“What’s an inhaler?” Autumn asked, curiously.
“I’ll explain it to you later,” Ruby told her little girl.
“Do you want to go play?” Lake asked Stormi again and her daughter shook her head no.
“If you change your mind, come find us,” Embry said politely and ran off, all the kids following her as they always did.
When Lake stood, her eyes rounded as big as saucers. “Bronson,” she whispered.
“Hi, Lake,” Bronson said in a deep voice, filled with hesitation.
Pax came up beside me and took Italia from my arms. As he did, he leaned over and whispered, “Was this you and all the ladies’ doing?”
I kept my lips sealed and my eyes on the two adults staring at one another.
And then, Lake softly replied. “I’m glad you’re okay.”
Tension filled the air and Lyric jumped in.
Thrusting his hand out toward Lake, he said, “I’m Lyric, it’s nice to meet you.”
She shook his hand, introducing herself. All the guys took a turn doing the same. Last was Bronson and he put his hand out. It was as if we were all holding our breath and you could hear a pin drop in that moment.
Lake looked down at his hand and then placed hers in his big palm. Both of them sucked in a breath at the same exact moment and yanked their hands out of each other's grasp.
“Mommy, what’s wrong?” Stormi’s sweet voice asked.
“N-Nothing, sweet pea,” her mom replied unsteadily.
Feeling the need to break the tension, Ruby and I spoke at the same time.
“Lake needs help.”
I watched as Bronson’s eyes zeroed in on Lake. “What kind of help?”
Lake took a step back, her daughter’s hand still in hers. “It’s okay, I don’t need help.”
Braxton being Braxton, immediately jumped into gear, reading right into what we had said. “Is there something that we atNo Surrendermight be able to help you with?”
Lake was shaking her head, tears glistening in her eyes, but Ruby spoke again.
“Someone is threatening her and she thinks they’ve been around her house.”
A menacing growl erupted around us and we all turned toward Bronson.
The next thing I knew, Lake was retreating toward the front of the house. “This was a mistake but thank you for inviting us.” The woman picked up her daughter and was hightailing it around the house.
“Mommy, what happened?” I heard little Stormi ask as they moved out of sight but didn’t hear Lake’s response.
Bronson was on the move and rushing after her.
“Did you plan this?” Pax asked me.
“Well, not the part where she runs away.” I sighed. “We hoped for that to go differently and she really does need help, but since Bronson is right on her heels, I’d say part of the plan worked.”
“This should be interesting,” Gemma said and all the ladies murmured in agreement.
“What am I missing?” Gyth asked.
