AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Hey, let me take the baby for a minute. We need to get you somewhere you can sit down,” Kace said.
I looked around at the glass on my desk, my chair, and that covered the floor. It was a disaster and another wave of guilt plagued me for bringing this to all these wonderful people’s doorstep. “I brought this here and ruined your company. Your lives too,” I said, looking around at all my friends' faces.
Alley pulled away from her husband and started toward me, her finger shaking in the air. “Don’t you put this on yourself. That son-of-bitch ex of yours is the only one to blame and if I ever see the douchebag—”
Landon was next to Alley in a heartbeat. “You will do nothing and let us handle it,” he told her sternly.
If looks could kill, her husband would be dead. The woman was a wrecking ball and would take out anything that got in her, her friends, and her family's way. “You don’t tell me—”
She got cut off again when he brushed a hand down her cheek. “I am not losing you again,” he told her, his voice clogged with so much emotion it hurt to hear.
Alley softened in an instant at those words. I loved seeing them so in love. Sometimes I wished I had been around to watch them fall. It would have been a sight to see.
“Thank you,” I told Alley. “For always having my back.”
“That’s what friends are for, babe,” she said with a smile.
I was about to ask Landon how Thad had found me, the question swirling around in my head, but then I noticed the medics starting to move with Lyric toward the door. I couldn’t let him go without saying something else.
Looking at Kace, I handed him Denver and he nodded his head in that direction giving me a look of encouragement and understanding.God, the man is amazing.I took hesitant steps toward Lyric, a man who I hadn’t ever given a fair chance, judging him based on someone else.
“Hold up,” I called out, hesitantly.
The EMT stopped the stretcher and stepped back a moment to give me privacy. I was already nervous enough, I didn’t need extra eyes and ears on me while I pleaded for forgiveness.
“Hey,” I said softly as I approached Lyric, my eyes cast downward at the floor, searching for the right words as I stopped next to him.
Lyric reached out cautiously and brushed the back of my hand. I didn’t jump, which was a vast improvement from so many times before when caught off guard by a simple touch, but my gaze did snap up, my eyes round with surprise. I wasn’t scared I realized, just shocked he was being kind after I had been so standoffish toward him.
And after he realized why.
“Teal,” he started, a little edge to his voice. He winced a little so I knew it was from the pain, not directed toward me. “I understand why it has been hard for you to be around me and it is okay. I don’t have all the details but I can put two and two together fairly easily and it is justifiable that you would be nervous.”
He took a deep breath and I felt even more awful that he had been in the path of my past.
“It still wasn’t fair,” I told him. “I just want you to know that I’m sorry.” I averted my eyes slightly, struggling to keep them on him. I hated to see the tension gleaming in their depths. He needed to get to the hospital and the medics realized that just then as well.
“Sorry, ma’am, we need to get going,” one of the guys said.
Before they could take him away, he said, “Don’t worry about me and know this, there may be some bad cops but I am not one of them, and I will do everything in my power to help you with anything you need.”
I sucked in a quick breath, stunned he would want to help me.
Then, a radiating smile suddenly graced his face. “Just give me a couple of days, okay,” he added teasingly, nodding to his leg. “Then I will help you get this asshole.” He looked from me to the men around us that were his friends and gave them a chin lift. They returned the gesture and then he was wheeled out.
As I looked around at the disaster that had been created, my energy waned and my legs started to shake and my lower lip trembled. I couldn’t lose it now and I fought to keep control of the emotions plaguing me.
Braxton, Gyth, and also Landon were talking to the cops and it looked like something else was going on, but I couldn’t hear what they were saying. I turned and walked back over to Kace and Alley with a puzzled look on my face.
“What’s going on?” I looked from one to the other.
Alley came up to me and leaned in. “Just remember we all got your back. And let this one,” she motioned to Kace behind her, “take care of you two. You deserve to be happy and I can see he does that for you.”
Then she wandered off leaving me standing there facing the man who was holding my world cradled in his arms, and who had also come to mean so damn much to me.
ChapterTwenty-Nine
KACE
