Obsessed (The Protectors #13) - Sloane Kennedy Page 0,3

smooth things over, but the moment I’d stepped beyond the door and recognized the man that Elliot had been in a heated confrontation with, I'd forgotten that I was supposed to be the reasonable dad who solved his sons’ problems.

I sighed as I stared at my living room. Nothing about that night had been reasonable.

I began righting some of the furniture, but when I saw the bloodstain on the carpet, I felt sick to my stomach and was forced to sit down on the couch. That bloodstain represented so many things that it was hard to process them all. For starters, it could have easily been Elliot's blood. The only reason it hadn't been was because the bullet that had been meant for him had been taken by the very man who'd ruined my life decades earlier.

With one selfish act twenty-five years ago, Declan Barretti had changed the course of my entire existence. I'd spent my entire adult life hating the man for what he’d taken from me. Three nights ago, he'd given something even more precious back, but it was hard to make sense of that. On some level, maybe I'd already forgiven him, but deep down, I knew it wasn't that simple.

I'd lost too much.

Thoughts of the past made my chest constrict painfully and I automatically began rubbing my finger across the ring on my left hand.

Mac's ring.

The one he hadn't been able to give me himself because Declan Barretti and the men in blue who'd sworn to have Mac's back had abandoned him when he’d needed them the most. And they'd done it simply because of who he’d loved.

Me.

I turned my attention away from the blood and focused on putting the rest of the living room back in order. Work had always helped me get through the difficult times and while I hadn't needed to do that in a while, not since the arrival of my younger son, I was glad for that particular trait at the moment.

Once I was done with the living room, I went to Ryan's room to inspect the damage. I hadn't really paid much attention to what, if any, destruction my attacker had caused in my youngest son's room when he'd entered the house that way, so I really didn't know what to expect. My biggest goal, in addition to getting Ryan's space back to normal, was to try and erase the image of the man holding a gun to my son’s head. Realistically, I knew that would likely never happen. I saw that picture every night when I tried to close my eyes and every time I looked at Ryan now, even if he was happy and smiling and communicating in his own unique way, I still only saw the fear in his eyes as he’d looked to me to protect him.

I hadn't been able to.

But thankfully, there had been someone who had.

Predictably, when I thought about the man who'd saved my son's life, my body thought about him too, and not in a good way.

Okay, maybe in a good way but not exactly in a way I wanted it to.

I only knew a few things about the man.

First, that he was called Matias, and I only had that tidbit of information because he also happened to be the brother of my older son’s boyfriend. Second, the man, Matias, was one scary-ass guy. He'd snapped the neck of the man threatening Ryan's life like his body had been made of twigs rather than flesh and bone. And third, with his tattoos, emotionless voice, and piercing eyes, Matias was someone my mind was dreading seeing again even as my body was eagerly anticipating that moment.

Since he was Cruz’s brother, it was likely that I wouldn't be able to avoid the man in the future, especially if my instincts were right in that Elliot had found his soulmate. So that meant I'd have to figure out some way to deal with the guy, which meant getting my body and my mind in sync the next time I saw Matias. Since I loved Elliot more than life itself, I couldn't wish away his chance at happiness with Cruz, even if that would make things a little bit easier for me.

I sighed because I was being beyond ridiculous. Not only was I considerably older than Matias, I doubted the man was even gay. Yes, he’d looked at me in a way that had made my entire body shiver with excitement, but I considered myself to