Sutton’s shoulders were shuddering with her rough breaths.
She looked as if she’d seen a ghost.
“When was this, I need to know when this was,” she pleaded.
“At the party.” Lexi was still crying and hurried to wipe her face. “The party I was supposed to stay away from. I was playing outside even though Nadia told me not to. I heard Daddy talking in the guesthouse, so I went to see why he was there. Because that wasn’t where the party was.”
Sutton stood from her crouch, her fisted hand shaking as she lifted it to her head.
She stepped toward me, her hushed whispers frenzied and nearly inaudible. “He knows. Conor, he knows. Zachary knows that she saw him.”
“How do you know?”
“Just trust me,” she cried out before dropping to her knees and pulling Lexi into a tight embrace.
One of her hands covered her mouth and the other fisted against Lexi’s back. I was no longer sure where her shaking ended and Lexi’s began.
When I crouched behind Lexi, I could barely hear Sutton’s muted, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”
Her panicked eyes met mine as she held out the fisted hand toward me.
I reached for it, unsure of what she was doing, and felt my heart begin to race when she dropped something into my open palm.
A half-crumpled piece of paper and a wedding ring.
With Sutton’s fear and how she’d been bolting from the room, I had no doubts in my mind the ring was hers.
The one she’d left back at the motel.
When I opened the paper, my blood ran cold.
Let’s play a game.
I was on my feet and running to their room, my phone already to my ear.
“Get us a new room; we need to move,” I ordered as soon as Einstein answered.
“That doesn’t sound good.” Within seconds, the sound of her tapping away on her laptop filled the other end of the line.
“Jesus.” My chest heaved as I pulled note after note off the hangers that had come back with the girls’ clothes.
All of them had the same message as the one in my hand.
“Einstein,” I said, silently begging her to move faster as I rushed through their room, grabbing their bags and suitcases and shoving everything I could see into them.
“There’s nothing,” she said quickly, frustration leaking through her tone. “It’s Memorial Day weekend, there are high school proms, college graduations. The place is packed.”
“Fuck.” I dragged a hand through my hair. “How did you get a room?”
“You’ll see when you get here, I guess. How long do you need?”
“Five minutes.”
“Then it’ll start exactly five minutes after we hang up.” She ended the call as soon as she finished talking.
I started a timer on my phone and then finished throwing the clothes into the bags.
Once I was done, I forced myself to appear calm when I felt anything but, and walked into the living room.
I wanted to rush. I wanted to grab the girls and run.
I wanted to fucking kill someone.
I dropped to a crouch in front of Lexi and let my mouth slip into a grin. “Suite Hop, you ready?”
“Again?”
“This one will be the most fun of them all,” I said and held up my hand for a high five. As soon as she smacked it, I jerked my head in the direction of their room. “Grab anything I missed and pack it up, okay?”
Her eyes brightened, a smile threatened at the edges of her mouth. “Okay!”
Once she ran into the room, I pulled Sutton into my arms and crushed my mouth to hers, swallowing her surprised gasp and trying to erase all her worries and fears.
Sliding a hand up, I curled it around her cheek and waited until those captivating eyes were on me. “It’s going to be okay.”
Her face crumpled with worry. “How did he find us?”
“We’ll figure that out later. Right now, all we should focus on is getting the two of you somewhere else. Got it?”
She nodded as a few tears slipped free.
“We have a couple of minutes before we move. I threw most of your stuff into your bags already. Keep Lexi calm and her mind off everything else.”
I released her and rocked back, but she lifted onto her toes and pressed her mouth to mine. Her fingers slid into my hair as if we had all the time in the world for this kiss.
Damn it, if it didn’t feel like we did for those seconds.
A repressed cry sounded in her chest when she pulled away and started for their room, wiping beneath her eyes as she did.
I ran around the suite, gathering my gun and extra magazines and packing and trying to get in the right frame of mind.
I knew I had to be ready for anything that might be waiting for us in those halls, but I also wanted to appear calm and unaffected for Lexi. It felt impossible to do both.
I met the girls near the door just as my alarm went off and forced a quick smile. “Let’s go.”
I let Sutton know where we were going so she wouldn’t be blindsided when we got to the new room, and wondered how this was going to work with all of us in an enclosed space.
I didn’t have to wonder long.
Maverick opened the door to their suite as we walked up to it—the biggest damn suite of the entire resort.
Over twice the size of the ones we’d been staying in, which had been huge.
Lexi pressed close to Sutton’s side as she took in the three strangers. Wary and untrusting, exactly like her mom.
“This is how we got a room,” Einstein said with a cheeky grin.
“Because, why not?” I said with a laugh that felt forced.
Fear and adrenaline were still coursing through my veins, making me feel on edge.
“Well, it came in handy today, so you’re welcome.”
“And it’s fucking epic,” Diggs shouted as he rounded a corner, sandwich in hand. “Oh, oh—oh, dude. Is this the baby mini?” He sauntered up to where we were and held out a fist to Lexi.
She didn’t respond in any way.
He held the hand in the air and looked around like he couldn’t understand what had happened. “I got burned by a baby mini. The hell’s up with that?”
