Cam stood dumbfounded as his girlfriend was enveloped in another man’s arms.
Roxie was just as confounded.She stared at Lexie, trying to understand what was happening.Level-headed, careful Lexie had run right to the scary dude.
The man sucked in air so loudly, Roxie worried he was having a heart attack.She actually made a move towards the phone behind the bar when he lifted his head and looked right at her.
“You’re mine,” he said, his strong voice wavering.Keeping Lexie close, he held out his other arm.His voice gained strength.“You’re all mine.”
Maxie’s chair rasped against the floor as she slowly stood.“Dad?”
Dad?
The word was like a dead weight in Roxie’s head.It just fell and sat there.
The handsome, hard man didn’t look so scary when he looked at Roux.“Go get your mother and brother out of the car.Get them in here.Now!”
“Daddy,” Maxie said in a small voice.Tears welled in her eyes as she timidly rounded the table.She took a few steps in the man’s direction.When he held out his hand to her, she let out a shuddering breath and walked into his arms.She tucked her face into his neck as he held her in one arm and Lexie in the other.
“Roxie?”the man called.His eyes were soft now, not scary at all.“Come here, baby.”
Roxie shuddered.She wanted to move, but she couldn’t.What the fuck?None of this made sense.She felt like she’d jumped into the middle of a silent movie.She couldn’t make heads or tails of anything.
“Rox, are you okay?”Billy gave her a shake and bent his head close.“Are you in there?”
She was not in shock.She was just… confused.She knew what everybody thought.She wasn’t stupid.She was tracking the course of the dialogue, but she’d been disappointed too many times before.
She was not going to be disappointed again.She’d been down that road too many times, only to have her hopes dashed.
Still, her gaze locked on Roux as he hurried to the bar door.Skeeter held it open for him, until he disappeared out into the night.Her fingernails bit into her palms as she waited… and waited.Just when she was about to run after him, she saw movement.
Skeeter grinned, and Roxie caught Billy’s hand.
A kid walked in, another Roux look-alike, only even younger.Maybe high school age.Roxie shook her head.He definitely shouldn’t be here.This was no Chuck E.Cheese’s.She was about to throw the lot of them out when she heard the murmur of a feminine voice.
“Roux, I don’t understand.What’s going on?Why did we drive all the way here to this place?”
Roux came in the door, and Roxie laser-focused on the woman who was walking behind him.A breathtakingly beautiful woman with long dark hair.
Roxie just knew she’d smell like lavender.
“Mom,” she breathed.
The chains of paralysis popped open, and she was suddenly moving.A chair got in her way, and it banged against the floor as she pushed it aside.“Mom!”
The woman snapped to attention.She spun away from Roux, her gaze searching.When it landed on Roxie, her mouth dropped open in surprise.The pretty woman stepped forward, a cry wrenching from her lips.She reached out a hand, but then her eyes glazed over.
And she dropped in a dead faint.
The teenager had fast reflexes.He caught his mother before she hit the floor, but he staggered a bit under her leaden weight.“Help.”
Zac moved in fast.
“No!”Roxie gasped.Her heels smacked against the floor at a gunfire pace as she covered the last few feet that separated them.
“Alexis!”the man said sharply.
Roxie got there first.Zac and the kid had guided the woman down to a comfortable spot on the floor.Roxie’s hand trembled as she pushed the stranger’s hair out of her face.It was dark and wavy, so soft.She tucked the strand behind the pretty woman’s ear.Her skin was warm, and she was breathing, panting lightly.
Roxie leaned closer and the familiar scent of lavender wafted over her.
