Chapter 19

19

"Well, we know someone who enjoyed their day." Gideon nodded over to where Jules was snoring on the other end of the couch.

André snorted.

They were in the movie room, halfway through watching the second of three movies that Jules had picked out. Maybe it'd been a tad bit of a mistake to allow her to make all the decisions for their day, but she'd been so happy, filled with such exuberance that Gideon couldn't find it in him to temper her joy. She deserved it. Before their activities started, he and André had sat Jules down and explained—as best they could—what was happening. They didn't go into details; all they'd told her was that someone was trying to hurt Gideon and André, and that Gideon would find them and make them pay. They'd also secured a promise from her to not share what was happening with any of the friends she remained in phone contact with.

She'd looked at Gideon as if he could do no wrong, and he didn't want to ever let her down.

So that's how he'd ended up getting a massage, a facial, and his toes painted. André got the same, except his fingernails were also polished a sparkly blue to match Jules's. It was something else being with the two of them, witnessing how much they loved each other. How much André adored his sister. And after everything Jules had been through recently, she deserved all of it. And more. Her excited screams while they were taking that ride in the chopper still rang in Gideon's head.

It wasn't even eight o'clock yet, but Jules was already out like a light, leaving Gideon to feel up André the way he'd wanted to all day. They hadn't told Jules about them being together, but she had eyes and she was smart. Besides, Gideon and André curled up together on the couch, sharing the same bowl of popcorn as they watched the movie, might have been a bit of a giveaway.

He felt…light. Happy, but so much more than that. It was difficult to explain. His entire life had been about one thing and one thing only, and then André came and turned it on its ear. He didn't have one complaint, not one. He'd never allowed himself to be off, to step back from all the responsibilities that were on his shoulders. Responsibilities he'd been more than happy to take on, but there were times when it got to be too much, and until André, he hadn't had a safe enough outlet to let his guard down and just breathe.

Samir and the others were his friends, for sure. He loved them and they loved him, but it was different, having a partner, a lover. Someone he could decompress with. Someone who didn't look at him as The Winters , but as just Gideon. André didn't know the magnitude of what he gave to Gideon, and one day Gideon would find the words that were big enough, adequate enough, to tell him.

They both ignored the movie playing as they faced each other, André pushing his face into Gideon's neck and inhaling him. Just the sound of his sniff had Gideon's cock, half hard all day, jerking in the loose confines of his sweats. He stroked a hand over André's hip, dropping a kiss on the top of his head.

The day had been for Jules, to distract her, get her mind off everything. But it was also for André because he also needed those things. And spending time with him made Gideon happy. Seeing André laughing, his eyes bright and sparkling with amusement, watching the tension leave his body, watching him just…relax. Gideon wanted to give him that. He wanted to reciprocate what André gave to him.

The minute they stepped outside of their bubble, the world was once again fucked up and unfair and filled with dangers, but he wanted André to know that he could find protection and safety with Gideon.

Always.

"Thank you for today," André murmured as if he'd read Gideon's mind. "Seeing Jules so happy…" He tipped his head back, meeting Gideon's eyes. "Thank you."

Gideon cupped his chin. "Jules is not the only one who deserves to be happy. Did you enjoy yourself today?" He knew the answer, but he wanted to hear it from André's own mouth.

"I did," he answered softly. "It was nice to forget everything and just have fun."

"I want to give you that all the time," Gideon told him. "I want to be the one who makes you smile. Who makes you happy." He swallowed. "I want that more than I want anything else."

"Gideon." André rolled them until Gideon was on his back, then he climbed atop Gideon, their foreheads nudging, bodies perfectly aligned.

Sliding a hand down his back and over his ass, Gideon brushed his lips over André's. "You make me happy. I want to return that feeling."

"You do," André whispered against his lips. "You do." His lips parted and Gideon swept right on in, tongue twisting over his, tasting him with a low groan. André deepened the kiss, hips rocking, and then they were humping, trying not to make too much noise, trying not to wake Jules.

"Mmm, shit. Ride me." Gideon clasped his hands on André's hips, urging him on. A loud groan fell from André's lips and Gideon slapped a hand over his mouth, grinning when André chuckled into his palm.

A loud knock came on the door and they froze. The knock came again and André rolled off him with a mournful sound.