“Jesus, he’s never gonna let this go,” Maverick mumbled under his breath and then gave me a look. “Where do you want to talk?”
Before I could answer, Diggs dropped to a crouch. “Diggs,” he said, pressing his hand to his chest before gesturing to Lexi. “Baby Mini. Here’s how it is, I’m the coolest one here, and you’re gonna find that out real quick. I make a mean sandwich and will sneak you all the snacks. I also build forts like you’ve never seen. But you’re gonna break my damn heart if you burn me at hello.”
Lexi giggled, and then, from where she was hiding behind Sutton, whispered, “I love forts.”
I felt Sutton’s shock reflected on my own face.
It took Lexi days before she said anything to me and she still wouldn’t speak to Kieran or Jess.
Diggs took a massive bite of his sandwich and grinned. “Hell yeah, Baby Mini. I knew we would be best friends. Let’s go get you some food.”
Sutton reached for Lexi when she took off after Diggs without a second thought, but I pulled her to my side to whisper in her ear, “He’s like a golden retriever. She’ll be fine. And you know your daughter better than anyone . . . she wouldn’t have followed him if he weren’t okay.”
She released a shuddering breath, her head bouncing in something that resembled a nod.
I dug my hand into my pocket and pulled out the papers and ring, extending them toward Einstein and Maverick as I said, “These were with the girls’ laundry when it was brought back.”
As soon as Einstein saw the typed words on the notes, her entire body lurched, and she stumbled back.
I took a step toward her.
Maverick reached for her but stopped when she waved him off.
“Okay,” Einstein sai
d in a weak, shaky voice. “Okay, I’ll check cameras.”
Once she was gone, I looked to Maverick. “She shouldn’t have come.”
He rubbed the back of his neck as his mouth twitched into a grimace. “I know, but there was no keeping her home. She was determined.”
I knew that too.
I cleared my throat when Maverick gathered everything from my palm. “The ring. That’s Sutton’s, I think.” I shot her a questioning glance.
Her eyes were shut, and her face was the same ghostly white it had been before. “It’s mine.”
Wrapping my arm around her waist, I pulled her close again, trying to pour my strength and peace into her as I told Maverick, “She’d left it in the motel I found her in.”
His eyes darted between us before settling on her. “You’re sure you didn’t lose it here?”
“No, I took it off and left it on the bed as we were leaving. I didn’t want the reminder.”
Maverick nodded and then gave me a meaningful look. “Then someone who works for him knows you’re here, because neither Zachary nor Garret haven’t set foot on the property. Everyone who was here when you arrived is now gone. Einstein has monitored every check-in. Diggs and I searched every possible hiding place in the resort. That doesn’t mean we won’t find him.”
He handed me the notes and ring and then reached for some of the bags. “There’re three rooms. Sutton, how—”
“She’ll be with Lexi,” I answered before he could finish.
“Then you can take Diggs’s room,” he told me with a smirk. “He’s been planning this fort since we got in here last night. He won’t be sleeping anywhere else.”
Once we were following Maverick through the two-floor suite, Sutton lifted her head to ask, “Is he being serious?”
“I’ve never seen one, but I’ve heard stories. Their forts are legendary.”
Conor
The day passed in a blur of watching camera feeds—both the hotel’s and different houses of some of the Tennessee Gentlemen—helping the twins build the fort, and spoiling the shit out of Lexi.
The girl was eating it up.
The twins and Einstein had made her a cape and a paper crown, claiming she was a superhero princess. When Jess stopped by, she braided her Rebel bandana into Lexi’s hair.
Not that Lexi responded to any of them other than Diggs.
Sutton about fell over when Lexi came running up and announced that she was a Rebel.
Diggs had been the source of her laughter, her horse, and personal chef. I was trying not to let it get to me that he was clearly Lexi’s favorite. Guess I should have expected it since he would always be a kid at heart.
But having her run up to me with the brightest smile to show me each new thing?
It’d made the frustrations of not getting anywhere with the ring or notes ease.
It’d made the fears of knowing that Zachary knew where the girls were melt away a little.
It was the first day since getting Sutton and Lexi that I felt good. Normal even. As if this were just another day back in Wake Forest with the friends that made up my family.
From the girls’ laughs and smiles, I knew it was the same for them.
Sutton let out a contented sigh and rested her head against the couch. Her eyes shifted, taking in the massive fort we were in. “This is incredible.”
It took up the entire two-story living and sitting area, even extending to cover parts of the stairs that led to the top bedroom. When I asked where they had gotten all the sheets, Diggs just grinned mischievously while Maverick pointed at him.
The floor was littered with pillows and blankets, the couches and chairs were all arranged around the room, with a sofa bed dead center—where Lexi was.
There was also way more food than we’d ever be able to eat.
“Lexi loves it,” she continued, a soft smile playing on her lips.
“Think she loved today.”
That same contented sigh hummed in her throat. “They made it so special for her. She’s going to crash soon and sleep so well.”
“A bunch of mobsters. Who knew?” The words were pure tease and earned me an eye roll, but that smile was still tugging at her mouth.
