Chapter Fourteen #3
“Roxie?” Roux said again. He caught the guy’s arm, really only a pinch of his jacket. He pulled him a few feet closer. “I… I want you to meet my dad.”
His dad? What was it, show-and-tell day?
“Roxie?” the man repeated slowly. “Your name is Roxie?”
From the end of the table, Lexie let out a cry. Roxie jumped and Cam pivoted, but Lexie wasn’t hurt. She was staring at the stranger. Hell, everyone was. She was the only one who’d stood and pressed her hands to her mouth. Her face was chalk white.
Blaire touched her sister’s shoulder. “Lexie, are you okay?”
“Lexie?” Their visitor said her name sharply, awareness honing in. His gaze burned, and he took a step forward when he got a good look at her. Cam quickly stepped between the two.
Roxie’s weight went to the balls of her feet. Fight or flight was kicking in. She didn’t know what was happening, but a weird energy was crackling in the air.
The tough guy tore his gaze from Lexie and scanned the room. Everyone in the place froze, trying not to draw his attention. It was clear he was looking for something.
Something very important.
Roxie braced herself when that gaze landed on her again, but her knees went wobbly when that imposing gaze turned gentle for a second.
Gentle?
She reached for Billy. Her fingers snagged on the cuff on his wrist, and she clung.
Lexie let out another whimper. She took a cautious step towards the big stranger, but Cam held her back.
The icy visitor finally zeroed in on Maxie. She shrank back in her chair, her eyes going big. Roxie’s instinct was to step in front of her sister. To protect her.
“Maxie?”
Roxie’s head snapped back. He’d called her sister by her name.
How did he know her name?
Maxie nodded once, and the gesture seemed to break the intimidating man. He inhaled sharply and the tension raced out of his muscled body so quickly, he bent in half.
Lexie knocked Cam’s arm away and ran across the room. Right to the man. She crashed into him so hard, she nearly knocked him over, but he caught her to him. Pressing her face into his chest, she held him tight, sobbing.
“Oh my God,” the man said hoarsely. He clutched her and pressed his cheek to her hair.
Cam stood dumbfounded as his girlfriend was enveloped in another man’s arms.
Roxie was just as confounded. She stared at Lexie, trying to understand what was happening. Level-headed, careful Lexie had run right to the scary dude.
The man sucked in air so loudly, Roxie worried he was having a heart attack. She actually made a move towards the phone behind the bar when he lifted his head and looked right at her.
“You’re mine,” he said, his strong voice wavering. Keeping Lexie close, he held out his other arm. His voice gained strength. “You’re all mine.”
Maxie’s chair rasped against the floor as she slowly stood. “Dad?”
Dad?
The word was like a dead weight in Roxie’s head. It just fell and sat there.
The handsome, hard man didn’t look so scary when he looked at Roux. “Go get your mother and brother out of the car. Get them in here. Now!”
“Daddy,” Maxie said in a small voice. Tears welled in her eyes as she timidly rounded the table.
She took a few steps in the man’s direction.
When he held out his hand to her, she let out a shuddering breath and walked into his arms. She tucked her face into his neck as he held her in one arm and Lexie in the other.
“Roxie?” the man called. His eyes were soft now, not scary at all. “Come here, baby.”
Roxie shuddered. She wanted to move, but she couldn’t. What the fuck? None of this made sense. She felt like she’d jumped into the middle of a silent movie. She couldn’t make heads or tails of anything.
“Rox, are you okay?” Billy gave her a shake and bent his head close. “Are you in there?”
She was not in shock. She was just… confused. She knew what everybody thought. She wasn’t stupid. She was tracking the course of the dialogue, but she’d been disappointed too many times before.
She was not going to be disappointed again. She’d been down that road too many times, only to have her hopes dashed.
Still, her gaze locked on Roux as he hurried to the bar door. Skeeter held it open for him, until he disappeared out into the night. Her fingernails bit into her palms as she waited… and waited. Just when she was about to run after him, she saw movement.
Skeeter grinned, and Roxie caught Billy’s hand.
A kid walked in, another Roux look-alike, only even younger. Maybe high school age. Roxie shook her head. He definitely shouldn’t be here. This was no Chuck E. Cheese’s. She was about to throw the lot of them out when she heard the murmur of a feminine voice.
“Roux, I don’t understand. What’s going on? Why did we drive all the way here to this place?”
