11. Wylder
11
WYLDER
“You could’ve stayed at camp,” I say to Maddy as we pull up in front of the house right behind Tate’s car. “I can drive you back tomorrow.”
She shakes her head, pulling at her bottom lip. “I had enough wilderness for this summer, and you need someone to watch Hazel while you work since we’re back.”
I hate that she’s right. If Hazel’s home, I do need Maddy around at least for a few more years. Although Hazel’s sometimes more mature than her sister, I still wouldn’t feel right with leaving her for any amount of time.
“I’m sorry.” I try to pull up a smile at her in the rearview mirror.
“Don’t be. I’m only sorry Hazel broke her arm. The bugs and spiders were ridiculous there.”
Thankfully, it wasn’t her collarbone. It was a clean break of her arm and didn’t require surgery. She is still going to have a miserable hot summer with the bulky cast the hospital put on her.
“So, no camp next year?” I ask Maddy, staring down at Hazel, who’s already fiddling with her cast.
“No. We’ll go back. Maybe it won’t be as bad next year.”
“She said the boys were hot,” Hazel adds to the conversation, making me not like camp for her next year anymore.
“Zip it, Hazel,” Maddy says as she pushes open the truck door.
“Be nice to your sister,” I tell her, which earns me an eye roll.
Ah. My girls are back.
“Sheesh,” Hazel says as she reaches for the door with her good arm, “you’d think she’s the one who broke her arm. Crabby.”
I smile at my girl, loving her to bits and hating that she broke her arm when I wasn’t around to make her feel safe. “It happens.”
Hazel stops before she climbs out and whispers, “PMS.”
I chuckle to myself as I get out of the truck, rounding the front before Hazel has a chance to hop down. I help her out of the truck, earning myself a light kiss to the cheek. “Thanks, Daddy.”
“Welcome, baby.”
She holds my hand as we walk up to the front door, seeing Tate moving around the living room at a frantic pace. As soon as Maddy opens the door, Tate plops down on the couch, pretending she was relaxing.
“Hey, you,” Tate says, breathing heavily. “I’ve missed you two.”
Maddy runs to Tate, throwing herself against her on the couch. “It was soooo awful,” she whines.
Tate wraps her arms around Maddy and laughs. “I’m sure it wasn’t that bad.”
Maddy pulls away and stares at Tate. “Worse than you could ever imagine.”
“Hey,” Hazel says, drawing Tate’s attention away from Maddy. “I’m the one who’s hurt here.”
Tate chuckles as Maddy groans and climbs to the other side of the couch, making a spot for Hazel. Not a moment later, Hazel crashes into Tate, nearly knocking her in the jaw with her giant cast.
“Oh my goodness,” Tate says, giving Hazel a bear hug. “Are you okay, baby?”
“It hurt,” Hazel tells her, eating up the attention.
The girl was a trooper, though. I’ve broken shit and it hurts like a motherfucker, but this kid acted like it wasn’t nearly as painful as I knew it had to be.
“What on earth happened?” Tate asks her as she settles Hazel in her lap.
I collapse into the chair next to the couch, watching my three girls. This is how life should be. They need a tender touch sometimes, and no matter how hard I try, I can’t always be that for them. There’s nothing like the tenderness of a female, and Tate gives it to them, no matter that she didn’t birth the girls herself.
“I was running through the woods, and I don’t know…” Hazel shrugs. “The next thing I knew, I was on the ground, skidding across the grass, and in so much pain.”
Tate cups Hazel’s face and kisses her cheek gently. “Poor baby.”
“I know,” Hazel says with a pout. “I think I need ice cream to make me feel better or one of your Shirley Temples.”
“We have ice cream in the freezer,” I tell her.
Tate glances over at Maddy. “I need to talk to your dad for a minute. Can you get her the ice cream?”
This isn’t good. No good conversation starts with needing to speak away from the kids. Something happened, and I have a feeling I’m not going to be happy about it.
“We can grab their stuff out of the truck.”
“Fine,” Maddy says, like we’re somehow putting her out. “Do you two want any?”
