Chapter 12
KAYLYNN
The second he spoke; I recognized his voice.
And I wasn’t a fucking idiot. Even though I didn’t enjoy listening to my parents’ bullshit growing up as a child, that didn’t mean I didn’t learn a thing or two.
I hadn’t recognized him in the dark. Walking up to my front door.
But the second he spoke; I had the upper hand.
Whether he thought I was an idiot or not, he didn’t know I knew who he was.
So, I tried getting him to tell the truth.
I kept turning him down at every turn, hoping he’d tell me why he was really there. But he insisted that stupid bike of his was broke down. I wasn’t dumb, though. He was trying to get into this house for some reason. And the only thing that made sense was that he knew Ariel’s father.
Which meant he’d come looking for the girl.
My thoughts were confirmed when his fist slammed against the door.
When the aching in his voice rose as he mentioned seeing Ariel.
He’d definitely come for the girl, and I had two options.
Risk my brother’s boss finding out she was still here by making a show of this.
Or I could let him into the house and backtrack into the kitchen.
I had weapons there. Many weapons I could get a hold of in a split second.
So, I took a chance.
I flipped the lock on the door and slowly inched it open.
I came face to face with the guy from the soup shop, and holy hell was he as hot as I remembered him to be.
Those beautiful hazel eyes. Twinkling with desperation as the darkened sky above us reflected in his gaze.
His hair looked browner now with the sundown.
But I saw the red of his eyebrows and it warmed my gut.
Only, I noticed something on his face I hadn’t seen before.
How I hadn’t noticed it was a completely different story.
But there it was. Mimicking the streaks of my back.
A scar, starting from the right upper side of his head and cascading across his face. All the way down to the lower left side of his jawline.
He’s scarred, like me.
I studied him for a long time. I craned my neck back to keep him in view.
Because he was incredibly tall. And there was something about his eyes that seemed familiar.
I couldn’t place them, but it was like I’d seen them somewhere.
His hair was thick. His nose tailored specifically for his face.
He had a smattering of lightened freckles against his skin that were almost unseen in the darkness of the night.
He stood there, looking down at me. And when those lips of his curled into a mindless little grin, it hit me.
He looks a hell of a lot like Ariel.
Was it possible? Could this be her father?
But it didn’t make sense. If this was her father, why not take her from me at the soup shop?
Why leave her behind with someone he didn’t know?
Was that what he was doing? Trying to keep tabs on me and figure out the kind of person I was since I had his daughter?
And if he knew I had his daughter, did he know why?
Because I sure as hell didn’t even know why.
“Hello, Kaylynn,” he said.
I nodded. “Ryker.”
“May I come in?”
“I’m shocked you asked the question after trying to barter your way in here.”
“I like to have manners where I can.”
“Did your mother teach you how to track down women with only their phone numbers and a picture? Or is that a skill you picked up as you grew older?”
“How’d you know I used only your number and your picture?”
I shrugged. “Because I’m not an idiot.”
He grinned wider. “Are you going to let me in? Or am I going to keep standing on this porch for the world to see?”
“Depends. You plan on using the weapons you’ve got on your person?”
His eye twitched. “What?”
I sighed. “Two guns on your hip, one on your ankle, and knives in your front pockets.”
“Knives.”
“Yes. Plural.”
“Huh.”
I quirked an eyebrow. “You leave them where they are, and I’ll leave mine where they are.”
He smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “I’d like to know where you’ve got your guns stashed.”
“Nowhere fun for your hands to touch, I can assure you of that.”
“Pity.”
Against my better judgment, I stepped off to the side.
I let the man into my home. Into my sanctuary.
Into my safe space. His eyes darted around, dancing around the crown molding that had chipped paint coming off it.
I saw him take in the freshly waxed hardwood floors.
I closed the front door and locked it, hoping and praying no one important had seen me let this man into my home at such a late hour.
Then, I turned around and watched him.
If this really was Ariel’s father, by the looks of him he’d do anything to get her back.
The scar across his face told me about his ruthlessness.
The smile that didn’t reach his eyes told me about the black soul he had stored within him.
The way he lumbered around, his hands still hovering over his weapons, told me he had every intention of slaying me to get to her.
He turned around and connected his eyes with mine again.
