Chapter 31

31

"You should get a house. With a backyard."

Gideon smiled as he listened to Jules. "Yeah?" They were in the pool. Well, she was in the pool, lying on a floaty, her fingers dipping in and out of the cool water. He sat at the edge of the pool, his legs in the water as he texted Will and Marco, his tech guy.

"Yeah, with a big backyard, also with a pool and stuff." She paused, and he looked up to find her studying him with squinted eyes. "You can afford that, right? You've got money."

He chuckled. "I think I can afford it."

She nodded, gaze remaining on his face. "Why don't you have a house, though? Do you only have this penthouse?"

He didn't mind the interrogation that started once he'd told her he wanted her and her brother to stay with him forever. She was being her feisty, helpful self by suggesting things she thought would entice her brother into wanting to stay with Gideon. "I have a house," he told her. "I think when I last checked, there were five or eight of them." He owned a lot of property, in and outside of the States, none that he'd actually paid much attention to.

She squealed. "Really?"

"Really." She looked so happy. He liked making her happy. "I'll have someone send them to your phone. Pick whichever one you like. If you don't like any of them, we'll get a new one."

Her eyes widened. "And we'll live there?" she asked, voice hushed in shock.

"If your brother agrees."

"Oh, he will." She beamed. "He loves you."

"And I love him."

"Awww."

He rolled his eyes at the blush that heated his cheeks when she clapped her hands together. Aside from André, Jules was the best thing that had happened to him. He loved watching her get excited. The way her eyes lit up and she clapped her hands. He wanted to keep making her as happy as she and her brother made him happy.

"When is André coming back?" she asked. "I'm hungry."

"He's on his way back. You wanna go out to lunch?"

"Yes!"

He threw his head back with a laugh. The way she got excited at the little things was precious.

They hung out at the pool for another half hour before his phone dinged to let him know André and Samir had returned from their little excursion. He helped Jules back to her room and then returned to his, where he took a quick shower. When he exited the bathroom, André was sitting on the bed, expression pensive.

His head shot up when he saw Gideon and he got to his feet. "Are you mad that I went to see Ennis?"

"No." Gideon closed the distance between them, placing a gentle kiss on the other man's lips. "There's nothing to be mad about." He didn't care about Ennis, not really. "How do you feel after seeing him?"

André clung to him, shrugging. "I mean, I know who he is and who he isn't now. We might never have the typical father/son relationship and I'm fine with that. The little boy in me might need some time to come to grips with that…" He inhaled then released it. "But I'm okay."

Gideon hugged him, and André didn't seem to mind that Gideon's wet skin was getting his clothes damp. Pressing his lips to André's temple, Gideon murmured, "You know, you didn't answer my question." When André reared back to stare into his eyes, he repeated the question, "Do you want kids?"

André's eyes glittered, lips curved into a coy smile. "I do, eventually."

Gideon bit his lip. "And would you want to have those children with me?"

"Who else would it be?" André made a show of looking around. "I'm not currently entertaining any other billionaires."

Gideon kissed him, licking into his mouth, one hand on his chin, the other wrapped around him, keeping their bodies locked together. He'd come out of hiding for revenge and found love instead. Funny how strange life could be sometimes, but he wouldn't change anything. Not if it all led him back to this moment, André sighing into his mouth, their tongues twisting around each other, bodies straining together.

André broke away first, panting, lips wet, both palms flat against Gideon's chest. "How do you feel?" he asked softly. "Your plans?—"

"Have taken a detour. The answers I want are out there, along with the people I'm hunting, and I'll get to them." He knew that for sure. "But for now…" He reached for André's belt, unbuckling it as he walked them over to the bed. "I want a quickie with the man I love before I take him and his sister out to lunch."

André fell back into the bed with a chuckle and Gideon crawled on top of him, sliding his tongue into his mouth.

