Outlaw Vices (third in The Crane Gang Series)manxman

Chapter Twenty-Eight

"You can wait out here. I'll only be a minute," Craig said as he stood in front of the hotel and prepared himself to face the woman who had tried to ruin his life.

It had taking quite a bit of begging to finally convince his family to stay behind—especially Wyatt. The man had been furious to learn the news Ezekiel had brought with him. But Jeb had helped keep everyone from coming along.

The gang might have technically ended but everyone still new that Jebidiah Crane was the boss.

"No," Ezekiel interrupted Craig's thoughts. "That ain't gonna happen. I'm going with you."

"Ezekiel...."

"Don't argue with me," Ezekiel growled, causing Craig to shiver. Damn, but that man was something when he got in a temper... and Craig had missed being growled at. "I haven't been by your side when I should have been but I'm here now and not leaving."

Craig couldn't lie. His heart was warmed the words. Gruffed and growled out as they were.

"And I want to tell you something before we go in," Ezekiel added. He pulled Craig away from the door and toward the bench at the side of the building. "Back at the barn, you went on and on about not being a good person. Now, that pissed me off but I wasn't sure what to say so I didn't say much of anything. I've been thinking about it all the way to town and I know what I want to say now."

"Didn't think too hard, did you?" Craig quipped.

Ezekiel rolled his eyes. "You are a good man, Craig. You're a man who spent most of his life helping orphans have food, clothes and medicine. You are a man who jumped into quicksand to save a damn cow and refused to leave her because you'd already promised the beast everything was going to be okay."

"You remember that?" Craig muttered, color rising in his cheeks as he glanced away.

Ezekiel put his finger under Craig's chin and forced the man to meet his gaze again. "And you are the man who was willing to give up everything in his life and face hell from his family just to keep a child from being unloved." Ezekiel offered a half smile. "That sounds like a hell of a good man to me."

Craig shifted his feet and shoved his hands in his pockets. How the hell was he supposed to respond to that? He wasn't used to having people point out the good things about him.

He nodded quickly and pointed toward the door. "Yeah, well, let's go have that chat with Susannah."

"Then I get you for three days," Ezekiel reminded him, his voice full of raw, unfiltered, possessive want.

Craig's knees went week and his cock got a hell of a lot more alert. Damn that man and the power he held over him.

None of this felt real yet. He hadn't thought he'd ever see Ezekiel again and in the span of only a few hours, the man was back, had made it clear he wanted to stick around and had woken up part of Craig that had died the minute the man had walked away from him so many weeks ago.

But before he could truly embrace his future with Ezekiel, Craig had to deal with Susannah.

Stepping into the hotel, Craig tipped his head in greeting to the clerk and headed straight up the stairs. Taking a deep breath as he reached room 15A, Craig knocked sharply on the door.

"Who is it?"

Just the sound of her voice caused Craig's temper to raise at least twenty notches. "Craig," he ground out.