Page 77 of Kiss Me Forever

“With Bella there?” Rowan put in, and then the three of them were having a lightly heated argument, and I didn’t have any input.

I was fucking in love with that woman. I was going to tell her. My brothers didn’t need to know that. Mostly because they’d accidentally spill it. At least Aiden would. He wouldn’t do it on purpose, but things happened. And I needed to finally tell her that I loved her.

Moving in and marriage, that would take a moment. Bella came first, and I liked where we were at.

We were figuring out who we were as a family, albeit a different one.

I never expected to be a father, not after so many years of being single, but here I was, a father, in love with a slightly younger woman, and happy.

I ran my hand over my chest, and ignored my brothers’ pointed looks.

“We’re fine. We’re figuring things out. Stop being nosy.”

“You’re the one who told us to ask,” Aiden whined, even though I knew he was just exaggerating.

“Where is Bella?” Denver asked. “I thought my favorite niece would be here so she could hang out with her favorite uncle.”

“You mean me?” Aiden put in.

I ignored their bickering once more, and sighed. “My girls are out getting ice cream. They promised themselves a girls’ day, but with the accident at the job site, they’d had to put it off. Now Brooklyn and Bella are out and they promised to bring me ice cream after we finished this up.”

“Wow. It must be serious if the two of them are out by themselves.”

“I trust Brooklyn no matter what. Hell, I trust her more than you,” I said, pointing at Aiden. He flipped me off, and yet, the smile on his face told me that he knew I was kidding.

“I hope she brings us ice cream,” Rowan said, and I ignored them once more, before heading to the conference room so we could go over the class for the day. I was only one of the speakers, not the major educator, and for that I was grateful. It had been a while since I had been an active duty firefighter, but I still trained enough that if we needed volunteers, or there was a natural disaster, I could suit up if needed. Though now with Bella in the picture, I wasn’t sure. Yes, my family and Brooklyn could take care of her when I was gone, but I didn’t know if I wanted to risk myself like that. Not with people in my life that I wanted to come home to.

I leaned back against the wall, as the rest of the class ended, and checked my watch. They should have been here by now. I hadn’t been craving ice cream, but suddenly I wanted it. And I wanted to see my girls.

I pulled out my phone to call and see where they were, when it lit up with Lexington’s name.

I answered, an uneasiness settling over me. It could be anything. He was my boss after all. But I didn’t think so. Not with that odd sense of foreboding.

“Lex? What’s wrong?”

“They’re both fine.”

“What the fuck?” I asked and I was already moving towards the exit and my SUV before Lex even continued. My brothers were on my tail, the tone of my voice seeming to pull them out of whatever the hell they had been fighting about.

“Bella and Brooklyn were in her car when somebody T-boned them at a stop sign. The guy was going fast, and it...” He stopped speaking before finally continuing. “It hit the driver’s side, but both of them are okay. They were taken by ambulance to the hospital.” He named the emergency room, and bile slid up my throat.

The driver’s side. Brooklyn was... Meaning Brooklyn’s side. My daughter was tall enough now to sit in the front seat, so I’d never had to deal with car seats or the like other than when I had been at the station teaching young couples how to work with car seats to begin with. But with the way that Lex kept saying that they were okay, I couldn’t help but not believe him. Especially because he said the word ambulance.

“Why were they taken by ambulance if they’re okay?”

“What hospital,” Rowan asked as he took my keys before I could even say anything. I scowled at him, but got into my passenger seat, my brothers getting into Denver’s truck. They would leave the other two here, and we’d deal with it later. But without words, we were on the move. I named the hospital, and Rowan nodded, before peeling out of the parking lot, the other truck behind me. I knew they would tell the station what had happened, and hell, the accident had probably gone through the radio, but it hadn’t been in their area.

I tried to catch my breath, but all I could think of was both of the people that I loved more than anything, were broken and bloody, and all because someone had to run a fucking stop sign.

“Bella has a broken arm and Brooklyn is cut up and a little bruised. Even more so than before. I’m her emergency contact, so they called me. My parents are already on their way here, same with her siblings. But Reece, I know you’re Bella’s emergency contact, however, whatever was in their system wasn’t updated. They called her grandparents.”

I slammed my fist into the dashboard, cursing. “Fuck.”

“Just get here. They’re fine. I promise you.”

“If my little girl has a broken arm, then she’s in pain. And she’s not fine. And how many cuts and bruises does Brooklyn have?” I asked, my words clipped.

“Just get here.”