12. Saul

Chapter twelve

Saul

I eased off Calvin but kept him covered, my hand on his head to keep it down. "I said everyone face down," the gunman yelled.

Too shocked to obey initially, everyone moved quickly. With one exception and my heart sank as May-belle didn't move from her chair. "You'll have to excuse me," she drawled, completely unfazed, "but I can't get down there."

The guy all but snarled at her, and the second man grabbed her purse and looked inside. "No weapons." He grinned and pocketed some bills then threw her purse on the floor.

I felt Calvin shaking under me and squeezed his shoulder a tiny bit to try to offer reassurance. I didn't speak because the last thing I wanted was to have him singled out. I looked over at Chris and he met my gaze.

Yep. It was up to us. I glanced around and met the gaze of Chris's other two men. They both inclined their heads slightly, ready for orders.

The gunman didn't seem to take May-belle as a threat. "I want Grayson Anderson," he yelled. Well, shit. They'd clearly targeted him. Maybe the pirates had given them ideas.

Daniel spoke, as difficult as it was when lying on the floor. "They're not here. Their whole party was taken off the island this afternoon." The other gunman swore and strode over to Daniel, aiming the point of his gun at Daniel's head.

"Don't you fuck with us."

"I'm not," Daniel said, still calm. "The Coast Guard came this afternoon and told us there had been pirates targeting smaller islands near the keys. I gave the guests the opportunity to relocate, and they chose to do so."

The one holding the other server scoffed. "So you're the big man, huh!" And I saw Joshua close his eyes in horror. "How about we start with what you have?" He turned and spat. "I want you to crawl over to me on your knees. Show me how much you don't want me to put a bullet in any of your guests." The whole room seemed to hold still. I knew the old revolver the gunman was holding only held six bullets, but the other guy had a Glock that probably held ten. And while he might take the gun away from her head, he still had the other server by the neck. Too risky.

Daniel moved without hesitation and came up on his hands and knees. I glanced at Chris, and he was staring intently at the first guy, and I glanced over.

And then I saw it.

The female he was holding hostage was watching Daniel and her lip tipped up almost in a smile, but then was quickly hidden. I looked at Chris and he nodded almost imperceptibly. She wasn't being held hostage; she was one of them . And it had worked. It had made us all compliant because of the threat to her.

Daniel started crawling. Everyone held their breath when the second guy seemed to run out of patience and pointed the gun. "Get up."

"Everyone on their feet and in that corner," the first one said, confident we were suitably cowed. He eyed us. "I want phones, jewelry, cash, and cards."

The second guy walked through us but stopped when he got to Ricky and smirked. "What's with the outfit?" Ricky trembled but didn't reply, but then his eyes landed on Calvin.

"You two getting married?" And he grinned, showing a row of chipped teeth. He laughed and waved the gun, looking at Calvin. "You're a pretty boy."

How the fuck I didn't react I never knew. But anything to piss this guy off or draw attention to Calvin wouldn't end well.

"You two getting hitched?" he asked again, waving the gun carelessly, then seemed to pick Steven of all people to focus on. It wasn't hard to spot that he was scared though. Sweat was rolling off him and even I could see him shaking. "Are they?" he lifted the gun.

"No," Steven croaked out. "Not those two." I cursed internally. This was getting worse. Steven pointed to Chris and Ricky. "Those two."

The second gunman nodded and looked at Calvin. "Good. I wouldn't want to break someone's heart when I fuck you."

"No," Steven cried. "No, you can't."

And everything that was already bad went immediately downhill.

"I can't ?" he turned the gun on the idiot Steven, who needed to learn to keep his fucking mouth shut. "You want me to fuck you instead?"

Steven stiffened, then shook his head. "I'm not gay."

The second gun man smiled. "Do I care?" Then he looked back at Calvin, who was standing completely still, not even trembling, and waved the gun at Calvin. "Is he?" He turned and looked at Steven. "Well? Is he gay? Think very carefully before you answer. If he isn't, then I will just choose you."

Steven sent a panicked look at Calvin, then to my utmost disgust, folded. "Yes."

"Yes, what?" the man asked, clearly enjoying himself.

"Yes, he's gay," Steven muttered.