"Shit." Gideon sat up, adjusting himself. "Yeah, come in."

Samir entered. Gideon wasn't supposed to be interrupted unless it was important, so there better be a reason why he was sitting there, unsatisfied.

"He wants to see you."

Gideon lifted an eyebrow. "Who wants to see me?"

"Canto, and not you." Samir dipped his head in André's direction. "Him."

André stiffened.

"Did he say why?" Gideon asked Samir, who shook his head.

"No."

He turned to André, stroking his thigh as he addressed Samir. "Give us a minute." He waited until Samir left before he asked André, "What do you want to do?"

"Pretend he doesn't exist?"

Gideon pulled him into his arms. "I know, but you can't." He caressed André's nape. "You can say no." Bringing his hands up, he cupped André's face. "I will never force you to see him or to do anything you don't want to. You can say no." He didn't give a fuck what Ennis wanted when it came to André. And if André wanted it, Gideon would put a bullet in that fucker's head. It would be no hardship since that had been the plan all along.

André didn't speak for a while, then he eased out of Gideon's hold with a sigh. "I might as well go, get it over with. I don't want to waste more time than I need to on him."

"Okay." Gideon nodded, getting to his feet. "Let's get Jules to bed, then we'll go down to see him."

André scooped his sister up in his arms, pressing a kiss to her forehead when she roused. Gideon followed them silently as André made his way to her bedroom, waiting outside as André took her in. A few minutes later he was back, all the happiness from the day drained from his eyes.

Fuck Ennis. Gideon could kill him for that alone. He held out a hand and when André took it, Gideon squeezed him gently. "Let's go."

Samir joined them in the elevator, silent and watchful as ever. He'd been the one handling Ennis since Gideon didn't want anything to distract him from André and Jules. André didn't say a word, not in the elevator and not as they made their way down the corridor to the med unit where Ennis remained under heavy guard.

Despite what he'd told them about his daughter, Gideon still didn't trust that fucker. He had yet to get answers regarding who had killed his mother and tried to assassinate him. That time would come soon enough, though. For now, he ignored the way André's grip tightened around his hand as they entered the med unit. Samir stood back, allowing them to enter Ennis's room.

He was awake, sitting up, looking slightly better than the last time Gideon saw him. His gaze landed on André, then dropped to where he and Gideon held hands. His eyes narrowed. "What is this? What the fuck are you doing with my son?"

"Nope." André held up his free hand. "You don't get to ask that question. You do not have the right to ask that question."

Ennis's jaw worked, expression darkening. Gideon just watched him, daring him to say something else. He might have saved the fucker, but that didn't mean he wouldn't end him just as swiftly.

"We need to talk," Ennis told André finally.

"So talk."

Ennis flicked a glance in Gideon's direction. "Not with The Winters present." He spat out Gideon's name as if it was foul tasting.

"Gideon stays. I don't know who you think you are, demanding things from me, but you got me fucked up if you think that's how this is gonna go." Anger made André's words shake and Gideon stroked his thumb over his knuckles, over and over.

"André, please. I'm your father."

André released a bitter chuckle. "The fuck you are."

This man had the balls—the fucking gall—to call himself a father? André's father? André balled his fist, willing the swell of anger in his chest to go away. He'd been in the best mood until Samir told them Ennis wanted to see André.

For what?

What did he want to share that his actions over the years hadn't already said?

He was no fucking father. And the fact that he thought he could dictate what André did with his life? He was delusional.

He clung to Gideon's hand, greedily taking the support he offered silently.

André didn't want to be there. He didn't want to be staring down at Ennis, who gazed up at him with hope in his eyes as if he thought he could sway André with his words. André wasn't his mother. Ennis was a bullshitter, point blank, and André saw him for who he was.

"What do you want?" he asked the man responsible for impregnating his mother. "You're interrupting my night."

Ennis's jaw tightened. You could tell he wasn't used to being spoken to, or handled, that way. André's sperm donor was a multibillionaire. He was the man in charge. The man who looked down on people, who had no time for anyone, especially his secret son. Obviously, he'd expected André to rush into his arms and thank him for what the fuck he'd done over the years, no matter how measly it was.

Shit wasn't happening.

"I wanted to know if you were safe."

"I am."

Ennis cast a dirty look in Gideon's direction. "No one would tell me anything or give me any updates on you."

