Page 72 of Daddy's Laws

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Fuck,fuck,fuck. Bryant stared at the empty doorway where Shannon had been just a moment before, his heart pounding against his ribcage so hard he wondered how it didn’t break any bones.

“Shannon!” Finally unfreezing, he took off after her.

But he was too late.

The snappy little convertible peeled away from the house like the hounds of hell were on her heels. Hell, maybe they were, in the form of her own personal demons.

And he was the one who’d sent them after her.

Looking down at the phone still in his hand, he hit the button to call her, but there was no answer. The third call went straight to voicemail without even ringing.

“Shannon, baby. Please call me back so we can talk. I love you.”

It felt so inadequate, given the enormity of how badly he’d fucked up, but what else could he say?

He waited five, ten, fifteen minutes before he switched tactics and called Liv. But a deep, familiar voice answered instead. “Hey, little brother.”

The amusement in James’s tone set his teeth on edge, but he forced himself to take a deep breath. It wasn’t his brother’s fault he was in this predicament. “Hey. Is Liv around?”

“She is, but she can’t come to the phone right now. What’s up?”

“I really need to talk to her, James. Shannon’s gone.”

“Gone? Where did she go?”

“If I knew where the fuck she was, I wouldn’t be calling Liv!”

“Whoa. I get you’re upset, but I didn’t take her.”

“I know.” Closing his eyes, he counted to ten and willed back the anger. “Sorry. Look, I just need to know if Liv has talked to her in the last ten minutes or so.”

“She hasn’t.”

“How do you know?”

“Because she’s standing in the corner with a freshly-spanked bottom and a bar of soap in her mouth.”

“Shit. Does she have any missed calls?”

“Hang on a second.” A pause and then, “Nope. What happened?”

“She knows.”

“What does—oh, shit. Livvy, go rinse and then come here.”

“She’s never going to forgive me for this, James.”

“That’s not true. It may require some major league groveling on your part, but she’ll come around.” James paused. “Eventually.”

Before Bryant could respond, Liv’s voice joined the conversation. “What’s going on?”

“Shannon overheard me talking to the DA about MaryAnn’s plea deal and she flipped out and left. Didn’t even take any of her clothes or anything, just grabbed her purse and ran. I don’t think she even has any fucking shoes on.”

“Itoldyou that you needed to tell her, Bryant! Godda—ow! Daddy!”

“You still have soap suds in your mouth and you’re swearing again already? I obviously did not do a thorough enough job this afternoon.”

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