Page 20 of Forbidden Forget-Me-Not

“I’m going to carry you.”

I shook my head. “No,” I croaked out. “I can…walk.” I pushed down the panic. “Need…my tote.”

I felt stupid and humiliated as we approached Ren.

“I’m sorry.” I quickly hugged my cousin, then took off without any further explanation.

Goran was right beside me, his hand lightly touching my back, offering comfort. He opened the back door of the armored SUV, and as I climbed in, the tears fell harder.

“Here.” Goran shrugged out of his jacket and held it out to me.

I grabbed it, clutching it to my chest as he closed the door, then wrapped it around myself and breathed in his calming scent. He never got rattled. Never wavered. Always willing to die for Nathaniel or me. That terrified me the most.

I’d thought I was already the woman my world demanded, but huddled in the back of the SUV, I realized how fragile that belief was.

Chapter

Seven

GORAN

Kaylani sat in the back of the SUV, my jacket around her shoulders, knees drawn to her chest, eyes unfocused as the city slipped past the tinted glass.

She hadn’t spoken since the beach, and that scared me more than her tears.

Her breathing was steadier now, but the panic hadn’t subsided. Through the rearview mirror, I watched her clutch the fabric and flinch every time we stopped too abruptly.

I thought she’d recovered from the shooting that almost took Nathaniel’s wife.

I was wrong.

The haunted look in Kaylani’s eyes told me the truth. She masked it well, but the trauma was still there.

My gaze shifted to her other hand. She was tracing the faint scars along her neck, left by shattered glass when the bullet meant for Savannah tore through the store window just inches from her head.

That day had dissolved into chaos.

Ivan grabbed Kaylani and forced her to the floor while blood streamed down her neck. He pressed a hand to the wound and told her she’d be okay. But Savannah’s injuries were severe, and my focus had to remain on Nathaniel’s wife as I worked to keep her alive. By the time I saw Kaylani again, she had a bandage on her neck and a smile on her face like nothing had happened.

Like she hadn’t almost died.

I hadn’t realized how deep the damage went until Cutter’s birthday party. We were outside in the backyard when a balloon popped. Kaylani flinched and her face drained of color before she disappeared into the house.

I followed and found her in the bathroom, shaking, braced against the counter, tears spilling freely.

That was when she finally told me about the panic attacks, the nightmares, the way her body reacted before her mind caught up.

She’d survived. But a part of her was still trapped in that moment.

I didn’t ask where she wanted to go.

I already knew.

The farther we got from the beach, the more she relaxed. When the stable’s gates came into view, she finally exhaled.

The SUV rolled to a stop, and before I could open my door, Kaylani was gone.

Bare feet hit gravel, then concrete. Nothing slowed her down. The jacket slipped from her shoulders as she ran into the barn in her bikini, hair wild, salt and tears streaking her skin.