Page 149 of Fought and Freed

“Cody is already taking care of that.” He gazed down at the top of E.J.’s head. “I’m scared, Mom. None of us know how to take care of a baby, and now, Maddy only has one arm in use.”

“I was afraid something like this would happen,” his mom said. “My bag is already packed. I’ll be down in two hours.”

“You don’t have to, Mom,” he protested.

“You need me, Skylar,” she said firmly. “I’ll be there to help.”

“Why don’t you wait to see what happens with Amber first, before you come down?” he suggested.

His mom shook her head stubbornly. “You can’t leave E.J. alone with her. Who knows what she’s capable of?”

“You’re right. I need to take care of this now.” His gut twisted. “I’ll talk to you guys later.”

“All right, son, give our grandson a kiss for us,” his dad said. “We’ll see you soon.”

The minute he hung up, he called his lawyer. “Aaron, we need to move on getting full custody now.”

Aaron sounded startled. “What happened?”

He told him everything that had happened in the last few hours, from Maddy’s accident to how Amber wouldn’t even touch E.J., to what he overheard her saying to Scott.

“Congratulations on your new son, Skylar,” Aaron said before his tone turned business-like. “I’ll get to work on what we discussed. With what you just told me and her past, it should be enough to grant you temporary custody.”

“Good. Do it.” He hung up.

Gazing down at his son, he rubbed his back. “I won’t let anyone hurt you.”

34

MADDY

When they got home, Jace took her right up to her room while Cody called the cops to tell them what Skylar overheard.

Maddy was glad that someone else was taking care of that. Whatever the doctor gave her at the hospital was wearing off, and her arm was throbbing.

She kicked off her shoes and pushed the sweats down. “Can you help me put on one of my shirts?”

“I’m not sure any of your shirts will fit over your cast. Why don’t I get one of Skylar’s? It should fit over it.” Jace ran to their room and returned with one of Skylar’s shirts.

It fit over her arm without a problem, and he tucked her in. “I’ll be right back.”

Before she could ask where he was going, he popped back out to the hall.

He came back a minute later carrying a glass of Dr. Pepper and the bag they picked up at the pharmacy. He approached the bed with a determined set to his jaw.

“I can tell that you’re in pain.” He took out the pill bottle and shook one into his palm. “It’s all right to take medicine to help.”

Maddy hated taking any kind of pill, but she was in so much pain right now she didn’t care. She sat up to take the pill, then set the glass down on her nightstand.

Jace sat on her bed and kicked off his shoes. “Lie back down, baby girl. Let me cuddle with you.”

She scooted over to make room, and he crawled into the bed. It took a few tries to get comfortable with her cast, and she finally had to place a pillow under her arm.

* * *

“Silk.” Soft lips kissed hers. “You need to get up.”

Another kiss.

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