Page 128 of Wicked & Wildflower

It’s a desperate, urgent, needful kind of kiss, the kind that makes you feel like the other person has been drowning and you’re their only source of oxygen.

“I’m so sorry, Dahlia,” he whispers against my lips.

“Tell me what happened.”

He closes his eyes, shuddering like he’s in pain. “They tried to take her.”

I step back, gripping his forearms and feeling my nails dig into his flesh as my veins flood with fear. “Who?” Panic rises in my chest, causing my vision to go blurry and my head to spin. “Everett, where is my daughter?”

“She’s with my parents.” He opens his eyes, keeping my face between his hands. “She’s safe, I promise. They’re taking care of her. I just…We needed to talk.” His gaze darts to our siblings. “All of us, and I wanted to keep her out of it.”

“Who tried to take her, Everett?” My voice cracks, my entire body shaking with the sound.

“Jason,” he says quietly. “Your dad.”

All that apprehension floods from my veins, my body going taut with the knowledge. My knees buckle, and suddenly, he’s the only thing holding me up. It feels like the room is crumbling around me, and all I want to do is go down with it.

“Oh my God,” I hear someone gasp behind me. I think it’s my sister.

As the reality of the situation dawns on me, and my instincts finally kick in, I find myself spinning in Everett’s arms and reaching for my car keys. He says my daughter is safe, but I don’t trust a goddamn person on this planet, not when the man who made me, and the man who made her, are the most dangerous I’ve ever come across.

“I need to see her.”

Everett lets me go immediately, and I run toward the front door.

“If you need to check on her, we can, Wildflower, but are you sure you want her to see you like this? I left her with my parents so we’d have time to sort through this and figure things out.”

I pause, turning to face him. “She doesn’t know what happened?”

He shakes his head. “No. I caught Jason before she got out of school. She has no idea he was there to begin with.”

That has me halting, body falling against the dining room table.She doesn’t know. He made sure she didn’t have to witness the nightmare I put her in, the nightmare I’ve subjected all of us to. “She has no idea someone tried to kidnap her today?” My voice comes out a broken whisper.

“No, baby.” I feel a warm, rough hand fall to the center of my back, dipping beneath the hem of my shirt to find my bare skin. “Can you guys give us a minute?” he asks from behind me. I hear the shuffling of feet and the slam of a door. “She thinks I picked her up from school because you were busy with the wedding. She thinks she’s at my parent’s house because Mom needs to hem her dress—which is true, and they’re doing that as we speak. The only thing Lou knows is that she’s loved and cared for. Those you left behind are of no thought to her,” he whispers against my ear, planting a kiss on my shoulder.

Whatever dam was holding me together suddenly ruptures, my tears freefalling. Everett holds me together, wrapping his strong arms around my waist and securing me against him, the rhythm of his heart keeping me grounded.

“What did you say to him?” My tone is a wretched whimper.

“I told him to stay away from my future wife and my kid.” He runs his palm down the backside of my head, cradling me into his chest. “That if he came near either of you again, I’d fucking kill him.”

I spin around, tilting my face up so I can look at him, desperately searching for the dishonesty I’m accustomed tohearing, for the doubt, the joke. Amber eyes stare back at me with sincerity and fervor and love, so much love that I melt beneath them.

“Your kid?”

“Yes.” He smiles, cupping my jaw and brushing his thumb across my cheek. “My kid. My woman. For as long as you both will have me.”

I’m not sure where inside our bodies our souls are stored, but whatever location that may be seems to open now, giving itself over to him. My tears halt, and his steady hands wipe away the remnants beneath my eyes.

“Forever.” I drop my head into his neck, savoring his warmth, his presence.

I feel his lips on the top of my head as he murmurs, “Okay. Forever it is, then.”

Emilio slides a Vodka soda across the bar in front of me. “You remembered,” I chuckle.

“You were pretty unforgettable, Dahlia.” He winks, turning to my sister. “What can I get you, Darby?”

“Something strong.” She sighs. “But also sweet.”

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