Sworn to Protect

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Authors: Jo Davis
Tags: Fiction, Romance, Contemporary, Contemporary Romance
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Drew, come to give their support.
    Especially Daisy. She was there for them both, and as she stepped up and wrapped Drew in a hug that the boy didn’t return, Shane’s throat burned. She didn’t have to come, yet here she was, comforting a boy she barely knew. She was a damned fine woman—and Shane was an idiot for pushing her away.
    After kissing Drew on the cheek, she moved to Shane and hugged him, too. Wrapping his arms around her, he held on tight and swallowed a sob. He wouldn’t lose it. Had to stay strong. But she knew it was a front, and clung to him. Held together the broken pieces.
    Finally, she pulled back. “I’m here for you both, okay?”
    “I know.” Now wasn’t the time to get into an intense conversation, but he had to find out something. “Will you come to the house?”
    She looked surprised and pleased to be asked. “Of course I will. About an hour?”
    “That sounds about right.”
    “I’ll be there.”
    After kissing him on the cheek, she moved on to allow other guests to pay their respects. He watched her go, a tall, gorgeous figure in her dark pantsuit, blond hair pulled back into a sedate twist. Then she raised an umbrella, and he lost her in the crowd. A pang lanced his chest that had nothing to do with the day’s sad event. He truly was a fool.
    Chris, Shea, and Tommy stepped forward to give them both bear hugs, promising to meet them at the house. Everyone was bringing food, as was the tradition in their family. He was already tired simply thinking about it. But maybe Daisy really would show, and that brightened him some.
    The next half hour became a blur of visitors. Once they were all gone, Shane and Drew stood watching as the cemetery workers lowered Brad’s casket into the ground. Drew walked to the edge, bent, and scooped up a handful of dirt. Then he tossed it in, stood again, and turned to Shane.
    “Can you wait for me?” He swallowed hard.
    “Sure,” he said softly. “Take your time.”
    Shane walked slowly back to the limo, where the driver was inside, waiting patiently. The Nashville police were gone now, along with almost all of the uninvited gawkers they’d been hired to keep out. The sleet, thankfully, had ceased. Shane arrived just in time to see one last reporter lean over the private wall and snap a photo of Drew, alone and mourning by his dad’s grave.
    That private sorrow, intruded upon and soon to be splashed everywhere, broke his heart all over again.
    Snarling, Shane started for the gate, but, seeing him, the reporter vanished from view. He continued on, making sure the man left. Just as he reached the gate, the reporter fled the scene in an SUV. There was no one else.
    As he trudged back to the limo, he spotted Drew sitting by his dad’s grave, face in his hands. He longed to go to the boy, scoop him up, and herd him away, but he couldn’t. Drew deserved to be left alone to grieve.
    To say goodbye.
    Well more than an hour had passed by the time Drew rose and returned to the car. The boy’s face was no longer stoic—it was a portrait of such complete desolation that Shane couldn’t help but pull Drew into his arms. Hold him tight.
    To his surprise, Drew didn’t pull away as he’d done with Daisy, but held on to him like he was a life raft in a storm. “I can’t b-believe he’s gone,” the boy whispered.
    Oh, God.
“Me either, son.” He hoped he hadn’t made a mistake calling Drew that when it had upset him before, but the boy either didn’t notice or didn’t care at the moment. He went on, addressing what Drew had overheard a couple of days before about his dad taking the designer drugs. Shane had found him sobbing, and discovered the boy had heard it all.
    “I’d do anything to bring him back, you know that. But I
am
going to find out who’s responsible for selling your dad that shit, and that’s a promise.”
    In his arms, Drew shuddered hard. “Okay.”
    Pulling back, he cupped the boy’s face, wiping the tears with his thumbs.

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