Chapter Twenty-One
Jay Bird had faced armed men in some of the ugliest places on earth without breaking a sweat, but apparently nothing tested a man’s patience quite like trying to convince a two-year-old that she could not climb into an aquarium tank and pet a stingray.
“Fishy, Jay!”
“I see it, Peanut.”
“Touch.”
“Nope.”
Lily twisted in his arms and pointed insistently toward the massive tank in front of them. “Touch fishy.”
Jay Bird glanced at Willow, who was standing beside him with her lips pressed together in an obvious attempt not to laugh.
“Little help here?”
She shook her head. “This is your fault.”
“How is this my fault?”
“Because you never tell her no.”
“I literally just told her no.”
“Yes, but now she’s confused because you’ve set a precedent.”
He narrowed his eyes at her and just chuckled.
Jay Bird shifted Lily higher against his chest and followed Willow toward the next exhibit, trying like hell to focus on the two girls beside him instead of the uneasiness that had followed him since they had arrived at the Virginia Aquarium that morning.
The outing had been Willow’s idea. Lily had seen a commercial featuring sea turtles earlier in the week and had spent the next several days pointing at the television and announcing that she wanted to see the “big turtles.” Since Willow had Saturday off and Jay Bird wasn’t scheduled for anything, they had decided to make a day of it.
He had been looking forward to it.
Then Derek had called last night. According to Tink, someone had recently started digging into both Mia’s and Riley’s backgrounds.
On the surface, none of the searches were particularly alarming, but Tink didn’t believe in coincidences, and neither did Jay Bird.
Too many connections linked those two women to Willow.
Mia had been Willow’s closest friend before she had disappeared, and Riley owed Willow her life. If someone was looking for Willow and didn’t know where she had gone, Mia and Riley were exactly where Jay Bird would start.
Unfortunately, he had a pretty good idea who might be looking.
Derek hadn’t wanted anyone panicking yet, especially since Tink couldn’t prove Chen or anyone connected to him was behind the searches.
Still, security around everyone had quietly tightened, and Jay Bird had spent half the night debating whether taking Willow and Lily somewhere as public as the aquarium was a good idea.
In the end, he had decided Chen had already stolen enough from them.
Willow had spent three years imprisoned by that bastard, and Lily had spent the first two years of her life trapped inside the same world.
Jay Bird refused to imprison them again because Chen might be looking.
If Derek or Tink came up with something concrete, that would change, but until then, he intended to stay alert while letting Willow and Lily experience some semblance of a normal life.
He was also armed, which helped.
“Jay!” Lily’s little hand smacked his cheek.
He looked at her. “What?”
“Fishy!”
He followed her finger toward the large shark moving lazily through the water overhead.
“That’s a big one.”
“Big fishy.”
“Very big fishy.”
Willow laughed beside him. “I love how everything is a fishy.”
“Simple classification system.”
They moved farther into the exhibit, and when Lily began squirming again, Jay Bird finally set her down. She immediately grabbed two of his fingers with one hand and Willow’s with the other, walking between them as she tried to look everywhere at once.
Jay Bird glanced down at the three of them, and something tightened pleasantly inside his chest.
He had gotten used to moments like this far faster than he probably should have.
Willow slept beside him every night. Lily occasionally invaded their bed.
He couldn’t remember the last time he had been happier.
That should have scared the shit out of him, especially considering how hard he had worked for years to make sure he never put himself in a position where he could lose everything again.
Instead, every change Willow and Lily had brought into his life felt strangely right, as if his house had been waiting for them even when he hadn’t known he was waiting too.
They reached another large tank, and Lily released their hands before pressing both palms against the glass.
“Turtle!”
Her squeal was loud enough to make several people nearby laugh.
Willow crouched beside her. “You found your turtle.”
Lily bounced excitedly.
Jay Bird smiled as he watched them, but movement reflected in the glass caught his attention, and his gaze immediately sharpened.
He turned slightly, taking in the families filling the exhibit behind them. A couple stood beside a stroller, several teenagers took pictures near another tank, and an older man walked past carrying a souvenir bag while a woman tried to corral three young children.
Nothing unusual.
Jay Bird looked back toward the glass.
That was the second time he’d had the feeling since they had arrived, and although he couldn’t explain it, he didn’t like it. There was no identifiable threat. He hadn’t noticed the same person repeatedly, and nobody seemed particularly interested in them.