The quickie was not so quick, but eventually, they left the house, Gideon taking them to a restaurant that Jules picked. He'd wanted to buy out the place for the day so that no one would bother them as they ate, but André was not having it. So instead, they had a separate dining room—usually reserved for special events—to themselves after entering via a back entrance.

Samir and the rest of the team joined them at André's insistence, the only one missing being Will, since she'd been given an impromptu assignment earlier that day.

His phone dinged and he glanced down at it to see Will had sent him a confirmation of the job with a simple thumbs-up. As Jules laughed and joked with Samir and the others, Gideon glanced over at André as he ate. This had to be what having a family felt like. For a long time, he'd felt alone, even when he had Samir and his team, but the addition of André and Jules felt so good, so right.

They were supposed to be in his life and he was supposed to love them. Protect them. He would do it until he didn't have breath left, then he would find more—the last vestiges of his life—and keep on going.

For them.

The TV mounted to a corner of the room was tuned to a news channel, where the female reporter was reporting on the suicide death of Joseph Morrow and the news that his estranged daughter would now be the head of his company. Gideon dipped his head, spearing a piece of lettuce with his fork, then bringing it to his mouth. Things were coming together. Not as perfectly as his father would have liked, but they were. The pieces were being shifted into place. The people ultimately responsible for his mother's death were out there, and he would find them.

Like he'd told André, they had taken a detour, but the ultimate destination remained the same. He was his father's son; no one got to hurt him and his family and live. Didn't matter how long it took, he would find them, and they would be made to suffer.

"Oh my God!" André jerked against him. "What—" He stared down at his phone, then up at Gideon with wide eyes.

"What is it?" Jules asked. "Something happened?"

André blinked and swallowed, gaze darting back down to his phone before he told his sister, "Just— Some people I knew from school, um…they died."

"Oh. Sorry."

"It's okay. I didn't know them that well." But André narrowed his eyes at Gideon and got to his feet. "Gideon, follow me."

Hmmm. He liked it when André got all commanding. Samir watched him stand with an amused shake of his head and Gideon flipped his friend the finger as he turned and followed André into the private bathroom that came with their dining space. As he walked through the door, André grabbed him by the shirt, hauling him the rest of the way inside and slamming the door behind them.

"What is this?" He shoved his phone at Gideon. "What is this?"

Gideon read the news alert aloud. "Five men died in a mysterious boating accident today on Lake Kaiser. Authorities aren't saying what caused the accident, only that it's still very early in the investigation. The men have been identified as Calder McGilvery, Ted Lee, Jeremy Dennis, Phillip Moss, and Saul Dickinson." He lifted his gaze to André. "What?"

"Those are all the boys that used to bully me in school," André hissed.

"Huh. That's…interesting."

"So, it's just a coincidence that hours after I mentioned being bullied to Ennis, they're dead?"

"I mean…" Gideon shrugged.

André stared at him.

Gideon stared back.

André folded his arms, glaring. "There's gonna be an investigation. Will they find anything?"

"I'm going to marry you one day soon."

André gaped at him. "Is that a fucking proposal? After you killed five men for me?"

"Is there more I should kill?"

André huffed, but his angry demeanor didn't linger more than a few seconds. "Whoever you sent, they were careful?"

"Of course. There's nothing to find," Gideon assured him, caressing his cheek.

"I hope you know you gotta come better than that when you do propose to me."

Gideon laughed softly, pulling the other man into his arms. "I know. Jules won't have it any other way."

André sighed. "I can't believe?—"

Gideon kissed his words away. "Believe it," he murmured against André's lips. "There isn't a line I wouldn't cross to protect you. If you're hurt, I would end the fucking world to find who did it. I love you."

"I love you too, Gideon." André patted his chest. "Thank you for loving me." He exhaled. "Okay, let's go back before Jules comes looking for us."

Gideon snorted. "You know she?—"

"André? Gideon?"

At the sound of Jules calling them, they met each other's gaze and doubled over laughing.

Thank you for reading!

Gideon and André's book is complete but the story continues with Samir and Ennis in CAPTIVE.

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