Malone's Fate (Haven, Texas Book 14)

Chapter 26

Fuck.

What asshole would be calling him at this time of the night? With a groan, Tanner reached over and grabbed his phone. Seeing Linc’s name, he answered.

“Why the fuck are you calling me at fucking four-thirty in the morning? If you’ve arrested one of my brothers, I don’t fucking care. Call Alec. Bye.”

“Wait! Tanner, don’t you fucking hang up!”

There was an urgency in Linc’s voice that made him pause. Fuck. What if something had happened to Lilac or Kye?

“What is it? What’s going on?” he asked, sitting up.

“It’s Lilac.”

He got up and put the phone on speaker as he reached for his jeans. “What about Lilac?”

“Tanner, she passed out. I brought her to the hospital and the doctor is checking her over now. I know things weren’t great between you yesterday, but I thought you’d want to know.”

“You’re fucking right, I do. I’ll be right there.”

He hastily finished dressing before sending Alec a quick text to explain why he wouldn’t be around today.

Then he raced to the hospital, not giving a single fuck about the speed limit.

* * *

Running into the hospital,he saw Linc waiting for him. “Come on back with me.”

“What happened? Why did she collapse?” He’d parked his truck in the first place he found, not caring if he got ticketed.

All he’d cared about was getting to his girl.

Linc sighed. “I don’t know why she fainted. All I know is that Opal woke up to Kye and discovered that Lilac was gone. She woke me and I went searching for Lilac. I found her unconscious several blocks from the house, and I drove her straight here.”

Fuck. Fuck!

“Listen, I’ve got to get back to Ryleigh, Opal, and the baby,” Linc said. “Can you stay here? I’ve told the nurse you were coming and to update you on her condition.”

Tanner raised his eyebrows. “They’ll update me.”

Linc grunted. “I might have lied a bit and told them that she belonged to you.”

Okay. He was glad that Linc had the foresight to do that.

“I know Lilac won’t be pleased, she doesn’t seem to put much into this ‘guardian thing’. Jake was giving her time to come around. But I called him, and we both agreed that the three of them are out of time. I’m going back to talk to Opal and Ryleigh, but I’m going to act as guardian for them both. I’ll be moving all of them into my house. If you don’t want to be Lilac’s guardian, or she’d prefer me or Jake, let me know. She can move in with me too.”

Tanner just stared at him in shock. He wasn’t even mad at the assumption that she might not want him as her guardian. Because he understood it.

That didn’t mean that she was choosing anyone else.

Nope. It was becoming abundantly clear that Lilac was so busy looking after everyone else that she was failing to take care of herself.

That would stop.

Someone needed to put her safety and health first.

That person was going to be him.

And he’d be telling her that.

Just, please, let her be all right.

“That won’t be necessary. Where would she be going so early in the morning?” he asked.

Linc shook his head grimly. “I don’t know. Jake isn’t happy about any of this, so he’ll want you to tell him once you find out. Keep me updated too.”

Tanner nodded and started pacing after Linc left. He couldn’t settle enough to sit.

His phone buzzed.

Alec.

“Hey,” he said into the phone. “Sorry I had to bail today.”

“You know I don’t care about that,” Alec replied gruffly. “Are you all right?”

Their father had never really been in their lives. He’d been around but not involved, happy to leave them with a parade of nannies. But Tanner had never really felt his loss that badly.

Because he’d always had Alec. Even when he was young, Alec had watched out for him, taken care of him. So yeah, he might have had a useless father, but he’d had the best big brother he could ask for.

“Yeah, I’m all right.”

“Tanner.” That was all he said.

Letting out a deep breath, Tanner told Alec everything. About meeting Lilac. About her showing up in Haven. To their argument yesterday and the call this morning from Linc.

“Right,” Alec said after a few seconds of silence. “And you don’t know why she came to Haven with her friends?”

“We haven’t talked about that yet. She’s so closed-off. So . . . scared at times. I don’t know everything that’s happened to her, but I can tell it’s bad. But I’m not sure she trusts me enough to tell me.”

“I think she trusts you more than you realize,” Alec replied. “If she came here because of what you told her about Haven, I think that’s a good sign.”

“Yeah?” he asked.

“It might be that they were searching for safety and thought Haven might give them that.”

“I hate the thought of her in trouble, and not knowing what it is.”

“I’m going to call Jake, see what he knows,” Alec told him. “Then I’m coming to the hospital.”

“Alec, there’s no need for you to come here.”

“Are you going anywhere without her?” Alec asked.

“Of course not!” Fuck, no. He didn’t plan on leaving her again.

“When she’s allowed to leave the hospital, are you taking her back to Linc’s?” he asked.

“No fucking way. She’s terrible at taking care of herself and Linc has his hands full. Plus, he can’t handle her.”

“Obviously,” Alec agreed. “Then you’ll need support too. And she needs to know that if she is with one of us, the rest come as a package. And that we defend our own. From any threats.”

“No one fucks with the Malones,” Tanner repeated the family motto.

“Exactly.”

“She’s so thin, Alec. She wasn’t this thin before. To lose that much weight in six months . . . what if something is really wrong with her?”

“Then we’ll deal with that like a family too. We’re all here for you, Tanner. And for her. The biggest challenge will likely be convincing her to let you in. To allow you to take care of her. And find out what is going on with her.”

Yeah. He knew that.

That’s why he wasn’t going to give her a choice.