Page 146 of Frozen Hearts
I dress faster than I ever have in my life, not giving a single damn about what I’m throwing on, before grabbing my phone and purse from Logan’s bedside table and racing out of his room and across the hall to Royce’s.
“Royce,” I call as I bang on his door. “Royce!”
The door flies open, a half-asleep, half-naked Royce standing in front of me with every one of his tattoos on display for me to gawk at. My brain momentarily glitches as I blink stupidly at his chest.
“Jesus, woman. Where’s the fire?”
“Huh?” I blink again before managing to redirect my dazed stare to his face.
Daughter. Park. Urgent.
“I have to be somewhere. You need to take me. We need to go.”
“What? Where?”
“I just…Please,Royce. I need to be somewhere, and I need you to drive me.”
Crossing his large, muscular, tattooed arms across his chest, he stands in the doorway, stubborn as a mule. “I’m not going anywhere until you tell me what this is all about.”
“You owe me,” I blurt out in a panic, only making his frown deepen. “From Rummy. You owe me. I’m cashing it in, right now.”
He glares me down for a minute longer, but I remain determined. Nothing, and I mean absolutelynothing, will stand in the way of me getting to my daughter. I will bulldoze over Royce to get to his car keys if necessary. He thinks he could take me because he fights men as big as him in the ring? Well, he has never seen a mother hellbent on getting to her child.
His teeth grind before he finally grits out, “Fine.”
“Good. Thank you.” When he doesn’t move, I shimmy him with my hands. “Go get your car keys.”
“Slow your roll there, Babydoll. I need to get dressed.”
“Hurry up,please.I need to be there, like, right now.”
His eyes search my face for another second before he relents, and sighing, he moves to get dressed.
Breathing out a sigh of relief and trying not to panic, I turn my phone on while I wait for Royce, marginally relaxing when I don’t have a last-minute missed call or text from my mom.
“Are you ready yet?” I call through his bedroom door when he hasn’t emerged after thirty seconds.
“Jeez. Yes, I’m ready.” He appears in the doorway, and I don’t even spare him a second glance as I turn and race down the stairs and out the front door.
“You need to tell me where we’re going,” he points out as we get into his truck.
“Do you know the park on the side of the road on the way to Springview?”
“Sure.” Starting the engine, he pulls onto the road and heads in that direction.
My foot taps the entire way there, and I check the time on my phone every few seconds. “Can you go any faster?” I grumble. “You’re driving like a granny.”
“I’m doing forty in a thirty,” he points out.
Huffing, I turn to stare out the window.
“Are you going to tell me what this is about?”
I remain silent, nausea preventing me from opening up to him even if I wanted to. There isn’t time to explain. He’ll no doubt figure it out as soon as we arrive, and this definitely isn’t how I saw any of this unfolding, but it is what it is. There’s nothing I can do about it now.
We drive the rest of the way in silence, and the second we pull into the parking lot, I scan the cars for my mom’s. The second I spot it, I unbuckle my seat belt and throw open the door.
“Jesus Christ,” he snarls, as I half fall out of the still-moving vehicle.
