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Chapter Seven
Maybe he hadn’t heard her.
Half an hour later, Daisy was still wondering about those three words she’d said right before the world had exploded.
Nate had carried her up to his desk and set her down, pointing at the chair, telling her in that super Dommy way of his to have a seat.
His boss, Tessa Hawthorne, had ordered him into her office to check his arm and get a report on what had happened. He’d told Daisy to not move a muscle until he got back. He’d been incredibly bossy, and she wished it didn’t do something for her.
But then he’d taken a really long time and she needed to see her da, who was probably looking for her, so she’d left him a note and come back upstairs.
After all, she was supposed to report for her job. The phones weren’t going to answer themselves.
“Holy crap, Dais. Are you okay?” Devi Taggart walked out of her mom’s office. She was dressed casually in jeans and a T-shirt, her red hair in a ponytail. It let Daisy know Devi had likely taken the day off. Devi had a degree in fashion design and was currently interviewing for jobs with big design houses across the country. Until then she was working at Top as a server. “I had breakfast with my mom and I thought I would stop by and say hi to you, but then the whole place went into lock-down and my mom told me not to leave the office.”
Daisy stared at her friend. She and Devi and Brianna had grown up together. Her girl gang. She knew them well, and there was something Devi wasn’t saying. “You wanted to say hi? Or you heard rumors about last night?”
“Okay, I might have heard something about you going to the masquerade party,” Devi admitted.
“And?”
Devi’s ponytail shook. “Girl, why are we talking about this when you were apparently just shot at? Are you okay? You didn’t get hit?”
“No, and we can’t be certain they were shooting at me. It could have been regular, normal street violence.” Naturally everyone pointed fingers her way. It wasn’t like no one ever got randomly shot at in Dallas. That was a normal Tuesday in Deep Ellum.
“Oh, I think we can definitely say they were shooting at you.” MaeBe Hawthorne’s head popped up over the walls of her cubicle. Mae was a super-cute thirtysomething with a pair of adorable moppets and a husband who worked in the investigative unit. MaeBe had been in the cybersecurity unit for years. “I pulled the plates, and it didn’t take me long to trace that sucker back to a known cartel assassin. I’ve been on the Dark Web since your dad went nuclear yesterday.”
“In the conference room, please.” Ian Taggart was striding toward her followed by a couple of what she thought of as the old-school crew, including Devi’s mom, Erin Taggart. “Liam, she’s here. You can rescue her now.”
Her father turned down the hall, his eyes lighting when he saw her. He rushed up to her, putting his hands on her shoulders as he studied her. “Daisy. What the hell is going on, girl? Tell me where the little bastard went. I’m going to send him back Down Under in pieces. I swear it. If he touched a hair on your head…”
Only her da would call a man who outweighed him by at least a hundred pounds of pure muscle and had a half a foot on him height wise a little bastard.
“I’m pretty sure it was her ass he touched,” Uncle Ian quipped. “That was a warning slap, Daisy. You should be careful with Aussies. I’m surprised he let you roam around without him.”
He was good at that. Sarcasm was fuel for the parental units. Most of the time she found it funny, but she had a da on the edge to deal with. “I’m fine. Nate saved me. He was just a wee bit overstimulated. He wanted to get me to safety as soon as possible, but see, I’m here and I’m perfectly fine.”
Erin Taggart had been her father’s partner since long before Daisy had been born. She had been the sister her father never had before, and she was usually good at calming him down. “Except for the bullets flying your way and the massive possessive Aussie you’ve attracted.”
Not today. Nope, today her Aunt Erin had chosen violence.
“Possessive?” Her father’s brow rose. “What the hell would he be possessive about?”
“Absolutely nothing. Nate was simply saving my brother from having to drive me in. I had to stay at Aidan’s last night, and he and Carys had early calls at the hospital this morning. Nate was merely being kind. And then he went through something traumatic. It seems to have disturbed him.” Nate had obviously forgotten how to use his words. Or maybe it was a function of his Australianness. He’d barked orders her way, and she could still feel that slap on her ass. He’d meant it. His hard palm had come down on her ass like a promise of retribution for future brattery.
“Is this how you’re playing it, kid?” Uncle Ian asked, a brow raised over his blue eyes.
Of all the uncles in her world he was both the most tolerant and the one who saw through twelve feet of bullshit with ease. Still, there wasn’t anything to see here. He was also the one who should know what happened at the club should stay at the club. “Playing? Not at all. I was explaining to my da that Nate is new to all the crazy stuff that can happen around here. It takes some getting used to. Not everyone handles things with the cool calm we do.”
“He was a bloody commando, Daisy,” her da pointed out, also proving he was not in the cool and calm “we” she’d talked about.
Men could be emotional creatures. “I’m sure he’s excellent on a battlefield, but traffic is a whole other story. It can be brutal, Da. We have to make allowances.”
Devi stood there looking at her, shaking her head. “This might be the Daisiest thing you’ve ever done.”
Aunt Erin leaned against the doorjamb next to her not so mini me. “Nah, calling Liam in the middle of a gunfight and asking him if he’s had breakfast this morning before mentioning the whole ‘we’re being shot at’ thing—that’s the Daisiest thing she’s done today.”
“Well, he gets cranky if he doesn’t have his breakfast.” Her aunt should know that, and when had they started using her name as an adjective? Maybe she should stuff a couple of bangers down her da’s throat. He was better when he wasn’t hangry.
