“Damn, you have grown up,” Mack said with a smile. “I almost teared up.”
“Just take him in,” Jaxon said, shaking his head.
“You gonna press assault charges on this guy?” Mack asked Adam, pointing with his thumb at me.
“Will it lessen my charges?” Adam asked arrogantly.
“Not even by a day.”
“Then no. I don’t care for all that extra bullshit. He hits like a fucking bitch anyway.” Oh, now the big, tough guy is going to come out and play. His pride will get him killed one day, and I won’t be sad about that at all. What did Rae ever see in this guy?
Mack shoved Adam’s body into his beat-up old cruiser and sauntered back our way.
“How’s your mom doing?” he asked, looking at Jaxon.
“Please tell me you aren’t interested in her, too. If one more guy asks me if my mom is single, I’m gonna start throwing punches,” Jaxon whined. That got a small laugh out of me.
Mack shrugged his shoulders coyly. “I’ll see her around.” When Jaxon groaned, Mack turned his attention toward me. “How’s your daughter doing?”
“She’s perfect.”
He nodded his head. “Good… good to hear. That was some tough news, son. Hug em’ all tight tonight.” His words sounded exactly like something my dad would tell me right now, and I reached out to shake his hand in appreciation. “You’ll need questioning, so don’t go headin’ outta town.”
“He used to be a cop, I’m sure he knows the drill, Mack,” Jaxon added.
“Yeah?” Mack’s eyebrows perked up. “Need a job?”
I chuckled and shook my head. “No thanks. After the last four years I’ve had, I look forward to my boring desk job.”
Mack nodded his head as if he understood and then lifted his chin toward Jaxon before walking away. Jaxon feigned a jab at me. “There isn’t anything boring about working at The Riley Group, you ungrateful bastard,” he smirked while rounding the side of my car.
“Thanks, man…” I started. “You really saved my ass. I could easily be sitting in the back of that patrol car right now, so I appreciate it.”
“That fucker deserved it, and I would have been honored to bail your ass out of jail,” he said with a shrug. We both sat down in the car and I reached out to shake hands with him.
“Let’s head out… I want to get back to my family.”
~~~~~~~
With a new set of clothes on and a small bag packed for Kate, I stormed out of the house and ripped open my passenger door. Jaxon had taken over the driver’s seat, claiming I wasn’t in the right state of mind to handle the roads. My chest was squeezing in on itself, and I couldn’t get my hands to stop shaking.
“Where the hell did she go?” I barked.
“Dude, calm down…” Jaxon tried to placate me.
“No, fuck that. If this were Emerson, you’d be blowing up! Braden’s terrarium is gone.”
“Oh… okay…” I knew he hadn’t understood my words.
“His favorite thing in the world. If that’s gone, then something’s up. What the fuck is up, man?”
“Okay, I don’t really know yet. I know that Raegan was upset. Jace and I told her to give you a moment to cool down. Let’s just get back to their house and I’m sure we can figure this all out.”
“You told her to give me a moment?” I bit out.
“Yeah…”
“And she listened?”
“Well, when you weren't responding to her…” he trailed off. Raegan never left anything alone. She always pounced on me to fix problems, right there and then. What was going through her mind? I had been in a state of shock after I beat Adam down, so I don’t remember hearing anybody saying anything to me. I guess Rae could have been trying to talk to me… but I just didn't hear it. There had been blood everywhere, and I just couldn't forgive myself for erupting like that in front of her.
“God, I freaked her out, didn’t I? I was so angry…” I tried to reverse my memory and remember what exactly had happened after Adam passed out. I didn’t think I said anything to upset her…hell, I didn’t remember saying anything at all. “She wouldn’t take Kate…” I wasn’t sure why I said that out loud. Raegan would never do anything like that to me.
“No, she wouldn’t,” Jax confirmed.
“I can’t stand the other option either.”
“What’s that?” he asked, turning onto the dirt driveway.
“Her leaving Kate. Leaving me.”
Before he could push the gear into park, I went flying up the porch steps and shoved inside Audrey and Jace’s door. Just as I stomped into the foyer, a little blur flew past me. I looked down and watched Kate, in socked feet, using the wood floor as her personal skating rink. She ran past me again and then stopped before quickly scurrying back in front of me.
“I’m skating, dad!”
“I see that,” I chuckled.
The instant I saw her brilliant blue eyes, a large piece of my heart unclenched and I scooped her up. Her arms wrapped around my neck and we squeezed each other like we hadn’t just been eating dinner together only a few hours ago. This is how she greeted me every time I went away, either to work or just to the gym. How could I ever live without out this again? How had I not suffocated, living without it for so long? No matter what happened with Rae, she would be my constant and I swore I would be hers.
But I didn't plan on letting her mom and brother go anywhere either.
“Daddy,” she began quickly, “we get to have special daddy and Kate time. Mommy is having special time with Braden. I really miss bubba. But I got to play with the baby. I even helped Auntie Audrey give her a bath and she really liked it. She kicked her feet really hard! Do you know when they’re coming back?”
A small part of me had hoped that Rae and Braden were in the house somewhere—that they hadn’t actually gone anywhere. But her words confirmed what Braden’s missing terrarium had already told me. They weren’t here.
I looked up and noticed everyone was sitting in the family room, watching us. The whole crew was there, minus two of the most important ones.
“How about you take this bag to Aunt Em and have her help you get into your swimsuit. We’re going to have special daddy and Kate time.”
Her face lit up and she squirmed out of my arms, bouncing on her toes when they reached the floor. “We can swim when it’s dark?” she shrieked excitedly. “Can we eat ice cream, too?”
With a laugh, I asked, “Does that sound like fun to you?”
“So much fun!”
“Well then, of course we’ll swim at night and eat ice cream too! Go on, get your suit on and meet me out back.”
She skipped away, half sliding and half hopping across the wood floor, straight toward Em and Quinn. I pointed to Audrey and Jace and nodded my head toward the backyard. Jace flipped on the pool lights as we headed out, which cast a black glow across the darkened concrete. Their pool had a black bottom, which at nighttime made it appear like glass on the ground.
I tugged my shirt over my shoulders and decided my gym shorts would have to do for swimming tonight. When Audrey returned from lighting candles, I approached them both.
“Where is she?”
“At a hotel,” Jace responded.
My fingers moved raggedly through my hair and I looked to Audrey with clear stress in my eyes. “I freaked her out, right?”
“You?” she questioned. “I only got the scene second-hand, but I think she believes you’ll never be able to look at her the same.”
“Why the fuck would she think that?”
“Dude, that guy just admitted that Raegan was the reason your daughter was kidnapped.” Leave it to Jace to cut to the chase.