Rachel
I woke up entangled with him.
My body responded first, jolting in surprise, then the scent of us was an intense reminder. It was getting easier; every day, another step forward, another step away from the chokehold of the past.
I sighed into a smile then rubbed my nose against his arm.
“Morning.”
His voice was deliciously low, a soothing grumble that further pleased my drowsy senses.
“Good morning,” I whispered back, pressing my lips to his pec as I leaned up slightly to stare at him. With my thumb, I traced the curve of his cheek, just below his eye which was red. I didn’t mention it. Just asked, “Bear?”
“A lot of things.”
I nodded then planted both hands on his chest and propped my chin on them. “Anything I can help with?”
“As if you don’t have enough to handle,” he scoffed.
“Hey, work is work. You’re not work. You’re mine. You fix my stuff; I fix yours. That’s how this is going to be, isn’t it? If not, I’ll write a memo so that you don’t forget in the future because this is definitely how it’s going to be.”
His mouth quirked up at the side. One arm slid behind his neck so he could tilt his head without straining, and the other stroked over my head, tucking a couple strands of hair behind my ear.
“That guy Harlow and Nyx are planning to kill…”
“The congressman?”
“Him. He’s a Sparrow.”
A soft breath whistled through my lips as the ramifications of that hit home. “Jesus.”
“I mean, it wasn’t outside the realm of possibility. Maybe just wishful thinking. They sold anything that moved. Hell, for all we know, they trafficked men too. Everything’s a commodity to them.”
“Kids…” I gritted my teeth. “Lodestar found out?”
He nodded. “It was in the stuff in Dad’s room.”
“How the hell did Bear uncover so much stuff and we weren’t even aware he was on a personal crusade?”
“No idea. He managed to hide a lot over the years.” He grunted, but there was no bitterness in it.
Just a slowly building acceptance that Bear wasn’t exactly the man he’d believed him to be.
“But speaking of Dad—Maverick said Grizzly’s filed as dead and that Dad had paid all the dues to the undertaker. ”
I refused to feel relieved. “So he’s really dead?”
“Grizzly is,” he confirmed, but that slight hesitation in his voice let me know that it was a good thing I hadn’t gotten my hopes up.
“If he’s living under another name, like you said, he’d have shown up by now and he hasn’t.” That was the only comfort I could find and I was going to embrace it wholeheartedly.
“Then there’s Wynter. She’s quiet.”
“She is,” I agreed softly. “Do you think she’s okay?”
“I think she’s too proud to admit that she made a mistake in staying.”
I bit my lip. “I have no right to say this, no right to want this—”
“You’re her mother. You have every right in the world.”
“I gave her up.”
“In devastating circumstances. We’d have been together if it weren’t for Dog and Grizzly, and as for the other, it’d never have happened. Period.”
Something about his grimness had me asking, “You wouldn’t have come to college with me. It could still have happened.”
“I wouldn’t have let you go alone. It’d never have happened.”
I paused, his resolute tone hitting me harder than he could know. “You’d have come with me?”
“Of course. Four years ain’t a lifetime, and Brown wasn’t all that far. We could have come back for weekends,” he dismissed, unaware that at that moment, if I’d had any doubts, they were annihilated. Dragged away with the obviousness of his devotion.
This man just kept on showing me how much I meant to him.
How much we meant to him.
Fuck, I was gonna cry.
I was so sick of crying.
This baby was turning me into a fountain.
It was tough to keep the emotion out of my voice with the power of what he’d just said ramming into me as hard as his body had done last night, but I eventually rasped, “I don’t need you to make me feel better, Rex.
I’m just saying that I know I gave up the right to want her with us, but it doesn’t stop me from wanting that all the same. ”
He blinked at me. Slowly. “Let’s go get her.”
“Huh?”
Abruptly, he sat up and I plunked on the sheets, twisting to gape at him.
“She needs us.”
She did.
I could feel it.
I didn’t think I had much of a motherly instinct, but what I did have was blaring sirens in my head.
Wynter was withdrawing.
Distance might be at play, but I didn’t think so. Still, she had school and it wasn’t as easy as just going to grab her—
“You’re overthinking this,” Rex rasped, his tone urgent.
“I’m not,” I countered.
“You are. You’re probably thinking there’s barely any time left to the school year and that she needs to focus on her finals, or that she’s pulling away because there’s a country between us, but Wynter isn’t like that. She was relieved we didn’t just dump her. She wants to know us.”
I bit down harder on my lip as his urgency united with mine.
I was a cool, logical thinker. Reason was my friend, even before Rory, Hunter, and Parker were, but—
“Okay. Let’s go.”
