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“Dad—”
“I’ll take her.” The words came out before I could stop them. Three pairs of eyes swung my way, climbing my chest until they reached my face. I’d stood without meaning to, and I wanted to sink through the floor or jump out the window and disappear from the room.
Erin blinked at me. “That’s, um…” She swung around, facing Kelly again, her hands steepling in front of her like she was offering up a prayer. “Sweetie?”
Kelly’s lip trembled and her eyes glistened in the overhead light. “Fine,” she croaked out, though she sounded anything but. “Can we go now?”
Donovan nodded, his lips pressed into a thin line. He stepped toward his daughter, arms raised like he wanted to hug her before she cringed and pulled away. He dropped his hands to his side, and I fuckin’ hated this. Watching this. Watching their family be torn apart over something that I hadn’t been able to stop.
Tears flowed down Erin’s cheeks as she grabbed her purse and coat, snagging Kelly’s off the floor beside the wall. I took it from her, then squeezed her shoulder, as if that little act of kindness could ever be enough to make up for this mess.
I’m sorry, I wanted to scream. But that wasn’t what came out of my mouth. Instead, I told her, “I’ll take care of her. I promise.”
4
LEE
She curled against the door of my Jeep as I drove, as if the distance between us wasn’t enough to keep her safe. She hadn’t said more than two words to me since she told me her address and shut the door in her parents’ faces. I resigned myself to this—to being a driver, to being in complete silence—if only it meant she was alive and right here, in this city where she belonged instead of lost to some hell overseas.
Her apartment building was decent enough, though there were signs of an overhaul on the building. It made me wonder about the inside. Was it safe in there? Were the locks good, the doors secure? What about the contractors coming and going to clean the place up? Would they have keys to any apartments, would they be able to get in?
And the inside of the apartment she shared with Jen? What did it look like? What were her interests? Was she a clean freak—like I imagined her father was? Or was her style more like her hair—wild and untamed?
She didn’t move when I pulled into a spot out front—one of the only good things about the recent snowfall; everyone who could was parked in a garage. It was a quiet afternoon, not many people out and about.
Kelly startled when I cleared my throat, trying to find a way to point out that we were here—and had been for a couple minutes. Her wide eyes flashed to mine before she righted herself, then rubbed her palms across her knees.
“Right. Thanks for the ride.” She glanced up at the front of the building, her hand reaching for the handle to open the door.
Without thinking, I opened my own. Raced around the front of the Jeep to help her out. Guide her. Make sure nothing happened to her anymore.
But she hadn’t opened her door. Those wide eyes had turned terrified, her face broken as her chin wobbled and her eyes watered and her mouth dropped open as a scream ripped through her throat. She was thrashing by the time I got her door open. Damn near kicked me in the chest as I reached in to try to stop her. To comfort her.
As if she’d accept that from me.
“Kelly!” I grabbed hold of her wrist as she swung a fist. Pulled her toward me as she kicked again, letting out a wail. “Stop!”
She screamed. Clawed at my skin. Punctured the flesh of my cheek with her nails.
“Stop! Kelly! You’re safe!”
I pulled her to my chest, holding her tight as she thrashed against me. Pounded her fists into me like I was the one who had hurt her.
Like I was the one who had broken her.
“You’re safe with me.” I promised it with all my heart. Repeated it over and over until there was no room for doubt in my mind.
I would keep her safe, even if it was the last thing I ever did.
I just needed her to know it. Needed her to understand how fuckin’ sorry I was.
“You’re safe with me,” I told her as she calmed her screaming to quiet cries. “Won’t let anything happen to ya.”
She sniffled, then buried her face into my chest. Her crying didn’t cease, and every now and then she gasped after choking on a sob. After a long few minutes, while the cold Chicago wind pressed away any warmth there’d been inside the cab and she shivered more for the freezing wind than from the terror that’d struck through her, I swept a hand over her head, pulling her into me.
“I can’t.” It was just a whisper, her voice so broken and frail. I ran my hand over her head again, my fingers snagging in her curls, though she didn’t seem to notice. “I can’t go in there.”
“Don’t have to,” I promised, so damn tempted to press my lips to her crown, as if that could somehow soothe her. “Not gonna make you do anything you don’t want.”
