Obsessed (The Protectors #13) - Sloane Kennedy Page 0,64

when Ronan didn't try to stop me. Though he was a formidable opponent, I had much more at stake. Neither he nor his men would keep me from what I needed to do.

And what I needed to do was protect Sam.

I refused to dwell on the other thoughts that went through my head when it came to what I wanted with Sam. I tried to tell myself it wasn't about gaining his forgiveness or understanding. It was far too late for that anyway, or it would be once Sam found out how precarious his situation had really become.

And all because I hadn't been able to keep my hands off him.

I forced all thoughts aside as I hurried to catch up to Sam. He was making his way down the walkway toward his car, ignoring the few men that were keeping an eye on the perimeter. Thankfully, I didn't hear any kind of command from behind me from Ronan for his men to stop me. Once I reached Sam, Ronan's guys were the least of my problems. Because the second I grabbed Sam's arm, he turned and hit me in the jaw with his fist. The blow wasn't enough to do much damage, but it did have me releasing him.

"Two weeks!" Sam screamed. "Two weeks! We had a deal, Matias. You said you wouldn’t walk out on me without saying goodbye!" Sam bit back a sob before continuing. "Two weeks I've been driving myself crazy with worry for you. The things I imagined…" He shook his head. "And then you come back with this!" He motioned to our surroundings.

For their part, Ronan's men kept their attention on the perimeter and not us, but one glance over my shoulder proved that we still had an audience in Ronan as well as the Barrettis.

While I didn't give a crap about who was watching, Sam stopped abruptly when he realized we weren't alone. He dropped his eyes and shook his hand out, the hand he’d hit me with. "Stay away from me, Matias. Just stay away from me."

His words were like a knife being thrust into my chest. But that didn't stop me from stepping in front of him again as he moved to open his car door. His keys were in his hand, so before he could react, I plucked them out of it and then grabbed his arm in a firm grip. "Hate me all you want, Sam." I propelled him to the passenger side of the car as I continued with, "You're going to have plenty of time for that because I'm not going anywhere."

Once we reached the opposite side of the car, I yanked the door open and waited. Sam's eyes held mine. They glittered with anger and hurt. I tried to search for the right thing to say, but I knew there was no such thing. I waited for him to fight me, to argue with me.

But there was no more arguing, no more words of anger and pain. It was all there in his eyes though, loud and clear. Sam simply turned away from me and climbed into the car. And I knew then that this really was it. That I'd lost him.

I'd lost him, but I had no one but myself to blame.

Chapter 20

Sam

"Night, buddy," I said to Ryan one final time as I closed the door to his bedroom enough that the light from the hallway wouldn't be shining directly in his eyes as he fell asleep. Ryan waved his hand at me drowsily. Despite the evening's events, I knew he’d be out in no time.

To say the drive from the Barretti townhouse to the home where Ryan had been attending a classmate’s birthday party had been tense was an understatement. I hadn't spoken a word to Matias, just like he hadn't spoken a word to me. I'd managed to put on a mask of calm when we’d picked up Ryan and I'd shown all the appropriate levels of excitement as he'd told me about the party. But as I'd gotten his wheelchair in and out of the van, I'd been frantically looking around for a stranger to come out of nowhere, gun drawn. Thankfully, Ryan hadn't picked up on any of my tension. He'd been curious about Matias’s presence, but after I'd explained that Matias had just stopped by to say hi, he hadn't asked any more questions. I figured he'd remembered Matias from our movie night a couple weeks earlier. I'd been worried that