Roux came in the door, and Roxie laser-focused on the woman who was walking behind him. A breathtakingly beautiful woman with long dark hair.
Roxie just knew she’d smell like lavender.
“Mom,” she breathed.
The chains of paralysis popped open, and she was suddenly moving. A chair got in her way, and it banged against the floor as she pushed it aside. “Mom!”
The woman snapped to attention. She spun away from Roux, her gaze searching. When it landed on Roxie, her mouth dropped open in surprise. The pretty woman stepped forward, a cry wrenching from her lips. She reached out a hand, but then her eyes glazed over.
And she dropped in a dead faint.
The teenager had fast reflexes. He caught his mother before she hit the floor, but he staggered a bit under her leaden weight. “Help.”
Zac moved in fast.
“No!” Roxie gasped. Her heels smacked against the floor at a gunfire pace as she covered the last few feet that separated them.
“Alexis!” the man said sharply.
Roxie got there first. Zac and the kid had guided the woman down to a comfortable spot on the floor.
Roxie’s hand trembled as she pushed the stranger’s hair out of her face.
It was dark and wavy, so soft. She tucked the strand behind the pretty woman’s ear.
Her skin was warm, and she was breathing, panting lightly.
Roxie leaned closer and the familiar scent of lavender wafted over her.
“Alexis.” The tough guy moved like lightning to his wife’s side. Dropping down onto his haunches, he reached out to test her pulse.
Roxie looked at him, wide-eyed. Her heart was beating in her ears. She recognized the curve of his cheekbones now. Her breath caught at the auburn highlights in his hair. She’d seen both traits in her sisters.
“Dad?” she whispered.
His gaze flashed up to hers and, for a moment, the concern on his face was replaced by happiness. Warmth spread through Roxie’s chest when he reached out and stroked a finger down her cheek. “There you are, Rocket.”
Her breath caught in her lungs and stuck there like a fist.
“A chair,” Lexie ordered, her voice still shaking. Not waiting for anyone else or trusting anyone else, she pulled a chair away from the table they’d all abandoned. “Put her here. Make her comfortable.”
Maxie stood staring in disbelief. “She faints like I do.”
Zac pulled his girlfriend close and kissed the top of her head.
Billy moved to the bar. When he came to the table, he had a glass of water and a wet rag. Roxie quickly swiped up the cold compress. At some point, she’d taken her mother’s limp hand. She wasn’t about to let it go. She followed along as the man—her dad—settled her mom into the chair.
Roxie shook her head. The concept just wouldn’t sink in. Was this really happening?
She wasn’t going to miss out on a moment of the dream if it wasn’t. She knelt by the chair as close as she could get. She smoothed the cold rag over the woman’s forehead and then the back of her neck. She looked so young. So delicate.
“Alexis. Come on, babe. You don’t want to miss this.”
“Here.” Maxie spread her jacket over the unconscious woman. “Keep her warm.”
“Alexis,” the man kept repeating. Bending his head close, he pressed his mouth to her ear. “Wake up.”
That, finally, got through. The woman’s eyes fluttered. Her eyelids opened, but drooped, only to lift again. When she finally snapped to, there was confusion on her face. Her gaze tracked over the lights, the jukebox, and the bar. Her brow furrowed when she didn’t recognize any of it.
“Allie.”
She followed the voice, and her shoulders relaxed when she saw her husband. “Dex?”
His hard face was gentle as he looked down at her. He kissed the small hand he held so tightly. “It’s all right. You fainted.”
“Oh, damn,” she murmured, making Roxie smile.
She tried to sit up. She pushed back her hair and looked at her hand strangely when she found dampness. That same wet cloth was making a puddle on the floor and wetting Roxie’s knee, but she didn’t care. She didn’t even notice.
“I had the most vivid dream,” Alexis murmured. She licked her lips, but her gaze was sad when she looked at her husband. “I saw Roxie. She was grown up and so pretty.”
“It wasn’t a dream, sweetheart,” Dex said gruffly.
The laxness went out of the woman’s body. Her hands clamped down on the arms of the chair and her feet hit the floor. Feet that were clad in the most awesome pair of brown boots.
She shook her head slowly. “Don’t,” she warned.
“I’m not.” Dex let out a shuddering breath as he leaned his forehead against hers. “Roux found our babies. Allie, our girls are here.”