Not even the happiness I felt from Ember’s response to him was enough to dull the rage that I felt. When I moved to step in, Maddox had stopped me with a hand to my arm, warning me without words to stand fucking back and let Ember speak her mind. So I did the only thing that made sense; I copied his stance in hopes that I looked even half as scary as he did, and that slimy fuck got the hint.
She shifts, her head almost falling off my shoulder, but I adjust her before it can. Her movement jolts me into the present and my mind away from the dark thoughts swirling in my head. Not for the first time since we sat down on a chair Liam had moved over from her front porch did I feel something dig into my gut. I move my hand between us and pull out whatever I’ve felt for the last thirty minutes but hadn’t dared move to get it until I knew she was good and asleep in my arms.
I’m not sure what I expected her to have been clutching as if her life depended on it, but seeing a framed picture of us wasn’t it. I hadn’t ever seen this one, but to be honest, I hadn’t really paid much attention to the shit she had around her house when she was the only thing I cared about looking at.
I remember the day this was taken like it was yesterday. I had been tutoring her for a few weeks, hell, maybe a few months, I don’t know. The struggle to keep myself from her was getting to me, and when she showed up in that bikini, I almost forgot all the reasons to stay away. My eyes kept finding her throughout the day, and I kept finding reasons to be near her. I didn’t know this picture was even taken, though. How had her dad not killed me before now? Because I know damn well if he had seen this picture, he had seen something between us long before I did.
I study the picture some more, overwhelmed that this was one of the things she had left the house with. Keeping it in my hand, I wrap my arms back around her and look up. Maddox has his wife in his arms, standing next to where Lee is talking to him at his patrol car, but his focus is on me and the woman sleeping wrapped around me. He looks at her, and even in the darkness, I can see the struggle he’s having with himself not to come and take her from me, but when he looks up, I get the briefest of nods before he looks away.
It’s one thing for me to have had his verbal blessing to pursue his daughter, but when she had picked me over him earlier, I had been a little worried. There is no doubt in my mind that he’s been struggling with that since, but I have a feeling that the nod I just got from him was his way of letting me know that I now had his acceptance and happiness when it came to our relationship.
“I just got the okay to go in,” Lee says, crouching down next to my seat.
“How bad is it?”
“Not as bad as it could be. There’s some smoke and water damage to her living room, but from what I heard, nothing touched her bedroom and the guest room. The kitchen and the sunroom are completely gone, though.”
“Studio,” I grunt, hating that I’m going to have to tell her that.
“Pardon?”
“Not a sunroom, Lee. That was her art studio. The one room in the house that she basically lived in and one that I know means a whole hell of a lot to her.”
“Shit, sorry, brother.”
“Nothing to be sorry about. My woman is safe and the rest can be replaced.”
He gives me a funny look. “Your woman, huh?”
I knew it was coming, so I just raise a brow, twisting my head to make sure she’s still sleeping before responding. “More than that, Lee, if you know what I mean. She’s my everything.”
He smiles and gives me a nod. He’s a happily married man who knows what it’s like to find your everything. “Happy to hear that, Nate. She’s good for you.”
“Yeah.” I sigh. “You took ten years off my life earlier with that call.”
“I imagine, but she’s okay and that’s the only thing that matters. I’m going to go with her mom to pack up some of her stuff. I’m going to just go on and guess that she’s going home with you? Or should I send her home with Maddox?”
At the middle finger he gets in response, he climbs to his feet with a laugh.
Her dad takes care of talking to the official looking people while I wait for her mom and Lee to get some shit packed. For that, I’m thankful. I don’t want to let her go, needing her against me to remind me that she’s fine.
“I’ll check in with them tomorrow,” he says, walking to stand in front of me and looking down at his daughter. “I suspect, had this not been the first time I had seen her in a few weeks, that I would have seen she had gotten her happiness back?”
“That would be right.”
“You going to fight me on where she goes tonight?”
“With everything I have.”
He smiles, a ghost of one that is almost not even noticeable. “I wouldn’t expect anything less. Remember what I said, Nate. Accidents happen.”
I nod, lifting the frame I still have in my hands and hold it out to him. He takes it as I wait for him to see what I’m hoping he does. His throat works as his eyes roam over every inch of the picture. I wait and hope that he sees it.
“Even back then.” Not a question because even a fool would know the answer to that.
“Even back then,” I parrot.