Page 52 of The Bodyguard and the Bombshell

Avery’s eyes narrowed. “If this is anything beyond a polite ‘will you please stay here while I run off to do something dangerous that will save our beloved daughter,’ you should rethink.”

Liam sighed. “Avery, would you please stay here for a few days while I take care of this situation for our beloved daughter?”

“I will,” Avery promised.

“Daisy?” Liam’s voice had gone soft.

Daisy was stubbornly silent.

“I love you, girl. No matter what.” He glanced down at his phone. “They’re here.”

“Who’s here?” Nate’s morning had gone to complete crap, and now he was probably going to have to deal with more bodyguards. Bodyguards who would question him.

The door opened, and Nate realized it was much worse because Erin Taggart walked in, and she wasn’t alone.

“Nate?” His mother rushed into the room. “Are you okay? Sweetie? What happened to your pants.”

“Well, hell,” his father said, looking at him first and then Daisy. “I suppose that was inevitable.”

“Ain’t nothing inevitable about it. Come on, Brody,” Liam said. “We’re going to El Salvador.”

“We’re what?” His father looked deeply confused.

“You’re not taking my jet.” Ian was suddenly at the railing of the lounge, a glass in his hand.

“Already pinched it, mate,” Liam said, walking out.

His father looked to his mother.

“You should follow him.” His mom had her worried mask on. “It’s obvious something’s going on, and we don’t understand. Avery, is everything okay? Li called and said Nate was in trouble and we had to get here as soon as possible.”

Avery pulled his mom in for a hug. “I’m so happy to see you, old friend. Come on. Let’s join Ian and Alex, and I’ll fill you in. By the way, the kids are together now. In a biblical sense.”

His mom smiled. “He always had a thing for Daisy.”

“I did not. I mean I thought she was sweet and everything,” Nate argued and then realized he wasn’t this dumb. “I mean. I did. Always.”

Daisy’s eyes were on the door her father had walked through.

“You did,” his mother said. “You just didn’t understand at the time, but I knew.” His mum moved over to Daisy. “Sweet girl, are you all right?”

Daisy burst into tears, and all the women surrounded her.

His heart ached, and he hoped they could make it through this particular storm.

* * * *

Daisy sat outside on the rooftop section of Sanctum. It was pretty and had a great view, and she hadn’t known it existed until today.

They definitely needed something like this at The Hideout. If she was allowed back at The Hideout.

The morning had been perfectly horrible, and she wondered if her father would ever speak to her again. Oh, he’d said he loved her, but that might be habit.

Bri and Devi had brought more of her things. And she’d definitely noticed someone had slipped a box of extra-large condoms in. It was either her friends being cheeky or Uncle Ian being true to form. Her friends had been sending her texts all day, checking in on her. And she’d gotten a surprising amount of texts from the guys at The Hideout asking if she was coming in next weekend. What was up with that?

What she hadn’t gotten was an update from her da, who was apparently on his way to Central America.

“Hey, I made you some tea,” Nate said as he walked out onto the balcony. The sun was starting to move to the west, and this particular part of the rooftop space faced east. He had a tray in his hands. “I added some pastries Bri and Devi brought. Remind me to thank them for breakfast. Mum is making us a late lunch, but I thought you might be hungry. The moms are taking the apartment, by the way. Do you want to stay in the jukebox room?”

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