And at that, Nate turns with me in his arms and starts walking away from them.

He stops and turns his body until he’s sitting. I lift my head up and see the back of an open ambulance before looking at him in question.

“You’re going to stay right here in my arms and let them look at you. When we’re done here, we’ll see what else needs your attention before I pack up your and Bam’s shit and take you home. And baby, do not argue with me because I’ve been holding on by the thinnest of fucking threads since Lee called me.”

I just nod because really what else can I do?

I WATCHED EARLIER AS SHE was checked out while her dad was saying a few things to that sorry piece of shit before he stomped off, got into his SUV, and left in a rush.

I could have fucking killed him earlier. The fear that I had for Ember morphed into a rage like I had never felt when I walked up to them talking around Liam’s patrol car. He saw me, that fucking fuck, but he didn’t let me being there stop him from running his mouth.

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.”




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