I ran a hand over my beard and glanced at Lexi.
She was already on her stomach with her head on her arms, trying to stay awake to watch the movie.
“What are your thoughts on leaving Lexi in here?” I chanced a look at Sutton in time to see her confusion shift into something else.
Something needy and filled with desire.
But then she blinked. “Without one of us? I don’t know. They’ve been so great with her, but I don’t know them well enough to leave her with them.”
“Not the whole night. And if you say no, not at all,” I assured her. “But there’s something I hoped you would do for me.”
Her brows lifted, her confusion back and mixing with her curiosity.
“I asked Jess to pick up some things for me a few days ago, and I’ve been holding on to them.” Pain tugged at my chest, but I pushed past it. “My brother was scruffy in this precise way. Looked ragged as fuck, but he worked hard for it. I always told him he looked like he was still homeless, and he called me the pretty-boy lumberjack. When he died, I stopped trimming my beard and cutting my hair. It wasn’t a conscious decision; it just happened. Didn’t realize until this week how much I look like him, and I wonder if I was doing it so I’d have a connection to him.”
Sutton shifted forward and slid her hand into mine. “Conor, I’m so sorry.”
“It happens. In our life—in that life—it happened a lot.” I swallowed thickly and said, “But it’s been over a year, I’ve got to let that go. And I want you to do it.”
It took a few seconds before her eyes widened in understanding. “Wait, what? You want me to cut your hair?” I’d barely nodded before she began shaking her head. “Conor, I haven’t cut hair in eight years. I didn’t even graduate. What if I mess up?”
I silenced her with a brush of my thumb across her lips. “Say no, and that will be the end of it. But I trust you, and I want you to.”
She looked at me helplessly for a few seconds before dropping her head against my chest.
Her back shook with a rough exhale, and then her hands were on my face and she was pulling me down to press her mouth against mine. Her fingers curled against my beard, gently tugging and trailing across as if she were trying to commit the feel of it to memory.
I smiled against the kiss and pulled back to look at her. “It isn’t going away. It’ll just be shorter.”
Her eyes followed where the tips of her fingers were still playing before darting up to mine. “I’ve just kind of grown attached to it.”
I grabbed her hand and pressed a kiss to her palm. “Kind of grown attached to you.”
Through the light of the television, I could see the darkening of her cheeks. The woman really was beautiful when I made her blush.
“I’ve never done anything to deserve a man the likes of you.”
Hushed.
Exposed.
And so fucking backward.
I pulled her closer and whispered, “You’re wrong.”
I brushed my lips across hers once . . . twice . . . until she was reaching up and pressing her mouth firmly to mine. Opening for me when I teased her lips and whimpering when our tongues met.
Short, passionate, and filled with something I was afraid to define.
All too soon, it was over.
Because even though the dark gave us some cover, Lexi was still in the room, and we’d been careful not to even touch when she was around.
I stared into Sutton’s eyes, which were swirling with that unspoken, forbidden emotion for a few more seconds, prolonging the moment before looking across the room to where Lexi lay.
Diggs was draping a blanket over her.
“Think Lex is asleep.” Thick, gruff, strained . . . and all I could manage.
Sutton pulled fro
m my arms and turned, a smile tugging at her lips when she saw Diggs tucking the thick material around her.
“Guess he’s harmless,” she murmured. With a quick inhale, she shifted to press her head to my neck. “I’m honored you want me to help with something that means so much to you, and I will. Let me check on Lexi first and make sure her guard dog will stay.”
A soft laugh escaped me as I watched her make her way through the pillows and blankets over to Lexi’s makeshift bed.
And there it was again—that feeling from earlier. As if my heart were exploding and knitting together all at once.
When she bent to give her daughter a kiss, a thought rushed up so swift and so unbidden that I nearly choked on it.
Mine.
I tried to shove it down.
Tried to remember every complicated aspect of our situation. Why I couldn’t—shouldn’t—entertain thoughts like that.
But it felt as real as the oxygen filling my lungs.
Those girls were mine.
I stood, dragging my hands over my face and mentally cursing myself for ever getting in this position.
For letting myself fall.
For whatever reason, women who I couldn’t touch or have or keep were put in my life.
With a sharp exhale, I dropped my arms and looked across to the woman I had, without a doubt, fallen for as she spoke quietly to Diggs.
Arms folded protectively around herself, as if she still had lingering doubts about him—about all of them.
From the way Diggs was sitting with arms raised in surrender, looking like the whole world might not be a joke after all, I had no doubt Sutton was warning him what she would do if he let anything happen to her daughter.
When Sutton took a step away, Diggs extended a fist toward her.
At the last second, she bumped it before making her way back to me. Her chin was lifted, but she looked completely unsure of herself.
“He won’t be leaving her side.”
No, no he wouldn’t.
My chest hitched with a silent laugh as I led her to the room I’d hijacked from Diggs, grabbing a kitchen chair as we went. “He can find a way to turn anything and any situation into a joke, but I think you might’ve actually scared him.”
Limit (Rebel Book 3) Page 22
