CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE #3
“That was some pretty sick tackling you did there,” Clint said to Raina. “Brought me back to the days watching Jagger play football. Though, I don’t think he ever tackled anybody like that.”
“I wasn’t a linebacker,” Jagger said in his defense. “I didn’t need to tackle.”
My head pounded—less than before though—so I was having trouble following the conversations. “Wait, what happened?”
“Raina tackled Kyla,” Clint said. “Caught up to her almost at the beach, launched herself onto the woman, and fell on top of her. I’m pretty sure you flew a good ten feet in the air.”
Raina shrugged. “Nobody locks my cousin in a sauna and gets away with it.” She winked at me, but her yellow-green eyes were welling up with tears. “We were so scared, Nay. If something had happened to you …”
“But it didn’t,” Gabrielle said in her matter-of-fact lawyer voice. “She is okay. All thanks to the incredible teamwork of our two families.” She glanced at the McEvoys. “Thank you all for your help.”
“Yes, thank you,” I whispered.
“We’ll leave you be now,” Clint said. “Take care of yourself, Naomi.” He rested a hand on my shoulder, gave it a squeeze, then he and the rest of his enormous family headed back through the trail among the trees like wildlings to their property.
Then it was just my family left.
“Can you stand and walk?” Maverick asked me. “We should probably get you home.”
Lennox and Austin helped me to my feet. Neither of them let go of me as we slowly made our way to Lennox’s truck. I probably could have walked there on my own, but the comfort was nice. To have my two favorite guys by my side.
We piled into Lennox’s truck—Honor, Austin, Mabel, Lennox, and me.
“You’ll be okay?” Damon asked Mabel as she slid into the backseat next to Honor.
“Dad, where are we going?”
“We’re taking Naomi home.”
“I’ll see you at your house,” she said, a slight quaver in her voice.
“Damon, you can ride with us if you’d like,” Lennox said. “There’s room if Honor wants to jump in the front.”
“We could ride in the back of the truck,” Damon offered. “We do it all the time.”
Mabel shook her head. “That’s illegal.”
I shivered, wrapped up in the blanket, staring blankly ahead as Honor climbed over the seat into the front beside me and Damon squeezed in beside Mabel. He was becoming her emotional support … person.
Nobody said anything as we drove home.
What was there to say?
Everyone was traumatized.
My kids almost lost their mom. I nearly lost my life, and Lennox felt responsible for all of it. I was sure Mabel was also terrified because her biggest fear—her mother finding them—came true.
We arrived at the vineyard, and Lennox drove us straight to my house with the front door wide open, Austin’s bag of dry clothes and my can of sparkling water—which had opened on impact and sprayed all over my foyer—blocking the entrance.
I froze on the walkway.
Everyone stopped.
“Mom?” Honor whispered, sliding her hand into mine.
“I … I …” I still had the blanket around me, but the shakes were coming in full force now. I could barely stand. Lennox scooped me up into his arms.
“Bring her here,” Gabrielle called.
He spun around and walked briskly, the kids all behind us, with me in his arms, toward Gabrielle’s house.
Danica and Raina rushed past us toward my house. “We’ll get the place sorted,” Danica said.
I continued to shake and just bent my head against Lennox’s shoulder. He climbed the porch steps up to Gabrielle’s front door, and she ushered him inside. “Into the bathroom. She needs a shower.”
He followed my cousin through her house and plunked me on the bathroom counter.
“Who do you want to help you?” Gabrielle asked.
My teeth chattered so I could barely answer. I tilted my head toward her and saw my children and Mabel standing behind her, their eyes wide with fright.
“L-Lennox,” I said.
All she did was nod. “I’ll get you some clothes.” Then she closed the door, leaving me and the man who had saved me in the bathroom.
He turned on the shower, letting the steam fill the room.
Although the bathroom was small and there was steam, I knew deep down this was different than the sauna. I was safe here. Lennox was here. The heat wasn’t dry and burning, and the door wasn’t locked.
He removed the blanket from my shoulders, and a shiver racked my body from my sacrum to the nape of my neck. “We’ll be quick. Then get you under the water.”
I nodded, and like a toddler, allowed him to peel my clothes off. Then he scooped me up and gently set me on the floor of the tub with the not-too-hot water raining down on me.
He sank to his knees on the bathmat, bringing the shower nozzle with him. “You came for me,” I said, staring straight ahead at my red-faced reflection in the chrome faucet.
I caught his expression. Haunted and guilt-ridden as he let the water sluice over my skin. “I love you, Naomi. Of course I came.”
I searched his face—the guilt, the fear, the way he was still holding on like I might disappear.
And for the first time, I didn’t see the boy she tried to keep.
I saw the man who came back for me.
And didn’t let go.