“What is it?” I asked, nerves and anger so tight in my stomach it made me feel nauseous. “Is there damage?” My hands shook with the thought of my kids in a car chase with someone vengeful and desperate enough to approach a little girl eating ice cream to spew lies.
“No, everything looks good,” Drew announced. “Just making sure.”
The front door swung open, and Andi rushed out. “Daddy!”
I took off, feet rushing over pavement to get to my daughter. Even out here in the dark, I could see the tear tracks on her cheeks.
When I was close enough, she launched herself at me, leaping as though the steps weren’t even there or as if she had complete trust in me that I’d catch her regardless.
It only fed the dark part of me that would do anything to keep her safe.
The breath whooshed out of me, and I stumbled back when I plucked her out of the air. She was just a little peanut, but she weighed a lot more than she used to. Drew was there with a steadying hand on my back and posture braced to keep us both up if needed.
The second my arms went around our daughter, she let out a cry and buried her face in my neck. The length of her darkhair tangled in my fingers and brushed over my forearm when I palmed the back of her head.
Sobs racked her little frame, and her arms trembled with the force with which she clung to me.
I closed my eyes and breathed deep, trying desperately to stomp down the rage coiling in every part of my body.
“You’re okay,” I murmured, rubbing her back. “I got you.”
“Daddy,” she wailed, crying all over again. Her tears smeared against my neck, hurt seeping into my skin.
Holding her tight, I pivoted to Drew, searching for that blue gaze to ground me.
He was my other half. I didn’t have to say a word. He knew. He felt the same. We were two halves of the same soul.
His chest brushed my arm and side, one hand going to the back of my hand and the other to Andi. “Hey, baby girl, we’re here now.”
Sniffling, she swiped her wet face across my shoulder and reached for Drew, melting into his arms to bury her face in his neck the same way she’d done mine.
I watched them for a second, my heart swelling to near painful. He whispered something in her ear, and she nodded, and he kissed her on the head. “How about we go inside? You can tell us what’s up.”
She nodded again and then twisted to reach for me. I glanced at Drew, and he smiled knowingly. I tucked her into my chest and carried her up the steps and through the front door.
Inside, the air was warm and scented with vanilla. The hum of a TV played in the background, and the sound of the running dishwasher filtered in from the kitchen.
Two dogs came rushing up, one of them Ketchup, both of them smelling Andi’s foot as if to make sure she was okay.
Romeo was sitting on the steps leading upstairs, and we locked eyes immediately.
“Lo?”
“She’s okay.”
I nodded. “I’m sorr?—”
He cut me off before I could finish, standing. “Don’t.” He shook his blond head.
Since retiring from pro football, he’d grown it out a little and slacked off on the shaving. Both he and Drew were blond-haired, blue-eyed, and now scruffy, but only one of them affected me.
“You didn’t do anything to be sorry for.”
The door shut behind me, and Drew came forward. “Where’s Travis?”
Romeo hitched a chin toward the living room, and we turned.
He was across the room by the window, standing between the parted curtains to stare out at the driveway and trees. From his position, I knew he saw us pull up and Andi leaping into my arms.