“No,” I reply as Tate shakes her head in response.
“We won’t be long,” Tate tells her as Hazel climbs off Tate’s lap and makes a beeline for the kitchen.
We stay where we are until the girls are out of the room. “What’s wrong?” I ask.
She ticks her head toward the door. “Out there.”
I push myself up and head toward the door, wanting to know what happened. Tate hadn’t acted any differently since we walked through the door. Whatever it is, she has been good at masking that something is wrong.
As soon as we’re outside, she throws herself into my arms. “Oh my God. It was so horrible,” she cries, curling her fingers into my T-shirt.
I grab her arms and hold her. “What happened?”
“K-katie,” she stammers.
My entire body goes rigid. “Katie what?” I ask, looking around and seeing no one but us outside.
Tate tips her head back, staring up at me with tears swimming in her eyes. “She was here.”
My heart stutters in my chest, and all the air in my lungs vanishes. “She what?”
Tate pulls back a little, keeping her hands balled in my shirt. “I got here, and the door was cracked open and all the lights were on.”
A sudden sense of dread comes over me. “Is she here still?”
“No. Thumper took her.”
“What?” I ask through gritted teeth.
“She went bananas. When I walked in, she told me she was your wife and came after me with a knife.”
The amount of rage coursing through my system is enough to make me almost levitate off the ground. “She what?” I ask again, because I can’t believe what she’s telling me. “Are you hurt?”
Tate pulls up the sleeve of her sweatshirt, showing me a poorly bandaged wound that has blood seeping out. “Just a small nick.”
I grab her arm, inspecting the dressing. “A nick? That’s more than a nick, princess. Where’s Katie now? And how the hell does my brother fit into the night?”
“I don’t know. He just showed up out of nowhere and took the knife from her. She wasn’t happy about that and lunged at Thumper, and he laid her out. I don’t mean he knocked her down—I mean he knocked her clean out. He left with her slung over his shoulder and told me to clean my wound.”
This is a lot to process in a short amount of time. My bitch of an ex-wife was here, she attacked my girl, and could’ve very easily hurt the kids. Thank God they were at camp and not at the house when Katie decided she wanted back into our life.
“Thumper saved me. The night could’ve ended very differently.”
“Huh,” I mutter, surprised as hell.
“I know, right?
“We need to change that and clean it properly,” I tell her, still holding her arm.
“I scrubbed it with soap. It’s good.”
“Then you need a new dressing.”
“It’s fine,” she tells me again.
“No, princess. It’s not. You’re going to start dripping blood soon, and the girls will have questions. I’m going to dress it for you when we go inside.”
“Okay,” she breathes, collapsing against my chest again. “I was so scared, Wylder. What if the girls had been here when Katie did that?”
“I don’t even want to imagine it.”
“She’s fucking crazy. Like, totally whacked out of her mind.”
“Did Thumper say where he was taking her?”
“He said no cops and that he was taking her to the compound to see if their doc could put her on a psych hold to get evaluated.”
Katie’s lucky she’s in my brother’s hands and not mine. She deserves to be locked up and not just for a little while.
“He said it would be too traumatic for the girls if the cops got involved.”
“Fuck,” I hiss, hating that he is right.
“I thought he was right, so I cleaned up the house and myself and did my best to pretend nothing happened.”
“Baby, you should get an award for tonight. I wouldn’t have had a clue if you hadn’t told me.”
She finally smiles, but it’s not as big and bright as usual. “I’m just really lucky that your brother decided to stop by when he did, or I don’t know if I’d be breathing right now.”
The door opens, and Hazel pops her little head out. “Tate, Maddy made you a sundae,” she says, all the pain from earlier forgotten.
Tate gives me wide eyes and takes a deep breath like she’s sliding into a different role before she turns toward Hazel. “Sounds delicious,” she says to her. “I’ll be right in.”
Hazel smiles, her eyes moving between Tate and me. “You sure you don’t want one, Daddy?”
“I’m good, baby,” I tell her because I have other shit to do than enjoy ice cream with my girls because my ex-wife had to fuck shit up again.
