Page 56 of Toxic Devotion

“I’m fine,” he managed to whisper.

“You’re not, and that’s okay,” Neil said, hands reaching for Marco.

He moved back, away from Neil’s touch, voice hard as he said, “Go home, Neil.”

Neil shook his head and kept moving closer.

“I failed you once. I won’t let you lose anyone ever again. I won’t loseyou.”

When Neil pulled him against his chest, he nearly collapsed right then and there, eyes squeezed closed and his breaths trembling. His heart, as hard as it had become, still managed to flutter in his chest. He didn’t want to know why. He didn’t want to look closer. To see.

Neil

He held onto Marco for as long as the man let him. He knew everything was fucked up. He knew that having hope in this situation was hard and if Marco had none, he would simply make sure he had enough for both of them.

Just a few months ago, Marco had been more than willing to risk his life to take out the men responsible for the shooting outside Dante’s school and he’d be lying if he said he didn’t understand it. He did. He understood much better than he would ever want to admit.

Without each other, they both floundered. Marco closing himself off and getting rougher around the edges while Neil had struggled with finding a reason. Then Hughes escaped prison and suddenly he had one. He had a big fucking reason. The Raiders getting the justice they deserved. They’d gotten that now. Marco was all the reason he had left.

He’d told Marco just a few months ago that he needed to find a reason to get through the bullshit, to find a reason that made all the shitty things worth it. Marco had been his reason since the day they met. Marco would always be his reason to get through the hard times. Even if he never got to have Marco the way he used to. As long as Marco was alive and happy, nothing else mattered to him.

“I won’t let this be the end,” he mumbled into Marco’s hair, eyes squeezed closed. “I won’t let it all be for nothing.”

Alicia had loved love. She wouldn’t have wanted them to end up like this. She wouldn’t have wanted that for either of them.She had always wanted her brother happy and loved. He had never stopped loving Marco, and he never would, but the man had him worried. That air of resignation surrounding Marco terrified him. There was no world for him if Marco wasn’t in it.

He didn’t leave until Marco threw him out and even then he hesitated. This path Marco was headed down could only end in tragedy though he would do whatever it took to prevent that. One thing he could do was find the man who wanted Marco dead.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Marco

DANTE’S SQUEALS of joy as he jumped into the pool made him smile to himself. He was watching Dante from one of the sun chairs, a book in his lap that he was far too preoccupied to read. His phone buzzing had him grabbing it off the side table before it fell off. It was a text from Neil. An address. His phone ringing the next second didn’t surprise him. He took a deep breath before picking up.

“You found him?” he asked by way of greeting.

“I did,” came Neil’s voice, dark and husky.

Marco repressed a shiver.

“Don’t do anything rash,” Neil said, making Marco snort. “I mean it, Marco. Wait for me. I can be there in a few hours.”

Hours, huh? He’d left Baltimore. Why?

“Where are you?”

Neil’s hesitance told him that whatever came out of his mouth next would be a lie.

“Marco…”

“Oh, fuck you,” he snapped and hung up.

He sat there, bristling for a while until he got hit by a floatie. He blinked, focus changing to Dante who had a mischievous look on his face, elbows on the edge of the pool. Dante always knew how to get him out of a funk even if the kid probably didn’t know he was doing it.

He grabbed the crocodile floatie and pretended that it was trying to eat him, making a big show of falling off his sunchairto make Dante laugh. He threw the floatie back into the water to Dante, wondering who he’d gotten this one from. Neil or Rome?

Speaking of Rome.

He grabbed his phone and called him, telling him to get his ass home. It didn’t take long before Rome showed up but his getup had Marco’s brows hitting his hairline. Rome in a T-shirt and jeans wasn’t something he was used to seeing. Someone had been too busy to go home and change. Whoever the guy was, he had to be special. Special enough that Rome threw caution to the wind when he was with him. If that was a good thing or not, he didn’t know. Not yet.