Breaking Boundaries (5th in Breaking Series)

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Nineteen

Nick sat beside Aiden's bed and simply waited for the man to wake up. He'd been out cold for going on four hours now. It was pitch black outside the window of the spare room in the ranch house and everyone else had already gone home and probably gone to sleep.

Nick rose from his chair and walked to the bed. He brushed a finger over Aiden's cheek and then readjusted the blanket covering him before going back to his chair and sitting down.

Nick wasn't surprised that Aiden had passed out. Not only was the man unaccustomed to violence and had been standing there to see Brody shoot a man point blank in the face but he hadn't been sleeping much in the last two months that he'd been running and in fear for his life every day. Add to that the stress of admitting what you were to those you cared about and it was a lot for one man to take.

Hell if not for the fact that Nick had been raised in the wild west and seen terrible violence in his life it may have all been too much for him today too.

He was still a bit disappointed that it had been Brody to kill both those bastards. Nick would have liked to have had a piece of them himself.... But at least they were dead and, for now, Aiden was safe.

Nick yawned and then shook his head roughly to try to rouse himself. He had been keeping a vigil over Aiden's bed and would not sleep until the other man woke up and Nick saw for himself that he was okay.

"You look like an old hound when you shake your head like that," Aiden's sleepy voice suddenly filled the small lantern-lit room.

A smile split Nick's face as his head whipped around to look at Aiden. Aiden looked surprisingly well... he had good color and was no longer pale and his brown eyes were sparkling in the glow of the lantern, "About time you came to," Nick scolded.

"Did I really pass out?" Aiden asked as he pushed himself up to a sitting position,

Nick nodded, "You sure did. Out cold. I caught you though. I didn't let you hit the ground."

Aiden moaned and covered his face, "Great. Now they're really going to think I'm the wife."

"They already think that," Nick laughed lightly. "Are you okay?"

Aiden sighed and removed his hands from his face, "Yeah. It's just hard to believe that those two men are dead. They didn't seem like mortal flesh and blood to me. They were like nightmares; evil monsters out for my blood. To see Brody so easily kill them both makes me feel a bit foolish for being so afraid."

"Don't feel foolish," Nick countered as he stood and filled a little glass from a water pitcher on the wall by the door. He handed the glass to Aiden who began to drink it greedily. "Those two men were cold blooded killers. They were dangerous and deadly. Brody is just even more cold-blooded, dangerous and deadly."

"I guess it's a real good thing that he's on our side," Aiden admitted, setting the now empty glass on the bedside table.

"Yeah, he's a man I certainly wouldn't want to go up against."

"But you did," Aiden replied with a smile, "For me."

Nick smiled back and crouched beside the bed, placing his hand over Aiden's cheek, "I reckon I'm more fond of you than I am scared of him."

"I'm rather fond of you too," Aiden teased. "Though I did nearly throttle you when you just blurted out the truth about us on the porch."

Nick winced, "Sorry," he offered. "I had a gut feeling that we could tell them the truth and that we needed to tell them the truth."