“Okay, but you’re missing out,” she says before she closes the door, leaving us to finish our conversation.
Tate leans into me again, wrapping her arms around my middle as she does. “I better go inside before they get suspicious.”
I bend my neck, pressing my lips to her hair. “I’m going to call Thumper and grab the bags.”
“Don’t be too long. I’m sure Maddy’s already wondering what’s going on.”
“I’ll make it quick,” I tell her, knowing my elder daughter and her ability to figure out when shit is off.
Tate peers up at me, and I grab her face between my palms, kissing her gently. “I’m sorry,” I whisper against her lips.
“It’s not your fault.”
“Yes, it is,” I tell her because I brought Katie into my world…into her world.
“I’m fine, Wylder. I’ve had worse injuries from riding my bike.”
Her words don’t make the sting deep in my chest hurt any less.
“When you talk to Thumper, tell him thank you.”
“I will, princess,” I tell her as she pulls away and heads toward the front door.
I wait until she’s inside and there’s no chance of the girls walking out on my conversation to call my brother and find out what the hell is going on.
“Yo,” Thumper says. “Guess you talked to Tate?”
“Yep. Where is she?”
“Tied up and passed out. The doc will be here soon, and then she’ll be off to the hospital for a few days.”
This isn’t the best way to handle the situation, but right now, I have no other options. Katie needs help. Although she was always a massive bitch, the woman I knew would’ve never come after someone with a knife and then attacked a man more than twice her size.
“How badly is she hurt?” I ask him as I walk toward the truck to get farther out of earshot.
“I think I broke her nose, but other than that, she’s fine. It’s crooked as fuck, and I’m sure by tomorrow she’ll have two massive black eyes.”
“I can’t believe you knocked her out, Thump.”
“Wylder, she came at me. I’ve never seen anything like it. It was like she lost her ever-loving mind. It was the only thing I could do. It was a knee-jerk reaction. I’d never hit a woman, but she was possessed. I didn’t even mean to do it. My arm just swung, and my fist connected with the target.”
“Thank fuck you were here.”
“I talked to sis and had a heart-to-heart about you and what an asshole I am. She told me if I didn’t talk to you and be nice to Tate, she’d never speak to me again. So, I decided to come over and try to make peace.”
“Ivy’s always so bossy.” Our sister isn’t shy or demure. She grew up with three rough and completely asshole brothers. She is ruthless, but she had to be to survive around us. “She wouldn’t have cut ties with you, though.”
“You think so? I think she would’ve without a second thought. She said she was done with my shit.”
I chuckle, imagining her laying into him. “I think we’re all done with your shit.”
“Why am I such an asshole?”
“That’s a question you have to ask yourself. We’re not your enemy, but you treat us like we are sometimes.”
“Anyway, we’ll get into my fucked-up shit another time. I’m just glad Ivy called and I decided to take a drive. The entire situation would’ve gone to shit if I hadn’t shown up when I did. A few minutes would’ve meant the end of Tate.”
“I wish I could come to the compound, but I can’t leave the kids.”
“I got this shit handled. How’s my Hazelbug?”
“She’s okay right now, but her arm’s going to hurt like a bitch later.”
“Can I drop by tomorrow and see her after I get Katie all sorted?”
“Of course.”
“Thanks. Poor kid.”
“Hey,” I say, grabbing the last bag from the back. “Tate wanted me to tell you thank you.”
“No problem. I’m glad I could help.”
“And I wanted to say thank you too, brother.”
“It’s what I should’ve always been doing. Looking out for you and yours, Wyld. I’m sorry I’ve been a shithead your entire life.”
“I’m sure you were before I was born, too,” I tell him, and he bursts into deep, loud laughter.
“Later,” he tells me.
I don’t get a chance to say goodbye before he disconnects the call.
I stand outside on the street, watching Tate, Maddy, and Hazel in the living room. They’re talking as they shovel ice cream into their mouths, looking so damn happy.
This is what life’s all about, and I almost lost it in the blink of an eye.