His Beloved Criminal (3 page)

There was a blank noise and it crossed Tristan's mind that his father might have hung up on him, but then Nana was answering and he smiled in relief. "Yes? Is this Tristan?"

"Nana," he said, and it was so choked with emotion that he was surprised he was even able to get the word out.

"Oh," she said, in that uncanny way of hers, and even though her body was frail, her mind was sharp. He knew that she knew his phone call was monumental.

"Nana, I'm - " he didn't quite know what to say, and Nicolas reached out to squeeze comfortingly at his thigh. "He came back for me, Nana," he said. "
I can breathe again
."

"Oh, Tristan," she murmured. "That's wonderful."

He swallowed tightly. "Nana, I might not - We can't stay here - I have to go - " His words didn't seem to be enough, and he felt tears begin to leak from the corners of his eyes.

"Do you remember," she interrupted him, "when you were just a little boy and I used to sing to you?"

"Yeah," he murmured, his voice hoarse.

"Let us go, lassie, go," she sang a line of the song, off key, her voice faded and worn like a pair of old denims.

"Yeah, Nana," he said.

"Don't forget it," she said, and then her voice was wavering, too.

"Never," he breathed. "I love you."

"I love you, too, Tristan," she said. "My sweet boy."

*

Tristan stared out the window as the plane took off, the ground getting further and further away. He wondered what Nana told his father, what his boss would think when he didn't come to help her bring in the books, how long the landlord would hold his stuff before he sold it all off because of the broken lease.

Then Nicolas leaned against him, rested his chin on Tristan's shoulder, and the tension in his chest seemed to ease. They had the world at their fingertips, the two of them, their life ahead and bound to one another.

He would be okay.

He had Nicolas.

Kady Stewart

www.KadyStewart.com

On Twitter @kadystewart

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Other Titles by Kady:

Cirque du Shift
Hidden Omega
His Human Omega
Rum’s Dragon
All for Andras
His Mate of the Forest
Scarlet Hood

Cursed to Love Series:

Strange Suitor
Scaled Lord

Fall
Series:

Fall (I’ll Catch You)
Fall (to the Floor)