I thought every single person gasped in the room, but not in shock, in disgust at Steven's betrayal. I knew it didn't matter to the gunman; he was just fucking with us. I kept silent, and so did Chris. Then the first one grabbed hold of Calvin's shirt and yanked him forward. I tensed, because there was no way he was laying a finger on him. The man trailed a hand down Calvin's chest, and I saw Calvin tremble. I had to fist my hands to keep myself from putting them around the fucker's throat. Then he laughed and his hand dropped to Calvin's ass to squeeze it, and I knew instantly what he would feel.

The guy hesitated and frowned. "What the fuck have you got on?" His lips curled in a sneer and, unable to stop myself, I took a step forward. It was enough of a distraction and the man, wisely sensing I was a threat, swung the gun toward me. Good, so long as he was nowhere near Calvin.

"Get the cash first," the other one snapped out.

"Fucking weirdo," the one pointing the gun at me spat out, then sneered, "What, did Mommy put you in a diaper?"

"Get on with it," the first guy said, and the one with Calvin grunted and stepped back to Daniel, taking his wallet. He frowned when it barely contained fifty dollars.

"Where's the cash?"

"I have five thousand dollars in the safe in my office," Daniel said. The two gunmen glanced at each other and the first nodded, tightening his hold on the woman.

"Go get it," he snapped and the second guy marched Daniel from the room.

This was our chance. This was our only chance. I didn't trust them to just leave. They were on a power trip, and I knew the one marching Daniel out had Calvin in his sights.

Over my dead body.

Knowing the female was in on it was a game changer. We just needed a distraction. And we got it. May-belle.

"Oh," she said in alarm and clutched her chest. I was a little calculated in reacting, but both Chris and I stepped forward simultaneously as we were nearest, full of concern, not even looking at the gunman. Chris's other two men moved silently to the other side. May-belle was standing in the corner with all of us, but she doubled over quite dramatically. I would have been convinced if she hadn't managed to look back at me and wink.

"Ma'am," Chris panic-shouted and grabbed her arm. He wasn't the only one that moved. Matt, Ryder, and Noah all crowded around, and the gunman shouted, then raised the barrel in the air again to fire.

And that was all the opening I needed. I had him on the floor in seconds and Chris restrained the woman, who had given up any pretense of being a victim. We gagged them both immediately because there was still the second man in the office with Daniel. Chris's two men took over for us and Matt and Noah kept everyone calm and silent as we positioned ourselves at the door. And on cue, May-belle came through for us again. Her shrieks would have been loud enough to wake the dead. Daniel came through the door first, followed by the second man.

He didn't get a chance to get a shot off.

Daniel got everyone to sit down while the four of us dragged the three stooges to May-belle's small sitting room. Chris and I pocketed a gun each. I glanced up as soon as I dared take my eyes off the one that had threatened Calvin and looked for him, but he and Ricky were standing with their arms around each other, and I couldn't see his face. I ached to go make sure he was okay, but I didn't dare leave these guys.

The Coast Guard responded pretty quickly, as they had been patrolling in the area as promised. So did the EMTs, who had a battle on their hands to get May-belle to accompany them to be properly checked out. She only agreed when Ryder stepped up and promised he would collect her tomorrow, so she wouldn't miss the wedding.

It was at that point that Ricky burst into tears and started almost hyperventilating. Chris announced they were going upstairs. I stood to go as well, but the cops still wanted my individual account, which took another hour. Chris heard them ask, shot me a look, then rushed Ricky and Calvin out of the door and all the cops surrounded me.

When they were done, I didn't wait for Daniel, who was heading in my direction, just ran upstairs. I hadn't even collected my wallet for the key, so I just rapped on the door. "It's me."

Chris opened it, looking contrite because he knew he'd pretty much abandoned me downstairs to the cops, and I roughly shoved past him, absolutely furious. Ricky was curled up on the sofa, asleep. "Where is he?"

"He wanted to go to bed," Chris said. "So we stayed until you got back. Ricky was distraught…" and I sent him a look which should have incinerated him on the spot for leaving Calvin alone, but turned and walked into the bedroom.

"Get out," I snapped, closing the door behind me. The bed was empty, and I shot to the bathroom, but that was empty as well.

I barely heard the noise through the pulse thundering in my ears, but my gaze fell on the closet and, taking a steadying breath, I opened the door. Calvin didn't even look at me. He was sitting in the corner clutching Tiny and trying to be as small as possible. The diaper was on the floor in shredded pieces. "Baby?" I hunkered down and reached out my hand, and he cringed away.

I froze at his rejection.

