Because my body is finally safe enough to fall apart.
At the top step, Maverick pauses.
His voice lowers.
“Look at me,bella.”
I force my eyes open.
He’s staring down at me with a kind of love so fierce it almost frightens me.
“This is not your fault.”
I shake my head, tears sliding into my hair.
“It feels like it is.”
“I know.” His eyes soften. “But feelings are not always truth.”
My breath breaks.
“Then what’s the truth?”
“The truth is, Rory hurt my family.” His voice grows colder. “And I’m going to make sure he never hurts anyone again.”
He carries me out of the basement, out of the house, and into the night.
The cold air hits my face, but Maverick’s arms tighten around me before I can even shiver.
Spike is already outside with Livy in his arms. Foster stands beside them, one hand near Livy’s back, his face tight with worry as he watches her hold her injured arm against her chest.
“Mama,” Livy cries when she sees me. “Daddy saved us.”
The word hits Maverick again.
Daddy.
I feel it move through him.
Feel the breath he takes.
Feel the way his arms tighten around me like he has to hold on to something or fall apart right there in the driveway.
“Yeah, baby,” I whisper as he carries me to the waiting car. “Daddy saved us.”
Maverick lowers himself into the back seat with me still in his arms, careful not to jostle me too much. Spike settles Livy beside us, and she immediately leans into Maverick’s side, still crying.
He shifts one arm around her, keeping the other around me.
Both of us tucked against him.
Both of us breathing.
Both of us alive.
His mouth presses to Livy’s hair first.
Then to my temple.
