Chapter 23
Chapter Twenty-Three
Kylie
Groaning at the sunlight stabbing her eyes, Kylie rolled and buried her face in the too-soft pillow beneath her.
Why was it so soft? Her pillow was nice and firm, but this one was… squishy.
Annoyed by the weirdness of her pillow, she forced herself to sit up and look around the equally unfamiliar room.
Right. Bozeman, bar, hotel room.
And their very angry Mommy.
As if just thinking about her had been enough to conjure her, the bathroom door swung open and Addison stepped into the main room, her red hair dripping and a white towel wrapped around her, barely containing her heavy breasts. “Good morning.”
The ice in her Mommy’s voice had tears stinging Kylie’s eyes. “Hi, Mommy.”
“How’s your head? Do you need something for the pain?”
Her head was pounding, but it was her heart that hurt the most. “Are you very mad?”
“Oh, little girl, I’m absolutely furious.
But I am still going to take care of what’s mine.
” Crossing the room to the opposite side of the bed, Mommy picked up a bottle of pills and removed the lid to shake two into her palm.
She passed them to Kylie, along with a bottle of water she removed from the fridge.
“Take the pills, drink your water, and then go take a shower.”
“Can we talk about last night?”
“Yes. After your shower.”
“But—”
A single heated look from the furious woman across from her cut off Kylie’s protests.
“Kylie Anne. I am not in the mood to argue with you right now. So I suggest you do as you are told, right now, before I decide that you need to spend the next week confined to Mommy’s apartment without any video games or books. ”
Shock had Kylie jumping to her feet and hurrying for the bathroom door. But she paused, gathering her courage to turn back and look her Mommy in the eye.
“I’m really sorry we broke the rules. But I promise when you’re ready to listen we had a really good reason.”
“I am very sure you believe that.”
More tears blurred Kylie’s vision. “Can I—”
“One week of restriction, Kylie Anne. Would you like to make it two?”
But I just want a hug. Apparently her Mommy wasn’t ready for that, though, so shook her head and closed the bathroom door behind her.
Somehow, she managed to keep the tears at bay until she was in the shower.
Addison
“What the hell, Addison?”
The words, and the fury behind them, had her jerking around to stare at her boy.
Danny was sitting up in bed, his hair mussed, but looking no less formidable for it.
Because she needed, desperately, to be wearing something other than the flimsy excuse for a towel currently wrapped around her she grabbed her suitcase and tossed it on the bed and unzipped it.
“Watch how you speak to me, little boy.”
“No.” Anger flared in his eyes. “We’re not doing that right now. I’m not Little and you’re sure as hell not acting like a Mommy.”
His words were a dagger straight to the heart. Because he was right, and she’d already been feeling guilty about the hurt she’d been able to feel radiating off her babygirl before he’d even spoken.
Still, there were rules and a structure to their relationship that needed to remain intact even when they were angry with each other.
Moving quickly, she yanked on her underwear and bra before reaching for her jeans.
“You may not be Little, but you are still my boy. If you have something to say to me, you can say it respectfully.”
Color slashed across his cheekbones but he didn’t back down. “I’m not sure I can say what I want to say respectfully.”
Fully dressed now and feeling more settled for it, she raked a hand through her damp hair and pinned him with a cool stare. “Then maybe we should wait until we’re both a little less angry to have this conversation.”
“Whatever.”
Temper and guilt warred inside her, twisting her stomach into knots. “All right, you can have a week of restriction right alongside your sister.”
“Fuck that. You’re not even giving us a chance to explain. Kylie needed you last night. That was why we came all the way out here. But you’re too caught up in your fucking power trip to let her explain why she needed her Mommy.”
Her gaze darted to the bathroom door, behind which the shower was still running, before looking back at her furious boy. “What happened?”
“Oh now you want to listen?” he asked with a sneer. “After you broke Kylie’s heart? That Little girl adores you, and you just completely shattered her.”
You broke me, Addison. You broke me and I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to put myself back together.
More daggers. Shredding her heart to pieces with every word. “You’re right.” Even to her own ears, her words sounded hollow. Empty. “This was all a huge mistake. Tell Kylie I’m sorry. You both deserve better.”
“What?” Alarm rang in his tone. “Addison, wait!”
But she couldn’t wait. Couldn’t stand to see the damage she’d done, yet again, to the people she loved the most. Turning, she ran for the door.
Danny
What the fuck just happened?
Standing at the closed hotel room door, he replayed the scene over and over in his mind, trying to make sense of it.
But it didn’t make sense. They’d been arguing, sure, but then she’d gone white as the sheets on their bed and bolted for the door without even bothering to get all of her things.
She’d stopped just long enough to grab her shoes and purse but nothing else.
