“Oh my god, what happened?” Sarah gasps.
I close the distance, stopping in front of Brynn, who looks at Jovie still in my arms, lovingly smiling at her daughter.
“What happened?” I grit out, trying to control my anger.
“Victoria—”
“Victoria did this?” I growl.
“No, you meat head. Let me finish my sentence before you start going all caveman.” Her shoulders sag, and I can see whatever her day entailed has exhausted her.
“We found an amazing cardigan for Jovie. I insisted on getting it for her,” Victoria interjects, pulling out some sort of fluffy orange mess from her shopping bag.
“Mom, what happened?” Sarah questions, her eyes wide, looking at Brynn.
“Sarah, not right now, can't you see I'm sharing a moment?—”
Fuck this.
Ignoring whatever Victoria was going to say, I move Joive so I'm holding her with one arm, reaching the other around Brynn's waist and lifting her up.
There’s too many people.
There’s too much noise. All I can hear is a buzzing sound in my ears growing louder as the minutes pass.Not knowing how Brynn got hurt. My breath catches, and no, shadow ghosts are not a reasonable explanation. Jovie squeals in my ear as I carry them both back behind the bar. I'm not going to risk the stairs to the apartment until I know if we need to make the two hour drive to the closest hospital.
“Start talking.” I snap, putting Brynn down but keeping a hold of Jovie. I'm not angry at her. I'm angry at myself. They left for a fun day of sightseeing.Sightseeing that should have been done with me.Instead, Brynn leaves with the devil and ends up hurt.
“Cool your jets, Grizz,” she says, her eyes dimming, the spark fading into a tired glaze. “I've had a long day and I'm sore, but Jovie had a great time seeing the Devil Pools, and she even made a candle at one of the market stalls in the town center.”
I look at the excited kid still holding onto me. “That true, Jon Bon, you make a candle?”
“Yes!” She says excitedly. “It's a Christmas candle, the lady said we put it above a fireplace, but we don't have one, so Mom said we can put it on the windowsill and it does the same thing.”
I see Victoria and Sarah walk toward us, Sarah looking a little paler than usual.
“This looks cozy,” Victoria states, lips pursed.
“Mom,” Sarah wobbles.
“I've always said Grizz needs a strong woman by his side, one more suited to his stature.” She looks to Sarah, narrowing her eyes before returning to a wide smile. “I mean no offense, Brynn. Today was wonderful.” You can smell the insincerity rolling off her. The backward compliment, a signature move of hers.
Wait… Is she? Is she wanting Sarah and me to..? Get fucked. There's nothing wrong with the girl, but I have as much attraction to her as I do a rock on the mountainside. None.
If I'm correct, it would explain a few things, but that's never going to happen. Especially when there's a green-eyed woman who's awakened something in me I thought had long died.
“Anyway, I can feel a migraine coming on, so I'll be off now. Nothing like popping a couple of sleeping pills to stop it before it's even started.” Flicking her hair, it's loosened a little since this morning, Victoria barely noticing that she almost swiped Sarah in the face as she spins on her heel and heads for the door.
“Why don't you go take a break?” I nod at Sarah. “The bar will survive a few minutes, and I'll get Jovie and Brynn settled down here.”
“You sure? I could use a breather,” she says, rubbing her hands down her thighs. Whispering, “Brynn, I'm really sorry you got hurt today,” before hurrying away from us and out to the loading dock.
Placing Jovie on the floor, “Go and tell the kitchen what you want for dinner, and order enough for the three of us. Your mom here has some explaining to do.”
Pulling out a chair for Brynn to sit on, I watch Jovie skip to the hole in the wall where we place orders, returning myattention to Brynn when I see Kevin pop into view, no doubt hearing about the ghost she saw today.
“I'm trying to be patient, baby, but I need you to tell me exactly what happened today.”
“You're overreacting.” She rolls her eyes at me. Something I'm going to have to correct at a later date, preferably one where she's screaming out my name after being stuffed full of my cock. “We got to the Devil Pools late morning. Victoria had to make a phone call, so she stayed in the car while Jovie and I went ahead. There were some slippery rocks by one of the pools, and I fell over. Nothing sinister andnoghosts.”
