Finally his arms loosened, and his hands swept up her neck and to her jaw before framing her face in his palms. With halting breaths, he pulled slightly away.
His eyes glittered. Need. Fear. Anger. They were all mixed and swirled in the pale blue irises. His fingers stuttered across the gash at her hairline. She could feel him trembling against her.
“Sawyer, I’m okay,” she whispered.
“Reggie, oh my God, Reggie.”
His voice broke as the words spilled torturously from his lips. He leaned his forehead against hers and closed his eyes. His chest heaved as he struggled to catch his breath.
“I could have lost you,” he said hoarsely.
She tilted her chin up so her lips met his. She kissed him. Lightly. Reassuring.
“Regina, what the hell is going on here?”
She stiffened as her father’s strident voice intruded. She turned slowly away from Sawyer to see her father standing a few feet away, his face tight with disapproval. Her mother simply stared agape at her and Sawyer.
“Don’t you have any sense of decorum?” he bit out. “The press is going to be crawling all over this place after what happened this morning. If you won’t think of yourself and your position as a police officer, at least have a care as to how your behavior reflects on me.”
Sawyer bristled and opened his mouth to respond, but Regina gripped his arm in warning. Sawyer was already hanging on by a thread, and any outburst from him wouldn’t be pretty.
She pinned her father with all the disdain fueling her anger. “Fuck off,” she said before turning away.
Her mother gasped, and her father made a sound of outrage.
“Regina, don’t you walk away from me, young lady. I didn’t raise you to talk to me like that.”
She stopped dead, and despite Sawyer’s restraining hand, she broke away and rounded on her father.
“No, you self-righteous prick. You didn’t raise me at all. You were too busy ignoring me. Talk to you? When was I ever encouraged to say anything at all? You andLydiawere too busy withyourlives for something as inconsequential as a daughter. Be glad you’re my father, because if you weren’t, I’d knock the shit out of you like I would anyone else who spoke to me like that.”
She turned back around before he could see the tears of fury gathering in her eyes. Damn if he would ever see her cry.
Sawyer put a protective arm around her, and when she would have hurried into the station, he held her still. He turned to pin her father with a cold stare.
“I’ll only say this once. Stay the fuck away from Reggie. You’re notmyfather, and I have no compunction about laying your ass out.”
He gathered Regina closer to him and guided her toward the entrance to the station.
“You can’t threaten me like that,” Peter blustered.
As Sawyer reached for the door, he turned back one last time. “It wasn’t a threat, Mr. Fallon.”
He ushered Regina inside and closed the door. Birdie was seated in the small waiting area, flanked by Cam and Hutch. When they looked up and saw her, they all rose.
Cam crossed the room, and Sawyer relinquished his hold on her just as Cam swept her into his arms.
His hand tangled in her hair as he buried her face in his chest. His heart raced beneath her cheek, and his chest rose and fell with harsh breaths.
When he finally pulled away, he ran his hands over her head, her face and then her neck.
“Are you all right? Do you need to go to the hospital?”
She put her hands over his wrists as he cupped her neck. “I’m fine, Cam. I promise. Just a little banged up.”
“Regina dear, how are you feeling?” Birdie asked.
Regina looked to see Birdie standing beside Cam. He relinquished her, and Birdie enfolded her in a warm hug. This . . . this is what unconditional love felt like. She held on to Birdie for a long moment in an attempt to banish the image of her mother and father out in the parking lot.
