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With an exaggerated eye roll, Georgia faced me again with an apologetic expression.
“Did you need something?” Her fingers trembled as they tucked an unruly lock of hair behind her tiny ear. She wasn’t petite for a woman in height, but her features were tiny. The urge to stroke a knuckle down her cheek, to feel the silky-soft skin of her face against mine, was almost too much to ignore. “I don’t have any sugar or flour,” she said with a tight, fake laugh.
My brows rose along my forehead in confusion. I angled my head slightly, still studying her.
She swallowed hard. “To borrow sugar or flour. The reason most neighbors stop by?”
Right. Fucking hell, I’d have to use words. Lots of them to explain why I was here before she slammed the door in my face.
I lifted the bundled kitten between us. “Trap mentioned you wanted to go to the vet too.” If he was lying to me and I looked like an idiot, I’d beat his ass. “Something about co-parenting,” I muttered, remembering every word Trap reiterated from their conversation before he left for work. He didn’t understand why I wanted to know, though he didn’t seem to care about the why based on the relief I saw on his face. Had I become that despondent these days that I didn’t even take an interest in normal conversations?
I knew the answer to that and really hated it.
Her upper teeth sank into the lower left corner of her lip, chewing on the already-raw skin.
The hand not holding the squirming kitten twitched against my thigh. I tapped my fingers against the coarse material of my jeans to keep from reaching out and extracting the abused skin from her teeth.
“I’d love to, but….” She sighed and turned her face downward toward her bare feet. “I can’t leave my daughter, Grace.”
Grace.I focused over Georgia’s shoulder and studied the teen who was clearly in pain. Even now tears glistened in her pale green eyes. Both women needed a friend, it seemed. Or a brief reprieve from the intense situation they were in and a break from each other.
Trap nor I could know the exact details of why they were in witness protection, but I could still offer support, ease their pain if they let me. That was the least I could do.
Oh hell, maybe after all this time, Trap’s need to protect and take in the wounded has rubbed off on me.
“Do you like horses?” I asked over Georgia’s head, eyes locked on Grace. Who avoided looking directly at me, instead glancing around the scarcely furnished home.
“She loves them,” Georgia whispered in front of me. “Why?”
I gazed down, taking in every inch of her face.
“You both go get ready, wear something warm, and meet me at my truck. We’re all going to the vet.”
“What?” she gasped.
Pulling my lips back, I offered what I hoped was a sincere smile. “Trust me.”
Turning on my heels, I strode for my truck that was parked along the curb behind her shitty Blazer. Overhead, the late-morning sun danced through the bare trees, warming my face despite the chilly December wind. As I placed the kitten into the small cardboard box I’d put in the back seat before going to Georgia’s, ensuring it was covered by the blanket I’d scavenged from the bottom of the hall closet, I couldn’t help the hopeful smile that pulled at my lips.
Maybe today was the start of me actually living.
FIVE
GEORGIA
This was insane. Clearly, the intense, never-ending pressure from the past several weeks had shut off all self-preservation skills. What other reason was there for why I now sat shotgun beside a massive male stranger with my vulnerable daughter in the back seat?
Tucking a rogue curly lock behind my ear, I twisted in the tan leather seat to look back at Gracie. She stared out the side window as acres and acres of flat land flew past. Sensing my stare, she cut her eyes to me and rolled them with the dramatics only an almost thirteen-year-old could.
On a frustrated sigh, I turned back to stare absently out the windshield.
“I hear they’re all like that.” Shade’s deep voice seemed to reverberate in my chest, tickling from the inside out.
My hair shifted as I rolled my head along the headrest to stare at Shade. The man was beyond handsome with a strong jaw, straight nose that was proportionate to his face, high cheekbones, and full lips. Every inch of his body seemed to be carved from stone. As I trailed my gaze over his long sleeves, hiding the skin beneath, I couldn’t help but wonder if he had tattoos like his partner.
“What?” I responded, licking my dry lips, realizing I should say something instead of just staring.
Dark, kind eyes flicked from the road to me. “Your daughter. It’s not just her.”
