Chloe mumbles a sleepy, “Night” to them as I lead her away and I feel three sets of eyes burning into my back until I leave the room. I hear the dog whine and Ryker command him to stay.
Ryker
“This is fucking amazing!” Zack moans around a mouthful of food and I grunt my agreement. It really is. We are all on our second helping and all three of the serving dishes have been scraped clean. I’m beyond impressed that Avery managed to put all this together after seeing how empty the fridge was. I scrape the last of the rice from my plate and lean back in my chair, spearing East with a look.
“So, what’s the deal? How did you find them?”
He washes down the last of his chicken with a gulp from his beer and shakes his head, telling us about how he when into the ditch last night on the icy roads and how she came to help him.
“I can’t believe she wouldn’t take the money I offered her. Especially now that I know how badly she needed it. She told me to just pay it forward to someone in need.” His fingers whiten as he clenches them around the bottle. “When I saw her car this morning, still in the same spot and covered with snow, I panicked thinking she had been stranded there all night after I drove away. I couldn’t fucking believe what I saw when I banged on the window and she opened the door. I was actually getting ready to call the cops.” His face goes hard as he knocks his bottle back down on the table in anger. “I didn’t get much from her on the why but it was enough to know that she’s terrified he’ll find her and take the girl. What else was I supposed to do but bring her home?”
I pick up my steak knife and twirl it in my fingers, imagining stabbing the fucker who did that to them.
“I’m pretty sure it’s not just her face. I think her ribs are banged up as well. I don’t know for sure but the way she winces when she moves a certain way and the way she holds herself against the pain? It seems like she’s almost used to hurting and pushing through it to function.”
Zack tosses his fork down next to his cleared plate. “Somebody needs to fucking die…painfully! What kind of loser beats on a woman, especially one as small as her? And that kid? She’s all sunshine and sugar. How could anyone hurt that? For fuck’s sake!”
Kanga chuffs like he agrees from under the table as Easton nods in agreement with a faraway look in his eyes. We all know that his father was that kind of loser so this probably is hitting close to home for him. It makes sense that he would bring her and the girl here. He has some major baggage where his own mother is concerned. His eyes sharpen on us as he shakes off whatever dark place he just went to.
“I’m booked up for the rest of the week with client meetings but I don’t want her leaving this house alone until we get a name and eliminate the threat to them. I need you both to work on that. Probe…gently…for a last name, where they came from. Anything that will give us a lead to find this guy. Until then, keep an eye on her. Make sure she doesn’t overdo it and cause more damage to her injuries.” He glares at us. “She doesn’t do any heavy lifting! Take care of it before she tries. I can’t be here all day so you two need to watch out for that kind of thing, give her a chance to heal up.”
With that said, he pushes away from the table and starts gathering up the dirty dishes. Zack and I grab the rest and we load everything into the dishwasher so she won’t have anything to do later. We go our separate ways with clean stacks of laundry to put away.
I flop back onto my king-size bed with Kanga sprawled on one side and hold the coloring that Chloe gave me in front of my eyes. It’s pretty good for a five-year-old. Most of the purple she chose to fill in the grinning teddy bear riding a unicorn is inside the lines. I fold it up and slide it under my pillow and then lock my fingers behind my head and close my eyes. In the silence, I can just barely make out the sound of Avery singing through the wall to Chloe. It…pulls at something inside of me that I’ve never felt before.
A smile forms on my lips and I almost laugh out loud at how much I’m looking forward to going to the grocery store for the first time in my life. I let myself drift off to sleep with her soft singing and for that night, nightmares don’t come to haunt me.
****
“Two carts?” Avery asks me with wide eyes.
I grunt and reach down to lift Chloe into one of them with a nod.
“We need a lot for five people,” I growl at Chloe. “This one ate all my bacon this morning.”
She giggles and gives me a cheeky smile and jerks her head, sending the shiny black curls in her matching ponytails bouncing.
We found her and Avery back in the kitchen this morning with stacks of pancakes and a mound of bacon waiting for us. Avery was full of apologies that there wasn’t any fruit or orange juice and promises that she would do better after we shopped. All three of us looked at her in disbelief as we loaded our plates and dug into the best breakfast any of us had had in a while. She was flushed and red-faced when she asked Easton to show her how to work our ridiculous coffee maker. I’ll be the first to admit that the machine makes damn good coffee but it has more buttons and functions on it than the fucking space shuttle and even I don’t know half of what they do.
We all sat at the island to eat with Kanga at my feet waiting patiently for his bacon tithe as Avery went over the lists we made for her. My favorite part besides the food was when Zack pretended to try and swipe a piece of bacon from Chloe’s plate. The tiny girl whipped her head to him and growled at him. It came out more kitten than bear but it was cute as hell.
She then turned to me with a serious look and asked, “Like that?”
I grunted and deadpanned, “Deeper.” She tried again and produced a sound that was a little closer to angry kitten so I nodded. “Better.”
When I looked up and over to Avery, I saw her first real smile since she’s been here and it took my breath away. Even with her swollen lip and the bruising around one eye, that smile sucker punched me right in the gut. A quick glance at the others showed me that they were affected by it as well. I stomped all thoughts in that direction down hard. Avery’s a wounded bird that needs care and help, not unwanted advances from us.
Once breakfast was over, I ushered her and Chloe out of the house to go shopping even as she protested that she needed to do the dishes first. A look and nod from Zack told me he would take care of it.
It took a few minutes to get Chloe’s car seat into the back of my restored Bronco and Avery looked very nervous while I strapped Chloe in, insisting on double-checking my work before settling into her seat. With everyone in and settled, I started driving to the nearest supermarket.
“Two carts?” Avery asked.
“Who knows, we might even need a third cart but let’s start with these two and go from there,” I tell her as I move out of the way so she can push the cart that Chloe sits in.
We move through the aisles slowly as Avery consults with the lists and every time she hesitates over an item, I add two of it to the cart until she finally starts to relax and adds things on her own with more confidence. I have her laughing by the time we reach the cereal aisle and as Chloe points things out, I put them in the cart and then Avery removes them and puts them back on the shelf until it’s a game.
Chloe is giggling and even Avery is smiling while shaking her head when our game is interrupted by a voice filled with condemnation and outrage.
