Page 43 of Drive To Survive

I twisted my lips in a wry smile. “Comfort is overrated.”

NICO

A shriek tore through the air.

I launched up in bed. Rhett! What the fuck?

Everly hurled herself out of bed and ran to the door. She stopped and glanced down at her naked body.

“I need clothes!”

“Here,” I said, tossing her one of my shirts. “Is he okay?”

She didn’t answer. Instead, she sprinted down the hallway to Rhett’s bedroom while simultaneously shoving her arms into my shirt. I grabbed a pair of boxers and dragged a polo over my head, then followed her. By the time I reached Rhett’s room, Everly was perched on the end of his bed, rocking him from side to side and murmuring in his ear. Tears streaked his face. He had one hand fisted in the shirt I’d loaned Everly, and with the other, he sucked on his thumb. But it was his eyes that got to me the most. They held the kind of despair no child should ever have to experience.

I raked both hands through my hair and left them there, grabbing fistfuls and feeling utterly useless. I wanted to take that pain and swallow it, lock it up inside me so he didn’t have to suffer.

“Shh,” Everly crooned. “It’s okay. Mommy’s here.”

Something warm and subtle filled my chest, chasing away the hopeless anguish as I watched Everly comfort her son. My gaze rested on her face, and I drank in the love I saw there as she rhythmically stroked his head.

“Hey, buddy,” I said, dropping to a crouch beside the bed. “How about some warm milk?”

He lifted his eyes to mine and nodded.

I squeezed Everly’s shoulder in an act of solidarity and left them alone. When I got downstairs, I glanced outside. The moon had disappeared behind a thick blanket of clouds, and when I opened the French doors to let in some air, I shivered against the chill. Maybe a few days of cooler weather were on their way. I welcomed it. It’d been too hot for this late in the year.

Removing a carton of milk from the fridge, I half filled a pot and put it on the stove to heat. My gaze drifted to the counter where, just a few hours earlier, I’d fucked Everly and changed the course of my life. The emotions that had emerged, not only that first time but also later when I’d had her in my bed, scared the shit out of me.

Whether mind-blowing sex coupled with the last week, where I’d nursed her back to health, had played a part, I didn’t know, but I couldn’t hide from the fact that my heart beat faster just thinking about her. After she’d fallen asleep last night in my arms, I’d watched her for hours while silently praying that she’d never leave. In the past, if a screaming child had woken me from sleep, I’d have probably bitched about it, even silently. Not that I’d ever had a child in my home before, but I imagined that might have been my reaction. But from the first day I’d met Rhett, I’d developed this connection with him that I couldn’t explain. And Everly…

Shit.

I pinched the bridge of my nose and dropped my head. I didn’t love her. But, given time, I think I could. I’d never met a woman who made that thought cross my mind, even fleetingly. But considering Everly’s complicated situation, pursuing a longer-term relationship was out of the question. Until the mystery of Paul’s disappearance was solved, we both risked getting hurt.

I couldn’t allow that to happen.

Yet at the same time, I wanted to immerse myself in this moment, however brief it might be, and enjoy it for what it was.

Bubbles appeared on the surface of the milk. I turned off the heat and tested it with my finger. Not too hot. I poured it into a mug and added a spoonful of sugar, then returned to Rhett’s room. He’d calmed down by the time I got there, and he gave me an enormous grin as I entered.

“Here we are, buddy,” I said, handing the mug to Everly in case she wanted to check that it was cool enough for him. She knew better than I did.

She blew on it, sipped, nodded, and then handed it to Rhett. “Hold tight now. Careful.”

Her eyes slid to mine, and she smiled and mouthed, “Thank you.”

I sat with them both while Rhett finished his milk. Everly set the mug on the bedside table, then tucked him in and kissed his forehead.

“Back to sleep now, honey.”

Rhett’s bottom lip wobbled. “Can I still go racing tomorrow, Mommy?”

“Of course you can. Why would you think you couldn’t?”

He blinked up at her. “Because I’ve been bad. Daddy said so.”

My heart tripped and stuttered. Daddy? What the fuck is going on?

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