Chapter 17
Jared placed the back of his hand on Angie’s forehead.
Damn it.
She felt really hot. He searched through the First-Aid kit for a thermometer and took her temperature.
Okay, not as bad as he’d first thought but still not good.
“Come on, baby girl. You need to drink some water.”
“Buggar off, poop-farter.”
Hmm. Clearly delirious. No one had ever said anything like that to him before.
“It’s Jared, actually.”
“Don’t lie.” She pointed a finger at him. “I knows you aren’t Jared. He doesn’t like me no more.”
“Anymore,” he corrected.
“Yeah, none of the mores. He don’t like me none of the mores.”
It was strange, but he could kind of understand what she was saying.
“Actually, the opposite is true,” he told her.
He figured she wouldn’t remember anything he said right now.
“Come on, baby girl,” he tried to coax her.
“No. I’m gonna die.”
A surge of concern filled him. Then he stifled it. She was just being dramatic.
Because that was not happening. Not on his watch.
“Yes, you are.”
“Nuh-uh.”
“Uh-huh.” Shit. What was he doing? He wasn’t arguing about this. He was the boss.
“You’re going to drink this water,” he said sternly. “Because that’s what Daddy wants you to do.”
Shit. What was he doing? He shouldn’t call himself Daddy. He wasn’t her Daddy. And yet . . . it felt so right.
“I don’t have a Daddy.” The words were said so sadly that they hurt his stomach.
“Well, you do at the moment.”
“Who?”
“Me. I’m going to be your Daddy.”
North heard the words through the cameras. He was on his way to get supplies and for some reason he’d decided to turn the cameras on so he could watch and listen.
The words struck him oddly.
They weren’t painful exactly. This is what he wanted for Jared so he had no right to be upset.
But it still felt . . . strange.
Was he losing Jared?
You were going to lose him anyway.
As soon as he discovered who wanted Jared dead he was going to need to take them out.
And then he’d have to disappear.