Page 97 of Torn In Two

I blinked. “Sorry, what?”

“Bliss called the baby Ridge.”

She was throwing me a lifeline.

“Oh, right. Good name. Strong.”

Hawk and Hayden were still trying to hold in their laughter. I was so giving Hawk bedpans to clean next time we were at the clinic. Asshole.

Hayley Jade ran back with an armful of new clothes for her dolls, and I took the opportunity to escape.

“Ready to go?”

Kara nodded, shifting a beach bag overflowing with things onto her shoulder and stepping out the door.

Hayden caught her by the wrist. “You forgot something.” He lowered his head and brushed his mouth across hers.

I averted my eyes but not quick enough to miss Hawk taking her chin and turning her head so he could claim her lips as well.

Hayley Jade stared up at the three of them with a happy smile on her rounded face.

I couldn’t say I felt the same, watching them kiss her, knowing they got to do so much more behind closed doors.

Hayden did something with his hands that might have been sign language before he waved goodbye to Hayley Jade, but when the little girl turned her big eyes on Hawk, it was clear there were things she wanted to say, even if whatever part of her she’d locked inside wouldn’t allow it.

Hawk didn’t seem to need her words though.

He knelt so he was eye height with her and ruffled her hair. “I can’t go this time, shortie. I’d love to, but Grayson has promised me he’s going to take super good care of you and your mama.” He glanced up at me, his expression changing to something fierce. “Aren’t you, Grayson? You’re going to take such good care of them that I won’t have to worry for a second that they’re out there without me. Right?”

If there was one thing I could do, it was that. I knew about Kara’s past. Knew probably better than Hawk did about others who could hurt them.

I might have been a doctor now, one who threw most of his punches at a bag at the gym. I knew what Hawk saw when he looked at me. I knew he saw me as weak. A paper pusher.

He had no idea I’d spent the first eighteen years of my life in the Saint View ghetto. That I’d grown up in houses where every day was a fight to stay alive.

That I surrounded myself with men who I knew very well could turn on me at any time and end my life. I didn’t go to the gym for fun. I practiced with my trainer for the day when one of those men might stop seeing me as a friend and instead decide I was a foe.

I trained for the day Trigger returned and I’d get to take his life as payback for the one he’d stolen from me.

When I stared Hawk solemnly in the eye and declared Kara and Hayley Jade would be safe with me, I meant it with every fiber of my being.

The Providence beach was cold and windy and mostly deserted of people, but the expression on Hayley Jade’s face when I helped her out of the back seat of my car was nothing short of priceless. She ran to the short fence that separated the sand dunes from the parking lot and stared out over the ocean with huge eyes.

“She’s never seen the ocean before.” Kara smiled softly, watching her daughter.

“They kept you pretty sheltered, didn’t they?”

She nodded. “That’s probably a gross understatement. It was different when I was her age. Before Josiah came along and changed everything we knew.” She sat on the rounded log fence next to Hayley Jade and undid the laces on her sneakers, encouraging Hayley Jade to do the same. “Did you grow up around here?”

I shouldered the bags full of food and other supplies I’d picked up at the store and closed the trunk. “Not far.” I pointed toward the Saint View end of the beach. “But I didn’t get to hang out at this end.”

Kara breathed in the deep, salt-laced air. “I’m so jealous. I would come here every day if I could. Hence why we’re here now, even though it’s too cold to swim.”

“Doesn’t stop the surfers.” I nodded toward the waves a way down the sand, where a handful of surfers sat on their boards in the swell, waiting for the next set to roll in.

Hayley Jade held her socks and shoes patiently, silently waiting until Kara and I were ready. She was such an obedient kid, never making a fuss or drawing attention to herself. Always waiting quietly for permission. I could see why Kara was concerned. It wasn’t typical behavior for anyone, let alone a five-year-old who should have been bubbling over with excitement, running around, chattering about everything new her mind was taking in.

“Who wants to race?” My gaze focused on Hayley Jade. “I think there’s a perfect picnic spot down there somewhere, and I wonder if anyone is fast enough to beat me to it?”

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