Causing my stomach to lurch as my heart slammed against my chest. He held my gaze, standing in the hallway.
Blocking me from the kitchen as I pressed myself further into the wood of the front door.
The house didn’t look like much, but it was safe.
Big. Plenty of room for Ariel to run and jump around and adventure.
Why was I justifying that, though? I had his fucking daughter. Who cared what kind of house I had for her to roam around in?
“So, what do you think?” I asked.
Are you an idiot, Kaylynn?
He cocked his head. “About what?”
“You’re staring pretty hard at my house. What do you think of it?”
“I don’t care about the house. I’m looking for cameras.”
“To see if you’ll have an audience before you kill me?”
His eye twitched again. “You think I’m going to kill you?”
“You have my father’s smile. I don’t think you’ll hesitate to kill me.”
Something passed over his face, but it was too quick to catch.
Just as easily as it passed over his eyes, his face sank back into stone.
The grin, gone. His eyes, dead. A thousand-yard stare rose behind the bags of his eyes, and he suddenly aged in front of me.
By ten years, at least. His shoulders slumped a bit.
His eyes stared through me instead of at me.
He went completely still, and it felt unnerving, to say the least.
“Ariel’s upstairs. Sleeping. She’s been sleeping for the majority of the day,” I said.
He perked up. “Is she sick?”
“Not from what I can tell. She’s not warm. She’s not sweating.”
“Is she growing?”
“That’s actually what I was researching before I felt you across the street.”
He grinned, and this time it met his eyes. Igniting those hazel eyes and confirming what had yet to be spoken.
He’s definitely Ariel’s father. They have the same eyes.
“Did you find anything interesting during your research?” Ryker asked.
“Actually, I did.”
“Oh?”
“Yes.”
He crossed his arms over his chest. “Care to elaborate?”
“Trying to determine the kind of care your daughter’s been under?”
“Let’s say ‘yes’ and go with it for now.”
My eyes narrowed a bit before I cleared my throat.
“For a girl her age, growing isn’t so much an issue as it is other things.
Some kinds who struggle with things like allergies might be developing asthma.
If she’s working harder to get adequate oxygen into her body, it might make her more tired.
And with the tickle fight we had this morning before she napped against me, it makes sense. Does she have allergies?”
He paused. “Tickle fight?”
“Yep. Had a small one just before lunch. While watching Netflix.”
“She—slept against you?”
I paused. “Yes?”
“Like, completely against you.”
“Yes.”
“Huh.”
“What?”
He shook his head. “No, she doesn’t have allergies. Doesn’t even sneeze when pollen comes out.”
“Well, lucky her. I become nothing but a big pile of mucus during spring.”
He chuckled. “Same here.”
I smiled at him softly before his eyes fell to stone again.
“What else did you find?” he asked.
The bite in his voice wasn’t there, though. “Uh, sometimes anemia in kids can cause tiredness like that. And she hasn’t been eating too much while she’s been here. Could be that.”
“She hasn’t been eating? What have you been cooking?”
“I’ve tried all sorts of things, really. I think the lack of eating comes from missing you, though.”
He paused. “Me.”
I sighed, closing my eyes. “I know you’re Ariel’s father. At least, I have an assumption that you are. Either way, I don’t care.”
“You don’t care.”
I opened my eyes. “No. I don’t care. The only thing I care about right now is making sure Ariel’s safe.”
He chuckled bitterly, and I couldn't blame him. Especially after how she’d come into my care in the first place.
“It sounds idiotic, but it’s true. Anemia might be the underlying cause since she hasn’t been eating much.
And I think her lack of eating stems from stress, a bit of anxiety, and a whole lot of missing her family.
Whether you fit into that familial equation or not, I don’t know.
And I really don’t care. The only thing I care about, in this moment, is that you don’t start putting bullet holes in my wall and wake her up. ”
“Oh, my gosh!”
Ariel’s squeal caught my ears and I whipped my head over to the stairs.
I watched her stumble down them and I rushed to catch her before she fell onto the floor.
But she pulled away from my arms. Pressed her hand against my face to physically get away from me.
She launched into a dead sprint, racing for Ryker as he stood in the hallway.
And as she leapt into his arms, I had to turn away.
Because it only made me jealous of the love I never had as a little girl myself.