Page 7 of No Sweet Goodbyes

EMMA

“If you try to take her away from me tonight, I will hurt you.” The rage flowing through my veins as Linc stands on my front porch ebbs with every passing second.

Bee doesn’t need to be taken to a stranger’s house. She doesn’t need to wake up in the middle of the night. Probably the last good night she’ll have for the foreseeable future.

“I don’t have a choice,” my brother says quietly. “She’s not family, Emma. There are laws that have to be upheld. I have no choice but to call social services.”

I slip out onto the front porch and close the door almost all the way behind me, just in case things get loud.

“So help me, Lincoln.” I grind out his full name through clenched teeth. “If you wake up that little girl on the last normal night of her life, I will break into your house while you’re sleeping in bed with Kennedy. I will put a bar of soap in a tube sock, and I will beat the shit out of you before you can stop me.” Every single piece of my anger and rage at what Bee is about to go through starts to flood my system at once, and as my heart races painfully in my chest, Linc isn’t smart enough to back down. “I will hurt you until you have no idea how to make me stop, and then I’ll keep going until I’ve broken more than one bone because you will not hurt that sweet and innocent little girl without me hurting you right back. Do you understand me?”

Instead of doing the smart thing, that asshole puts on his cop face and crosses his arms, as if he’s ever been able to intimidate me. Except, I’m not a little girl anymore, and he is the one who taught me how to defend myself.

“Come on, Emma.” Linc shuffles his feet, completely ruining the cob vibes that he’s wearing like his bulletproof vest. “I have to do my job. You know that, especially with everything you’re working toward.”

His words don’t even begin to break through the upset determination I’ve worked myself into.

“She’s safe here, Linc,” I try again. “There has to be something we can do, just for tonight.”

“I’ve got an idea.”

I didn’t even notice Dom walking up behind Linc, so when he inserts himself into our conversation, I almost die from surprise.

“What the shit, Dom?” I hiss while clutching a hand to my chest, straight out of a Victorian novel where the heroine almost has a fainting spell. “Announce your presence next time, you freaking ghost.” As I struggle to catch my breath and regain a sense of control over my senses, he ignores me completely, which is saying something since we’re standing in front of my house.

“I’ve got this,” he tells Linc like I don’t even exist. “Gimme a minute to get things lined up, but we should be all set for tonight. I just need to call in a favor.”

He turns away, and Linc stares at me with a smile on his face that I want to slap right off it. “See?” Linc thumbs at Dom over his shoulder. “Dom’s got it handled. Breathe, Emma.”

“I don’t want to breathe,” I snap irately. “I want all of this to not be happening. I want Bee not to go through what she’s about to go through. I want to protect her from all of this, and I can’t. Nobody can. So instead, I want to take out my frustration on you and you’re lucky you have a uniform on right now or I’d kick you. I just want to protect her.”

“I know.”

Dom steps in front of my brother, effectively removing him from the conversation. When his eyes lock on mine, I can’t look away even if I want to.

Not that I do.

Dom is freaking gorgeous. The beard that’s grown out in the month since I last saw him only adds to his appeal, which I didn’t honestly think was possible until right this moment.

“What?” I stutter, trying not to choke on air.

“You don’t want her to be hurt. I know. None of us can protect her. But I told you, I have an idea.” I watch him run a hand over his beard, and regardless of the situation we currently find ourselves in, I want him. “I made a call,” Dom goes on like my brain isn’t going into overdrive from the smell of his cologne or soap or whatever the hell it is. “Linc’s gonna continue at the scene, and I’m going to wait here with you so that everything gets squared away.”

Throwing a fit feels like the right thing to do, but I keep my mouth shut and think about the adult thing to do. With the realization that I’ve literally been acting like a child who didn’t get their way, all the wind blows out of my sails. My shoulders slump, and I open the front door, leading the way into the living room, turning on the light as I go so that he doesn’t stub a toe on any of my furniture.

When I sit down on my couch, it almost feels like I’ve lost a war. My heart aches for Bee, and even though I want to protect her, Dom’s right.

I can’t.

At least I try.

The couch depresses next to me, and I barely have the capacity to look over and see Dom taking a seat next to me, so close that we’re almost touching, before turning my attention back to the empty space above my TV.

“My mom and dad are licensed foster parents,” he says quietly.

His words take away a piece of the pain, even if it’s just a fraction. My heart still aches, but knowing that he is trying to help does something. Something huge. I just can’t process it. Not until after Bee is taken care of. Not until I know she’ll be safe.

“I called Chief Townsend and asked him to do what he could to make sure that Bianca ends up with them. That was my idea.”

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