Page 37 of Her Protector Daddies

No sooner had we stepped out of the locker room than we ran into Tyler, who had a painfully grim look on his face. My heart sank.

“What is it?” Bailey asked sharply.

Tyler glanced between the two of us.

“It’s Matt. He got struck during the shootout. He died in the hospital.”

14

SELENA

Matt had died.

Our one lead in the case, in the hunt for my father, had been killed leaving us back at square one.

The following two days were filled with interviews, meetings, and so much paperwork. As a witness, I was required to give my statement to multiple different Officers and write it down three separate times. I tried not to complain since Bailey, Tyler, and Jay all seemed to be going through the same thing, and I was under less scrutiny since I wasn’t a cop.

Part of me even found it interesting since I’d never been in a situation like this, and my father certainly hadn’t shared any nitty-gritty details of police work during his years here.

It was exhausting, though, and by the time everything was signed off on, I ended up sleeping for fourteen hours as the adrenaline crash wiped me out.

I woke to a silent house, and after a quick shower, I headed downstairs expecting to see Dae running rampant through the lounge or to walk in on an in-depth discussion as to whether the MP9 was more fun at the gun range than the Brügger APC.

Neither, in my opinion.

“Hey sleepyhead.” Jay greeted me as I wandered, yawning, into the kitchen. He was in the process of scooping prepared chicken into several plastic containers labeled with the days of the week. Dressed in cargo pants and a polo neck, he looked rather handsome especially with his usually slicked hair all ruffled on top of his head.

“Hey, what time is it?”

“Just after three.”

“Where is everyone?”

“Bailey took Dae rock climbing, and I think Tyler had some paperwork to finish before he joins them.”

“Rock climbing?” I puffed out my cheeks as I grabbed a mug. “What a kid.”

“He loves it. Bailey loves it, too. Once he introduced Dae to it, he gained a climbing partner and I’m not going to stand in the way of them spending quality time together,” Jay chuckled, snapping the lids on each container.

“It’s cute,” I smiled, turning to face him. I leaned against the counter and crossed my arms. “He’s a lucky kid.”

“He is. I’m lucky that they all dote on him as much as I do.” Jay began stacking the containers and the muscles bunched along his shoulders, making the fabric flex. “It’s a stronger support circle than I ever could have asked for.”

“Mmm,” I hummed softly. “Three strong fathers is more than any kid could hope for. And I couldn’t even get one!”

I groaned dramatically, covering up my slightest pang of jealousy with a note of humor. Jay, of course, saw right through me, and he paused his stacking to look at me over his shoulder.

“I’m sorry. Marcus was… well, he was a Legend, wasn’t he? Everyone wanted to be him and get the glory he secured in putting countless drug lords behind bars. It still blows my mind a little that he fell to drugs.”

“He was a lot of things before he fell to drugs,” I agreed, breaking away from Jay’s sympathetic stare and pouring coffee into my waiting mug. “People change.”

“True.” Jay’s quiet murmur sounded like he wanted to say more, but silence lingered, and for a few moments, there were only the sounds of plastic clattering against the glass as Jay stored his prep meals in the fridge.

“Have there been any leads on the case?” I asked, finding that I wanted to talk to Jay, to get his attention on me regardless of reason.

“Not at the moment,” Jay replied, moving closer to me and washing his hands in the sink. “But you shouldn’t worry about that. You should be focusing on resting and recovering.” His gaze flicked to me, and my stomach twisted slightly.

Every time they looked at me, it honestly felt like they were just looking at the healing bruises and marks on my face and throat rather than me.

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