Page 94 of Dark Surrender

“Why haven’t you told me? Does Kali know?” I ask, not wanting to put pressure on her, but she knows she can talk to me about anything. Not that I’ve been around enough to prove that.

“She knows he’s a pastor, but I haven’t told her about the other stuff. Mom told me not to say anything. She was sad when you left, but now she’s different.”

Yeah. Different. She’s sucked back into the life she grew up in. Only this time, she’s got my kid wrapped up in her unresolved trauma. When we moved here, after Lily was born, I tried like hell to get Abby help. I sure as fuck wasn’t in the right headspace to help her myself, but we tried the therapy thing. She refused. It didn’t help that she had postpartum depression and was living two houses down from the woman I was married to and madly in love with.

“Her new boyfriend hasn’t touched you, right?” I ask because I have to. Given what I’ve seen, keepin’ an open line of communication up with my daughter is necessary.

“No.” Lily’s nose wrinkles as if that’s the silliest thing I’ve ever asked. “Why would he do that?”

“I don’t know.” I shrug to play it off. “But I’m your dad. I gotta ask these sorts of things. Do you want me to talk to Mom about the pool shit?”

“No. She’ll just get mad that I told you and not her, and that I used the F-word. It’s only a week.”

“The next time you go swimming, I’ll go with you. Okay? So, this Kylie kid and her mom don’t pull this again. But you gotta promise me you’ll talk to someone about the shit at Mom’s. None of this pretending-everything-is-okay stuff. It doesn’t have to be with me, but it’s gotta be someone. Kali. Pops. One of your brothers. “

“I will.”

“Promise?”

“Yesss, Daaad.” She drones like I’m torturing her, but there’s a smile in her voice. “I promise.”

“Thank you, Lilyyy,” I mimic, and she giggles, rolling her eyes.

“Who’s Iris?”

Ah. I wondered when she was gonna bring this up. It’s not like I’m keeping Iris a secret, but I wasn’t plannin’ on pulling out the Iris card until things were settled. Things are still fresh. Too new. I’m all in, but Iris is her own person, and as much as I wanna push, I’m doin’ my best here to pump the brakes a bit.

Looking down at my daughter to gauge her reaction, I throw the truth right the hell out there. If I can’t be honest with my kid, I can’t expect her to be honest with me. “My new girlfriend.”

“Oh.” Lily laughs awkwardly.

“What? Did you expect me to say somethin’ different?”

“I… I don’t know. Can I meet her?”

“Yeah. Soon. Whenever you’re both ready for that.”

“I’m ready. Kali said she’s nice.”

“She is.”

The phone in my pocket vibrates, and Kali’s front door opens. Pops steps onto the porch with his cell in hand.

“We’ve gotta roll,” he announces, frowning at his phone.

“Now?”

“Yeah. Big’s called Church for all nomads. We’ve got an hour to check in.”

Fuck.

Standing on the step, I pull out my cell, and sure enough, the same text Pops got is staring back at me. A second later, both of our phones ring—Angel on his and Wolf on mine.

“Cabin?” Wolf growls through the receiver.

“Cabin,” I agree, and the line disconnects.

I look over at my dad. “Something’s poppin’ off.”