it every day of his life.

Watching his movements, it was hard to imagine him not having his own children. “You’re really good at this.”

He straightened and the impenetrable coldness in his expression was back. “We need to talk.” The huge hand that had just cradled my son’s head wrapped around my arm and Viking propelled me out of the room.

T
HE SECOND WE WALKED INTO
the living room, André came through the front door with the suitcases. Holding on to me like I was an errant child, Viking started talking to André in Danish.

André set the luggage down and his face twisted into anger as he turned to me. “Are you fucking kidding me?”

André never swore at me. Add Viking’s firm grip on my arm, and I wanted to shove them both off the balcony. “Depends on what he said.”

“Jesus Christ, Ariel.” André shook his head. “
Tavors
?”

“What the hell is a Tavor?” I yanked my arm out of Viking’s grasp and stepped away from him.

Viking glanced at my arm then narrowed his eyes at me. “Israeli assault rifle.”

“If you say so.” I pulled out one of the chrome and leather stools from the kitchen bar and sat.

“Drop the attitude,
chica
.”

I tried to rein it in, I really did, but André’s comment may as well have lit a fuse. “I had a gun pulled on me, I was taken from my home and my kid’s now caught in the middle of my loser, gun-stealing ex and a biker gang. I don’t have an attitude,
I’m pissed off
. And why are we even sitting here discussing this after what happened this afternoon? Just give Candle what he wants.”

Viking glanced at André. “Call Roark.”

André’s hands went to his hips. “For?”

“Roark the pilot?” I glanced at Viking then André, but neither of them acknowledged me.

Viking gave André a look. “I will take the child north.”

André shook his head. “He’s on an assignment for me. He won’t be back for seventy-two hours.”

Viking switched to Danish.

“Speak English.”
Goddamn it
. “Give the stupid guns back and no one is taking my son anywhere without me!”

Viking cut his sharp gaze to me. “The guns will not be returned. You are staying here and I am taking the child north.”

Wait—
what?
“No.” No way. “I’m not letting you take him to some strange place and leave him with some stranger.” No. No.
No
. Of course I wanted Conner safe, but I got to choose who and where. “He can go to my—”

André interrupted. “He wants to take him to Talon’s.”

I practically levitated off the stool. “
Talon?
” I knew their ex-Marine medic buddy. Yeah, he was about as badass as Viking, but his two purposes in life were women and surfing. Nowhere in that scenario was there room for a little boy. “What the hell does he know about taking care of a kid? Conner should go to my mother’s.” North Carolina was far enough away, he would be safe there.

André and Viking exchanged a glance but it was André who spoke. “The LCs will be able to track any connection to you, especially your mother. Talon has experience with kids, Conner will be fine. And Neil’s right, you shouldn’t go with them. Candle and half his brothers will follow and I don’t have enough manpower right now to send backup with you. You’re staying here, in the building.”

I started to panic. “But it’s okay if he goes alone with Conner? That’s bullshit! Candle will follow him.”

“He doesn’t know you passed the guns off to Neil,” André stated calmly.

“Like he’s too stupid to figure it out? You
just
said the LCs could find anyone connected to me.” My voice reached a new high pitch and I jabbed a finger in Viking’s direction. “They’re gonna find him!”

“No one followed me here,” Viking interjected.

I spun toward him. “But you don’t know that for sure, do you? You can’t guarantee that if you drive my son all the way to Talon’s in Daytona Beach that you won’t be followed and that Conner will be safe.”

“I will not be followed and he will be safe.” There wasn’t an ounce of emotion behind his assurance.

And that scared the living hell out of me. Desperate, I looked to André for help. “And what happens when Neil needs backup, huh? Have you thought of that?”

“Ariel,” André warned. “You know this is the smart way to do this. If you’re in the vehicle, it’s guaranteed you’ll be followed. Without you, the odds go way down. Neil knows how to handle this.”

But Conner was
my
son. Not theirs. “
I’m
his mother.
I
get to make the decisions.”

Viking crossed his arms. “Then decide.”

I pointed at the ridiculous muscles of his bulging biceps. “What does that mean? You hardly ever cross your arms. Is that some kind of signal?” My gaze whipped back to André. “You’re in on this. You’re speaking in code and that’s bullshit. You’re forcing me to make a decision but I don’t have a choice. You already decided on this. Talon isn’t a babysitter. He probably can’t even change a diaper.” Every word out of my mouth fueled my panic.

“
Chica
,” André placated.

Viking uncrossed his arms.

Defeat settled in the pit of my stomach and I couldn’t help it, my eyes welled with tears. “He’s
my
son.” André stepped forward but I held my hand up. “No. He’s not some animal to pass around.” I looked at Viking. “Or an object you call
child
. He’s a little boy.”

André’s voice softened. “We’ll take good care of him. There’s a reason you called me this morning. Let me do my job.”

“I’m not your client,” I protested.

“You’re right.” André grasped my outstretched hand of warning and pulled me into his arms. “You’re part of
mi familia
now.” Strong and reassuring, he held me tight for a moment then released me. “We got this.”

“If anything happens to him…” I couldn’t even speak the words. Conner was my world.

“I won’t let it.” André reassured. “Neither will Neil.”

Viking’s quiet but firm voice filled the apartment. “I will leave in thirty minutes. When I get back, we will handle the father and the biker.”