Chapter 33
Alice
When I open my eyes again, there’s sunlight.
They feel heavy and gritty after last night. I feel a rush of shame burst through me, but when I go to sit up, a heavy arm keeps me in place.
“Where are you going?” Sutton mumbles, voice low with the grit of sleep.
He didn’t leave.
A different kind of panic takes root in my system, injecting adrenaline into my veins. Oh my god, I cried myself to sleep on his bare chest, and he didn’t leave.
“I can hear you thinking, and before your thoughts get out of hand, I’m only going to tell you once that you have nothing to be embarrassed about.”
I purse my lips. “Says the guy who didn’t have a major breakdown last night.”
Sutton opens his sleepy, blue eyes, letting a lazy smile tug his lips. “And I’m still not going anywhere, though if you keep up with that sass, I might have to try a different tactic next time.”
“Oh, yeah? Like what?”
Sutton curls his abs and gives me a lip touch. His eyes lock on mine. “Like spankin’ it out of you.”
“You wouldn’t.”
His grin is wolfish. “Don’t tempt me, Firecracker. I would love to see your ass red by my hand.”
The place between my thighs pulses.
Before I can retort something that would most definitely get my ass reddened, Sutton’s bedroom door flies open. I squeak and roll off him, overshooting, and fall onto the floor.
“Ouch,” I grunt, instantly annoyed by Sutton’s chuckle.
“Daddy, what is Miss Alice doing in your room?”
I have no choice but to stand. Her expression is assessing, and for a moment she looks so much like her father that I nearly laugh.
“We were reading together,” I say the first thing that pops into my head.
Sutton actually snorts.
I gingerly sit on the edge of the bed as if we’re two teenagers feigning innocence for our parents.
Nellie skips into the room, unfazed by my lie. “Can we go to the park today?”
Sutton taps her button nose. “Can’t, Buttercup. I have to go to work.”
She turns her pleading look on me. “Can you take me?”
I look at Sutton long enough for him to give the okay. His eyes are sparkling when he nods.
“Let’s do it, kiddo. Should we ride our bikes there?”
“Yes! We can race.” With that, she runs off to get ready in her room.
I turn back to Sutton, finding him staring with a quiet intensity. “What?”
“I love how you are with her.”
I shrug. “She’s not hard to take care of.”
“She isn’t. But you’re also kind and patient with her every single step of the way. Means a lot to me.”
I let an easy smile come to my face as I think about my special bond with Nellie, and how I wish I could have had someone like that when I was a little girl. My heart swells with pride as I say, “She means a lot to me too.”
The sun peeks out from behind a passing gray cloud, bathing me in warmth. The sky looks like showers are on the way, but we have enough time to run around before they arrive. The forecast says they won’t appear until midafternoon, and it’s only twelve o’clock.
“Should we race?” I ask Nellie as I help her adjust her pink helmet strap.
“Oh yeah,” she twists her fingers around the handle as if revving up a motorbike.
“I might win,” I taunt, picking up my old banana seat bike and straddling it.
“On that old thing? No way, Miss Alice.”
She’s probably not wrong, but I give it my best shot. I count us down from five and shout “Go!” letting her get a few rotations in before I take off.
She squeals down the sidewalk, and I honk my horn behind her, letting her know I’m close. The sound of her huffing and puffing reaches my ears as she puts in maximum effort. I could probably overtake her, but I’m not going to bully an eight-year-old for my own ego.
My blood sugar has been high today with no sign of coming down, so a bike ride to the park feels like the perfect time to get in some exercise and see if I can get my numbers to budge.
“I’m going to win!” she calls, standing on her pedals, legs pumping to go faster. Visions of her tumbling headlong over the handlebars have my pulse picking up.
“Be careful!” I warn her. Sutton and I may be in a better place, but he’s still an overprotective father, and his daughter getting road rash on her face might actually get me fired.
The back tire of her bike spits out pebbles in my direction.
We follow the sidewalk, dodging cracks and weeds growing between the concrete.
The park slowly comes into view. Just one final hill to conquer and we’re there.
I keep a moderate pace, not wanting to spike my blood sugar, and let Nellie cross the finish line first.
She hops off, throwing her helmet to the ground, and gives her fists a victorious pump.
“I beat you, Miss Alice!”
I skid to a stop beside her half a minute later. “You sure did, kiddo. I think maybe we can stop for an ice cream treat on the way back.”
She turns, surveying the neighborhood and the empty park. “Do you think the ice cream truck will come this way today?”
“Probably not today, but we can bike to the shop.” I let her down gently.
What she doesn’t know is the ice cream truck doesn’t stop for anybody. The way that man has been racing through the neighborhood, playing his clownish tune while being chased by the kids without stopping, has me wondering if the truck is a front for some illegal operation.
That, or he’s really bad at his job.
“Let’s play hide-and-seek. I’ll hide first.” Nellie’s assertive declaration makes me smile. She has a way with getting people wrapped around her finger.
“How high should I count?” I walk to the large Maple tree that Nellie has dubbed the counting tree.
“Fifty, no, one hundred! One hundred and fifty!”
I laugh. “This park isn’t that big, Nellie-Jo. I’ll stick with fifty.”
“Fine. But no peeking!”
“I wouldn’t dare.” I cover my eyes and rest my forehead against the rough bark.
Nellie’s footfalls over the woodchips grow fainter the farther away she goes. That, or she already climbed atop a structure. I hear a car pass by on the road, and the quiet bark of a dog in the distance. By the time I reach fifty, my face is warm from being covered by my arms.
“Ready or not, here I come!”
I go through the regular motions, pretending it’s really hard to find her. We both know this game is more about the tag for us than it is about the hiding.
I check the regular places—the tube slide and the tunnels on top of the climbing feature. When those come up empty, I turn my sights on the tunnels.
Her favorite spot.
I approach from the side, making sure she can’t see me coming, though I can’t say the same for my footsteps in the woodchips. I’m not as silently graceful as she is. I jump into the middle, peering into the left one as I shout, “Boo!”
Nothing.
I immediately whip my head around and stop dead.
“Get away from her,” I snarl, a sound filled with protective fury.
Jake sits in the tunnel beside Nellie with his palm silencing her cries. Tears stream down her cheeks from wide, fearful eyes.
I don’t even have time to take in the purplish-yellow bruises marring half his face before I scramble in. I claw at his arms, scratching deep as I yell, “Get your hands off her!”
Jake smiles with bruised lips.
The barrel of a gun presses into my back. A fist in my hair yanks me backward, and I lose my hold on Nellie as I crash against the earth.
The last thing I hear is her screaming.