Broken Doll {ManxMan}

CHAPTER 12

I couldn't tell you why Sasha liked me so much. We never spent much time together, we never bonded or anything, and we didn't see each other often because of my rocky situation and the fact I only got to be with Tobias four to five times a year, unless I was lucky, so I didn't even have the time to get to know him beyond little details like where he was born, where he was raised, his time in the orphanage as well as his time with the Syndicate.

My initial assumption was that he simply liked everyone, and that did seem to be the case whenever I observed him. He was a unique kid, compared to others, I couldn't understand how he had such a genuinely happy demeanor considering he was badly scarred during the bombings of Austria. The point was he liked me. Most of the people in the Syndicate seemed to like me, actually. Maybe because I kept Tobias grounded? Because he hadn't gotten drunk even once since we met and they were grateful to me? Or maybe they just put up with me because their boss was in love with me and they knew if something happened to me then he would just shut down.

Bryn was the kind of guy who simply put up with me for Tobias' sake. He cared about Tobias, so he was willing to set aside our differences and disagreements and go as far as to protect me so long as Tobias stayed safe and happy. I admired him for that. Sure, he was a jackass who tried to kill me when we first met, but he was better now. We both loved Tobias, so we would deal with each other for Tobias' sake.

Then there was Klaus. I don't really know what he thought of me. Kiefer always assured me Klaus liked me, but it was hard to tell. The man was stoic as a brick wall, the only time his expression changed was if he was trying to speak English, or if we were teasing him. Obviously, he liked me enough, because he never gave me any looks of contempt or resentment, and he seemed to appreciate how Tobias had changed while being with me.

I knew for certain that Kiefer had liked me. He was the kind of guy you couldn't dislike no matter how hard you tried, and believe me I tried, but he was so easy to get along with. He was normally a serious person, level headed and calm, but he had a shotgun sense of humor and was constantly making jokes or teasing me about Tobias, like an older brother who wasn't a psychopath. He was like a buffer between myself and the rest of the Syndicate, but now that he was gone, I felt a bit worse when I considered the prospect of being near Tobias' people.

I didn't know if they liked me because I was a cool guy, or if they just put up with me because of Tobias, but it was always a question that made me feel nervous and self-conscious. It was human nature, the need to feel accepted, especially by the Syndicate that my lover ran. Of course, I was always too embarrassed to bring my fears up with Tobias, so it remained a silent fear of mine that they didn't even care about me, only that I kept Tobias happy.

That fear kind of blew away the next time I woke up, my eyes slowly peeling open and a hand lifting to my face so I could rub the sleep away, rolling my head to the side in search of my fiancé. Tobias was sitting in the chair beside my bed with his head on the mattress and his eyes closed. He appeared to be fast asleep, and there was a blanket hanging over his shoulders, slipping off one side but bunched onto the other. I frowned a little and reached out to pull the blanket higher over him so it wouldn't entirely slip off before sitting straighter and wincing.

I wasn't surprised when I saw Bryn standing in the room as well, leaning against the wall playing with his knife, and didn't feel too threatened by his appearance, so I just leaned back with a grunt and closed my eyes again.

"How are you feeling?" Bryn asked suddenly, and I peeled my eyes open to look at him.

"Do you care?"

"Not particularly," he admitted, flipping the knife in his hand before sheathing it on his belt, "but Sasha and Klaus are worried, so you'll have to get used to that question."