Page 95 of Stay Wild Darlin’

She was more than enough.

I was still trying to figure out how to fix it when I heard the soft thud of movement from inside her room.

Shit. She was in there.

I slapped my phone face down on the cushion beside me, heart hammering in my chest.

Before I could think twice, I got up.

I crossed to her room, pausing outside the door. I raised my hand to knock⁠—

Bang.

Something hit the wall inside her room.

“I told you I have a job, Mom. I can’t come to Dallas⁠—”

Her voice was tense.

“No, because I live in Lindley doesn’t mean I can get up and go.”

A pause.

“I have a boss. I have to ask permission . . .”

Another beat of silence.

“Fine.”

My chest tightened.

“Alright. I’ll be there tonight.”

There was silence.

I knocked once before turning the handle and stepping inside.

She looked up from where she stood near the bed, phone still in her hand. Her eyes were big, tired, and resigned. That deep kind of exhaustion you don’t sleep off. Her lips parted slightly before pressing into a tight line.

I glanced at her wrists. The marks were still there—a reminder of last night. What she gave me. What I might’ve broken.

“Not now,” she said. “I’m not in the mood.”

“Where are you going tonight?”

A flicker of something passed across her face, and the corner of her mouth lifted into a dry smirk. “Spying on me?”

“I came to check if you were okay. I haven’t seen you all day.”

She didn’t answer right away. Instead, she opened a drawer, pulled something out, and let it drop back in with a soft thud.

I stayed in the doorway, watching her shoulders tighten.

“You’re not gonna tell me?”

She gave a light shrug, still facing away. “It’s not a big deal.”

It didn’t feel like nothing. Not with the way she sounded. Not with the way she looked like she’d rather be anywhere but here, yet still wasn’t leaving.