didn't try to reassure me that everything would be all right or that we’d figure things out.
He just did exactly what I needed him to.
He stayed.
It was the robotic voice of the controller for my insulin pump that woke me up. My eyes felt like sandpaper as I opened and closed them a few times. I didn't see any kind of light, so I knew the room had to be dark. The warm body wrapped around me reminded me that I wasn't alone.
That I'd never be alone again.
"What time is it?" I asked.
Gideon's lips skimmed my temple. "It's just after four in the morning," he murmured. "I know you probably don't feel like it, but you need to eat something, Lex."
I nodded. "In a minute," I said. The last thing I wanted to do was eat, but it wouldn't do anyone any good if I had another episode. The last thing Luca or any member of my family needed was to have to deal with my illness.
"Are you all right?" Gideon asked.
"No," I admitted.
Gideon dropped a kiss to the top of my head. I had my cheek pressed against his chest and my left hand resting on his abdomen. One of his arms was wrapped around me and he was skimming his fingers over my bicep.
"I spoke to your brother last night after you fell asleep. He says your nephew has been admitted to a psychiatric hospital. He had some kind of mental break when Luca showed up. He's denying he's Gio."
I hadn’t wanted to believe it could get any worse, but obviously I'd been wrong. "Poor Luca," I whispered. "He gave up everything to find Gio."
"You all did," Gideon responded. "King told me what you guys have been doing. How you've been helping other kids like Gio. He said you used your skills with computers to track the kids and the guys who bought and sold them."
"I did it all from the safety of a computer screen," I said quietly. "Vaughn, King, Con, Luca, they—"
"Couldn't have done it without you," Gideon interjected before I could finish my sentence. He tightened his hold on me. "The things you must've seen on that screen of yours. In what universe did you ever think you weren't strong enough, Lex?"
I shook my head. "I wasn't strong. I went home every night and cried myself to sleep as I thought about what all those kids were going through. I couldn't disconnect from it."
Gideon suddenly rolled me on my back. His strong fingers settled on my cheek. "And yet every day you went back to that computer and turned it back on so you could help your brothers bring another kid home. Call yourself weak or call yourself strong, Lex. But in my book, you, like your brothers, are a hero and I’m proud to call you mine." His mouth brushed over mine before I could even respond to his declaration. "I love you, Lexington Parker."
"I love you too," I said and then I pulled him back down for another kiss. He obliged me, but then he was breaking it.
"I heard your brother come in about twenty minutes ago. Why don't you go check on him?"
"Did you give him a key?" I asked in surprise.
Gideon grabbed my hand and put it to his face. "Feel that? For future reference, that's my are-you-fucking-kidding-me look."
I laughed and kissed him hard before I climbed over his body. He gave me a soft slap on my backside. I threw what I hoped was a dirty look his way and then made my way out of the room. By the time I reached the kitchen, I could smell bacon and eggs cooking.
Normally, I would've joked with my brother about him making himself at home, but I didn't need to be able to see King to know he was suffering. The fact that King didn't acknowledge me when I entered the kitchen was further proof of that. Like the rest of us, he wasn't okay. Those who didn't truly know him thought King had some kind of superhuman armor that kept him from feeling things, but that was anything but true.
I’d learned my way around Gideon's kitchen enough to know how to get to the stove. When I reached my brother, I knew his back was still to me. He didn't make a sound, nor did he turn around. But he knew I was there. I wrapped my arms around him from behind and laid my head between his broad shoulders.