And he’d been too stunned by the sudden change to stop her.
Seriously. What the fuck?
Behind the bathroom door, the shower cut off, leaving the room almost eerily silent in its wake.
What was he supposed to tell Ky? That their Mommy had freaked out and left and he didn’t have a clue what she’d meant when she’d said they deserved better?
It had sounded a bit too much like a breakup line for his comfort, but he didn’t want to upset Kylie if, somehow, he was wrong and they hadn’t actually just been dumped.
The bathroom door opened while he was still reeling from Addison’s sudden departure, and his heart twisted in his chest at the confusion on Kylie’s face. “Where’s Mommy?”
“She…” The words stuck in his throat. “One of the other girls had an emergency so she had to go take care of it. She, um, asked us to bring her stuff back to Rawhide for her.”
Worry filled her bright eyes, and he immediately felt like an asshole for the lie. He’d been trying to reassure her and he’d just traded one worry for another.
“Who? What kind of emergency?”
Fuck. “Mommy didn’t say, she was in a rush. But I’m sure it’s okay.”
“We should call her, see if there’s anything we can do to help.”
Double fuck. “I think after last night, the best thing we can do to help is follow Mommy’s instructions.”
Every time he said “Mommy” it was like someone was stabbing him in the chest. Was she still their Mommy? Or had he ruined everything?
Looking dubious, Kylie glanced over at the hotel room door, perfect white teeth worrying at her bottom lip. “What if something’s wrong?”
He was starting to think he couldn’t have made this worse if he’d tried. “Mommy will let us know if she needs anything. For now, I’m going to grab a shower and then we’re going to go out to breakfast. Maybe do some sightseeing or… something.”
Amusement replaced the worry in Kylie’s eyes. “Or something?”
“I dunno.” He jerked a shoulder. “Seems silly to have come all this way for nothing.”
Wrong thing to say. Again. Tears shimmered on Kylie’s lashes and her bottom lip trembled. “It wasn’t for nothing. It was for Mommy but we ruined it. I knew we shouldn’t have gone to that stupid bar.”
At a loss, he reached for her, pulling her into his arms and squeezing tight. “We didn’t ruin anything, Ky. Once we get back to Rawhide, everything will be fine.”
It had to be.
Right?
Danny
He managed to wear Kylie out with a trip to a museum where she went as Little as he’d ever seen her in public over various dinosaurs, followed by what felt like a million different stores where he’d spent way more than he could afford on presents for her.
Every time she asked about their Mommy, he distracted her with something soft and fuzzy or shiny or bookish.
The bookstore had certainly been the largest hit to his wallet, and he spent most of the drive back to Rawhide thinking about different jobs he might be able to do around the Ranch to replenish his bank account while Kylie dozed in the passenger seat.
Miraculously, she stayed asleep, even when he scooped her up to carry her up to his dorm.
The thought of leaving her in her own dorm, where she would wake alone at some point was too heartbreaking to consider, so he tucked her into his bed with a note on the bedside table to call him if she woke before he got back.
He headed back down to his car and grabbed the suitcase they’d shared for the short trip, plus the bag they’d bought to pack up all Addison’s things she’d left behind. After dropping off his suitcase, he made his way over to the teachers’ apartments, his heart hammering in his chest the whole way.
Silence greeted his knock at Addison’s door, dragging on so long he thought she must not be home. He was just about to leave the bag there and text her when the door eased open, and his heart went from racing to a dead stop.
God, she was beautiful. Even without a hint of makeup, her eyes rimmed with red and somewhat swollen, she was still absolutely stunning.
“What do you want, Mr. Hollis?”
And just like that, any hope he’d had that he’d misinterpreted the situation vanished. “Can we talk?”
“There’s nothing left to say.” Her voice was dull, lifeless, nothing like the strict-but-tender tone he’d gotten so used to from her.
“You were right. I wasn’t acting like a Mommy this morning because I’m not one.
I tried to warn you and Kylie, I tried to tell you that I’d just end up hurting you, but you wouldn’t listen.
My fault, I suppose, for believing I could be something I’m so clearly not meant to be. ”
“That’s not what I meant. I just meant…” God, how had he fucked this up so colossally? “Please let me in. Let me fix this.”
“There’s nothing for you to fix, Daniel. Go home to Kylie. I’m sure you two will be able to find a real Mommy, someone who can be everything you deserve.”
“Mommy, please, I—”
“Goodbye, Mr. Hollis.”
Before he could say another word, the door shut in his face. He stood there for what felt like hours, staring at the plain wood before finally forcing himself to turn away, to walk back to his dorm.
He made it all the way back to his room before he realized he was still holding the bag of all her things.