Obsessed (The Protectors #13) - Sloane Kennedy Page 0,29

had no interest in discussing.

“Sam,” Matias said gently.

Too damn gently.

“Because he’s the reason Elliot’s father is dead.”

Chapter 11

Matias

I should've been happy to have the topic of conversation be off of me but hearing the raw pain in Sam's voice had me wishing I hadn't asked the question in the first place. It was another one of those moments where I wished Cruz was there to guide me on what not to say. I'd met Declan Barretti a few times and had always considered him a good guy, but there was no doubting the certainty in Sam's voice.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

Sam began rubbing his palms together. I opened my mouth to tell him we didn't have to talk about any of this, but he beat me to the punch.

"Mac, my husband—”

Sam suddenly stopped and covered his mouth with his hand. “Sorry,” he continued softly. “Mac and I weren’t married but I still call him my husband. He, uh, got me this ring before he died but he never got the chance to propose.” A tear slipped down Sam’s cheek. “It’s not like gay marriage was legal back then anyway, but I guess he wanted to make it official in our eyes at least. I found the ring in the suit he was supposed to wear the weekend after he died… it was our anniversary.”

“Fuck,” I whispered as I reached up to swipe my hand through my hair.

Sam shook his head like he was trying to dismiss the whole thing. “Anyway, Mac was Declan's partner on the police force. When Declan found out Mac was gay, he refused to partner with him. The whole force saw Mac as nothing more than a perverted deviant. The day Declan told his captain he would no longer work with Mac, Mac was ordered to go out on patrol by himself. His first call was a domestic violence one. Some guy was beating the shit out of his girlfriend and her son. Mac stepped in to break it up, but then the guy’s brother showed up and all hell broke loose. They opened fire on him. He got shot in the shoulder but managed to make it back to his patrol car so he could call for backup."

Sam's voice fell off as he reached up to wipe at his eyes. I knew there was a right thing for me to say, but I had no idea what it was. I cursed the fact that I was so inept when it came to interacting with others. Cruz, and probably just about any other human being on the planet, would've known what to do or say to Sam to make him feel better. But all I could do was sit there like a useless lump as Sam's heart broke all over again right before my eyes.

"Backup never came. Mac could've driven off in his car, but he was determined to save that woman and her child."

"Did he?" I asked.

Sam nodded. "Mac gave her the time she needed to make a run for it. She and her little boy made it to a neighbor’s house."

It was several long seconds before he managed to speak again. "Those assholes left him there to die. He used to tell me how his heart would race and his stomach would drop out when he heard those words… 'officer down.' They were pretty much the worst thing any cop could hear. But when Mac said them… When he was the one who was down…"

Sam shook his head, clearly unable to finish. I was still clueless as to what to do next. Telling him I was sorry seemed like too little. How the hell had I gotten to this point with this man? I was supposed to be thinking of all the ways I wanted to fuck him, not wishing I knew the best way to comfort him. My eyes drifted to his hands again. He was wringing them now. I remembered what his touch had felt like against my own skin as I'd tried to crush the glass beer bottle between my fingers. No, my rage hadn’t magically disappeared, but it had dulled a bit. Long enough for me to get past the helplessness that had consumed me as I'd remembered how badly I'd fucked up by letting Sam's stalker get so close to him and Ryan.

I reached out to cover Sam's hands with one of my own. He stilled for a moment and then, to my surprise, he dropped one hand