"Calvin?" I tried again. "It's me, Daddy."

He looked up at me then, and something inside me broke at his tear-stained, ravaged face. I would kill Chris for this. But he shook his head. "No, you're not. You're just pretending for the weekend."

I didn't know how to fix this, and knew empty promises wouldn't work, so I just sat down next to him and put my head against the wall. I heard the outside door close, so I knew Ricky and Chris had gone. I was silent for a long moment. I knew he'd been embarrassed downstairs by that fucker who'd singled him out, but…no, this wasn't just about that. I honestly didn't think it was about the delay in coming upstairs, either. This was something else, and I was completely out of my depth. The one person who I could have asked had just let us both down. I scrubbed my face. I knew what adrenaline dips felt like, and Calvin was showing all the classic signs.

He was trembling. I stood and walked back into the bedroom, grabbing his blanket and a spare, then went back and calmly tucked his blanket all around him, then added the second one. Then I went to the small kitchen and opened the top cupboard. Glasses, mugs, and at the back was a kid's set of plates and cups and even better, there was one with a top. I warmed up some milk and added a packet of hot chocolate, then a little cool milk so it wouldn't burn his tongue and transferred it into the sippy cup.

Calvin hadn't moved when I got back, so I sat back down and held out the cup. "It's hot chocolate," and I silently begged him to respond. He turned his head and stared at the little blue cup, then just about exploded.

"I'm not a child!" he yelled and slapped the cup out of my hands, and it flew against the wall and splattered hot chocolate everywhere. Then he burst into fresh sobs and, out of ideas, I just went with my instincts and picked him up. He thrashed and tried to punch and kick, but I held him close and murmured to him gently. "I've got you, baby. Daddy's here. You're okay. Hush, baby." And sobbing, he seemed to collapse in my arms. I held him for a long time until the storm passed, and he grew quieter. I never wanted to let go.

"They used to have a lot of parties."

I rocked him gently and brushed a kiss on his hair, and I took a wild guess with what little I knew. "Your mom and dad?"

"Dad first, but then she kicked him out, and it was just boyfriends then. But the parties got worse after Dad left. She started locking my door for longer. I don't know whether it was to keep me in or to keep her friends out that were looking for a bed. I can't remember exactly how old I was the first time she didn't unlock the door the next morning. I just remember wanting to pee badly, but the door wouldn't budge. I tried to go to sleep again, but when I woke up, I'd peed the bed."

I closed my eyes in despair. This was it. This was the trauma. Or one of them.

"She was so mad, but she used to go to one of the churches for food and the next day she brought home some toddler training pants as well. Made me wear them every time she locked my door, and if I had to use them, she'd punish me."

What a complete shitstorm. "And the first time you trust that you're safe to wear something similar, this happens. That fucker was just as bad as your mom."

"No," Calvin said dispassionately, almost matter-of-fact. "I think mom was worse."

"And then I let you down as well." I'd been too focused on making sure those fuckers went down and stayed that way. "I wanted to murder Chris when he left me downstairs to face the cops."

"Ricky has asthma."

That stunned me. "He does?" I'd never seen Ricky with an inhaler, but then I'd only known the guy properly two days. Chris rarely brought him to the office.

"Stress is one of his triggers, and that's why he doesn't drink. Chris had to get him out of there." Calvin seemed quieter, but exhausted.

We needed to talk about us, but I had to get Calvin through this damn wedding first. "I think you need to go to bed, baby."

Calvin just nodded, and he didn't object as I helped him up, then helped him to the bedroom. "Do you want a bath?"

He just shook his head and went inside. He closed the door, but I wasn't having any of that, and followed him, turning on the water to wash his hands. When he'd finished, I got his toothbrush, added paste, and handed it to him. I even wanted to help with that, but he hadn't objected to my presence, so I didn't push it and copied him.

He left the bathroom a moment before me and picked up Tiny from the bed and crawled in. I knew the closet was a mess, but I'd wait until he'd gone to sleep then clear it up. At least both suits were covered by plastic. I got in bed and lay up close, my chest to his back. He didn't object, but he didn't seem to take any comfort from it either.

"I'm sorry, Saul," he said in a quiet voice.

"You don't have anything to be sorry for," I said and tightened my arm and listened to his breathing even out as he fell asleep.

It was only when I got back out to deal with the mess in the closet that I realized he'd called me Saul. Not Daddy .