Something flashed in his eyes, something I couldn’t define, but I rushed to my feet, grabbed the tee he’d hauled off last night, and darted into the hall.
Without any ceremony, I shouted, “Parker?!”
In the silent house, my shout might as well have been a yodel in the Alps. I felt like Julie frickin’ Andrews, only this hill wasn’t alive with anything other than dark and dirty bikers.
“You hollered?” Parker grumbled, staring up at me from the bottom of the stairs. “You know I’m not in Pennsylvania anymore? You don’t have to yell—”
“Rex and I need a flight to LA. ASAP.”
Her eyes widened, and I was grateful I’d filled her in on everything that was going on when, her tone urgent, she demanded, “Is something wrong with Wynter?”
Technically, no.
“Yes.”
Her expression turned fierce. “I’m on it.”
“Thank you,” I whispered, relief settling inside me.
This felt right.
So right.
I blew out a breath as I rushed into one of the separate bathrooms, hearing the shower come on in ours.
Washing up as quickly as I could, I tucked myself into a towel and darted out into the hall.
Parker was already leaning against the wall, waiting for me. She pounced the second I was out of there.
“You have two hours to make your flight because First Class boarding allows for twenty minutes before takeoff and I upgraded your precheck accounts with the TSA so you can rush through security—”
I listened to her drone on with the details and, relieved, I nodded. “Thanks, Parker.”
“When do I book the return flight?”
“I’ll let you know.” I cast her a look. “Are you going to be okay here?”
She rolled her eyes. “Of course.”
“If you need any food, just deliver in, or get Rain or Harlow to pick something up—”
“You don’t need to organize that for me. That’s kind of my job,” she teased.
I shot her a sheepish glance.
For all that I was pissed she was arranging a baby shower with the Posse behind my back, I didn’t want to leave her in a lurch.
Something was going on with her, something she didn’t want to share yet, but I’d done all I could—had opened my doors, invited her to stay with us for as long as she needed. She’d talk to me about this when she was ready.
“Anyway, go! You need to be on your way outta here. Traffic’s insane at this time.”
She wasn’t wrong. “Shit!”
I rushed into the bedroom and found that Rex was already dressed—without his cut, probably for ease with airport security—but he was on the phone, clearly leaving orders for Nyx. I ignored him and got myself dressed.
Ten minutes later, he was done, so was I, Parker had breakfast smoothies ready to go, and we were racing out of the driveway and onto the open road.
Rex downed his liquid breakfast, but my stomach churned with nerves.
Steering with one hand, he pressed the other to my lap and murmured, “Drink the smoothie, Rachel. You need to eat.”
“It’s stupid to be nervous,” I said on a rush. "We’ve got the flight to be anxious too—”
“You don’t have to be anxious. If Wynter were in danger, she’d contact us. But she isn’t. Something’s going on, something I want to fix, but physically, she’s safe. I’ve been checking in with her guards three times a day. She’s safe, baby,” he repeated.
Physically wasn’t the only way you could damage someone, though.
I didn’t say that, just forced myself to drink the smoothie I didn’t want.
We made it to JFK with hardly any time to spare. Even with First Class priority boarding, we cut it close, and I was sweating like crazy when we settled in our seats.
I forced myself to eat, but I didn’t bother with the entertainment options, just scrolled through some work documents Parker had sent to my email during the ride to the airport.
Rex was quiet in the seat beside me, and when he fell asleep, I was grateful—I didn’t think he’d gotten much rest last night and he needed it.
When we landed, we hired a car and Rex drove us to Burbank.
Settling in the rental, that was when the reality hit me.
I was about to meet my daughter for the first time in seventeen years.
My fear for her overwhelmed any panic I might have felt, however, but I wished I were only anxious about her liking me.
Traffic wasn’t on our side again, but eventually, we made it to her academy.
Only when we were parked outside did Rex send Wynter a text.
From the corner of my eye, I saw it.
Rex: Guess who’s outside?
It took a few minutes for her to reply, and in those moments, I started gnawing on my thumbnail.
Wynter: What?! You’re outside?
Rex grabbed my hand and tucked it in his to stop me from biting my nails as, with his free one, he typed:
Rex: Surprise!
Wynter: OMG. School’s out in fifteen.
Rex: We’re not going anywhere.
Wynter: WE? Rachel’s there too?
Rex: She is.
Wynter: And you didn’t think to tell me you were coming yesterday? I’m not even wearing anything nice!!!!
Shocked at her answer, at her eagerness to meet me, I sucked in a sharp breath.
Keen understanding fused into his expression but he simply squeezed my fingers.