Still, the hairs along the back of his neck weren’t settling.
Years of training had taught him not to ignore instincts simply because he couldn’t immediately explain them.
“Jay?”
His gaze shifted to Willow. “Yeah?”
She walked closer while Lily remained fascinated by the turtle.
“What's wrong?”
“Nothing.”
Her eyebrow rose. “You’re a terrible liar.”
Jay Bird almost laughed. “I’m actually an excellent liar.”
“Not with me.”
Well, hell. Apparently, he had become that transparent.
He looked toward Lily before lowering his voice. “Derek called last night.”
Willow’s smile disappeared. “Why?”
“Tink noticed some activity involving Mia and Riley. Somebody’s been looking into their backgrounds.”
He watched the color shift slightly in Willow’s face.
“Chen?”
“We don’t know.”
“But you think it could be.”
Jay Bird wasn’t going to lie to her. “Yeah. I think it’s possible.”
Her gaze immediately moved around the crowded aquarium, and Jay Bird hated himself for putting that fear back into her eyes.
He stepped closer. “Look at me.”
She did.
“If I thought you or Peanut were in immediate danger, we wouldn’t be standing here.”
“But something’s bothering you.”
Damn woman knew him too well already. “I’m being cautious.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“It’s the answer I’ve got right now.” He gently touched her hand. “Nobody has found anything directly connected to you. Tink is watching it, Derek knows, and everyone has been alerted. Until we know more, we stay smart.”
Willow took a slow breath. “Okay.”
“You trust me?”
The answer came without hesitation. “Yes.”
That one word hit him harder than she probably realized.
Jay Bird curled his fingers around hers. “Then let’s go see what other animals our daughter plans to acquire illegally.”
Willow laughed. “First the puppy, now aquarium animals.”
“She’s ambitious.”
“She gets that from you.”
“I’m pretty sure that’s you.”
Lily suddenly yelled for them, ending the discussion, and Jay Bird gladly let the subject drop.
Several hours later, Lily had officially run out of steam.
She had made it through sharks, stingrays, sea turtles, and enough fish to occupy her vocabulary for the next six months before finally deciding Jay Bird was easier transportation than her own legs.
She was draped against his chest as they walked toward the parking lot, one arm around his neck while Ellie was wedged between them.
“She’s asleep,” Willow said.
Lily lifted her head. “No.”
Willow laughed. “Oh, excuse me.”
“Not tired.”
“Of course not.”
Lily’s head dropped back onto Jay Bird’s shoulder, and he grinned.
Willow reached over and fixed the little sunhat that had slipped sideways on Lily’s head while Jay Bird automatically scanned the parking lot.
There were plenty of vehicles and people coming and going, but nothing immediately stood out, even though that same uneasy feeling he had experienced inside the aquarium returned.
He slowed slightly.
Willow noticed, but this time she didn’t ask what was wrong. Instead, she just slipped her hand into his.
Jay Bird looked down at their joined hands before glancing at her, and when Willow smiled at him, damn if her touch didn’t settle some of the unease.
Not his instincts, though. Those remained alert, and they would until Tink figured out who the hell had been digging into Mia and Riley.
This was something else entirely. It was something Jay Bird had been circling around for weeks without allowing himself to name because naming it made it real, and making it real meant admitting just how much he had to lose.
He loved Willow. The realization wasn’t dramatic, nor did it come as some shocking revelation that knocked him on his ass.
If anything, the truth felt almost embarrassingly obvious now that he finally allowed himself to acknowledge it.
Somewhere between Willow planting flowers in his barren yard, cooking dinner in his kitchen, teasing him about his complete lack of decorating skills, and curling against him every night when they went to sleep, she had quietly worked her way past every wall he had spent twelve years building.
And it wasn’t only Willow. Jay Bird looked down at the sleepy little girl tucked securely against his chest, her cheek resting against his shoulder while one tiny hand remained curled into the fabric of his shirt.
He loved Lily too. That realization might have terrified the man he had been a few months ago, but standing there with Willow’s hand tucked inside his and Lily sleeping in his arms, Jay Bird couldn’t bring himself to be afraid of it.
The two of them had walked into a house he had always considered nothing more than a place to sleep and somehow turned it into a home. He wouldn’t change a damn thing.