“And your mum found a way to forgive her and saved her life.I’m here today because of Avery O’Donnell’s boundless love.But her lovecouldn’t fix my mum’s guilt.It took something else to do that.She was readyto reject my father’s love because she didn’t think she was worthy of it.Shewas ready to let me go live with him.And then your da got stung by a bee.”
At the mention of her father, her hand retreated, and shewent slightly stiff.“My da is very allergic to bees.Everyone jokes with him,but Mom saw it once and still shudders when she thinks about it.”
He was glad she didn’t remember that day.“My mom saved him,and what she realized was she wouldn’t have been there to save him if shehadn’t been on the road that night.She wouldn’t have learned what she neededto know, wouldn’t have had the skills to save him.Daisy, do you know why I’mtelling you this?”
She shook her head.
He sat up.This was a conversation where they had to be faceto face.“Because I’m not my dad.I need you to understand I don’t questionfate.I don’t sit around and wonder if I’m good enough.I will make myself goodenough for you.”
“Nate,” she began.
“No, don’t Nate me.I told you.You made your choice.If Ithought for a second you pulling away from me had anything to do with yourheart, I would step back.But this isn’t about your heart.You were perfectlyhappy before your father made an arse of himself.This is about you beingworried he’s going to see you differently.He will, and it’s about bloody time,Dais.”
She sniffled.“You don’t understand.”
His heart ached, but he wasn’t going to let her continuedown this road.“Don’t understand what?Being the kid in the family who doesn’tseem to have some awesome destiny?Who isn’t clearly talented?I do understandthat.Since the day Elodie started to dance, I knew she was more talented, moredriven than me, and therefore had a whole lot of our parents’ attention.That’swhat it’s like to be the sibling who isn’t gifted.”
“I don’t resent my brother,” she replied quietly.“Not evenafter what I learned today.I’m happy for him.”
He believed her.“And I’m thrilled for my sister.I lovewatching her dance.She’s happy and she makes other people happy.They havetheir path, and we have ours.”
“Ours is apparently getting stuck in this club.”
He shrugged.“Maybe that’s fate, too.Maybe it wouldn’t workif you had too much time to think.If there was space between us, your fathermight decide I’m not worthy of his sweet daughter and he would get a chance toconvince you.But that’s not what happened, and we’re here for a while.I meantwhat I said.I’m not leaving you.If you’re stuck here, then so am I.If itgets to be too much, we can go to Australia.My parents’ station hasn’t soldyet.We can stay there for a bit and then move to The Garden.Traveling mightbe good for us.”
Daisy sighed.“Somehow I don’t see Uncle Ian paying you togo on vacation with me.”
“I think you’ll find everyone wants you safe.They mightfight me on travel, but it’s a fight I can win.If for some crazy reason hefires me, well, I’ve got a bit of cash saved.I can take care of us untilyou’re safe.I’ll find another job, and we’ll figure out where we want to be.”
Tears filled her eyes.“You are too good to be true.”
“I assure you, love, I’m not.”
“I want to believe you,” Daisy whispered.“I want to believein this.You don’t even understand how weird this is for me.”
“I do,” he argued.He knew her better than she thought hedid.“You’re the girl who throws herself into everything.When you decide to dosomething, you give it one hundred percent of yourself.You take it with bothhands and try everything you can to make it work.”
“Nothing works, Nate.”
She’d had the roughest of days, and he needed to find a wayto bring back her natural resiliency.“Sure it does.You have friends who adoreyou, a family who does everything they can to protect you.”
“Yeah, up to and including ruining any chance I had atfinding a boyfriend.”
He was upset for her about what her father had done, but herather thought it had proved a point.“Baby, if a man is too afraid to date youbecause your father and brother threaten him, he doesn’t want you enough.Ineed you to understand absolutely no one in this world can keep me away fromyou except you.If you don’t want me, I’ll walk away, but you’re the only onewho can make me.There’s no threat, no incentive, nothing can control me withthe exception of you.”
“How can you know you want me?”
“Do you want me?”
Tears dripped from her eyes.“So much it hurts.”
He pulled her close.“And how can you know?”
“Because I always have,” she whispered.“Because I knew whatI was doing when I put on Kenzie’s mask.I was going to steal a night fromyou.”
He chuckled, a warm feeling invading his bones.This was somuch more than lust.This was the reason his dad lit up when his mum walked ina room.He couldn’t imagine the demons his father must have fought, the onesthat made him walk away from this feeling.He wasn’t making the same mistake.He cuddled her against his chest.“Sorry, love.Your plan is not going to workout.”
She seemed to give in, relaxing against him.“You better besure, Carter, because you’re right.When I’m in, I’m in.And when the wholestupid assassins are after me thing is over, I’m going to find a job I love andyou can move into my house and… I still don’t know what to do about my da.”