"Why would they?" André frowned. "I don't know you. They don't know you." Gideon hadn't shared that Ennis had been demanding updates, but André appreciated his man for not capitulating, for protecting him. That was all Gideon had ever done, wasn't it? Protect him. Even now, as he stood strong and silent next to André, he protected him.

"What do you expect to happen here?" André asked Ennis, an eyebrow raised. "Do you think you and I will ever have a relationship? Because I can tell you flat out, that ain't happening. You didn't want me in your life then and I don't want you in mine now."

"I was protecting you!" Ennis roared. "I had to protect you." Veins bulged in his neck, his face darkening in his frustration. He was still hooked up to an I.V. drip, and it jerked when he lurched upright. "Your mother and I agreed."

"And what about your daughter, Sienna?" André asked softly, ignoring all that hurt and physical pain shining in Ennis's eyes. "Didn't she also need protection? You did it, didn't you? Kept her close to you, showed her off to the world, claimed her as yours. You lived under the same roof as her, so she got all of you." He couldn't hide the hurt, the bitterness, the pain in his voice. Gideon leaned into him, thumb stroking André's knuckles. "She got you. Your name, your love, your attention. Somehow, you managed to protect her just fine despite such close proximity. She was special to you. And me? I was just a product of an affair you had, a nasty reminder."

"No." Ennis shook his head. "I loved your mother. She was—" He choked. "I loved her."

André chuckled despite the pain in his chest. "And somehow, she lived and died without you being there, at her side. Fuck you, Ennis. I mean seriously, fuck you ." He turned away, ready to put some major distance between himself and that man and his attempts to rewrite history.

"I was there." Ennis's words were a weakened shout. "I was at the hospital when she got sick."

André froze. "What?" He faced Ennis. "What?"

"I was there." Reaching for the glass of water at his bedside, Ennis gulped it down, then put back the empty glass, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. "She called me, told me she was scared. And I dropped everything, without hesitation." His voice trembled. His hands, too, when he brought them together, clasping them above his heart. "I was there, holding her hand when she got the diagnosis. And I held her when she wept because she was scared to leave you and your sister."

André gaped at him. What the fuck?

"I wanted to be with her, but she denied me. She protected me." He thumped his chest. "She didn't want to be an issue for me, but I didn't care." A tear crept down his face then. "I didn't give a damn, but she did. She pushed me away like she did over the years whenever I wanted to give it all up and come home to her. To you."

André shook his head. "I don't believe you."

Ennis shrugged. "I know, but it's true." He inhaled, then let it out. "I was at the funeral. I stayed in the back, kept out of sight, but I was there."

André needed to sit down because what the fuck ?

Gideon touched his shoulder. "You okay? What do you need?"

"I—"

Samir entered then. "The Council called a meeting." His gaze went to Ennis, then back to Gideon. "They know we have him. They want him present."

Gideon rolled his eyes. "When?"

"Tomorrow." Samir cleared his throat. "They also issued another order." He nodded in André's direction. "He must also be present."

"What?" Gideon actually paled.

"No!" Ennis barked. "Not happening."

"What's going on?" André turned to Gideon. "I don't understand."

"For once, I agree with Ennis." Gideon released André's hand to clasp his face and peer into his eyes. "You're not going."

He'd heard them discuss this council before, but Gideon hadn't gotten around to explaining what it was.

"They have Sienna," Samir told them. "The Council has Sienna."

"Goddamn it!" Gideon jerked away, scrubbing both hands down his face. "She went to them." His lips twisted in a bitter smile. "She told them about André. I'm guessing she's bartering—protection for information." He grinned darkly at Ennis. "Your daughter doesn't know yet that there's no one and nothing that can protect her from me."

"She's got to be working with someone on The Council," Ennis said, voice low. "Could be one of them, could be all of them."

"Of course she is." Gideon blew out a breath while André stared back and forth between the two of them.

"Someone want to tell me what the hell is going on?"

Ennis paused and glared up at Gideon. "You're sleeping with my son, but you haven't told him who you are?"

"Mind your business, old man." Gideon touched André's face. "I'll tell you everything once we get out of?—"

"No." André shook his head. "We're here now and we're not leaving this spot until I know what the fuck is going on. Who or what is The Council and what do they want with me?"