Page 31 of Love Takes Home

“I couldn’t…help him.” Sniffle. “They wouldn’t let me get to him.” Tears falling. “I don’t know if he’s okay or not. I need to know.” Body racking sob.

I pull her into me tight, knowing I’ll do anything to keep her in my arms, but also find out what the fuck’s going on.

“I need to get home to Trish and the kids,” Davis tells me. “Lucas was there, and he’s pretty shaken by it.”

“Oh, no!” Ginny reaches behind her, grabbing Davis’s arm. “Lucas.”

“He’s okay, Gin. He’s not hurt, just upset and confused. Much like all of us are right now.”

“I don’t know where to go. Can I come with you?” she asks Davis.

The look of panic on his face gives me all the motivation I need.

“I’ve got you, Gin. Come home with me. You can’t be alone right now, and Davis needs to do the dad-uncle thing, right?”

“Home? With you?” She lifts her head from my chest. “Are you sure?”

“Positive. Let me take care of you, okay?”

“I can go home,” she offers weakly.

“No. You can’t. You already know your mom will smother you.”

“And you won’t?” She almost laughs at her joke, and I feel my lips tilt up.

“No more than you let me, Beautiful.”

“Did you…did you bring the bike?”

“Sure did. Want to go for a ride?”

“A ride sounds really nice.”

Davis pulls her from my arms and wraps her up in a big brother hug. “Everything will be alright, Gin.”

“Give Lucas a hug from me? Give all the kids a hug?”

“Will do. Go with Joker, okay?”

“Who’d have thunk my big brother would let some guy take me away, huh?” she says, trying to lighten the mood again.

“Not just some guy, sis. He’s way more than some guy.”

They have a silent sibling conversation. You know the ones, right? Where they squint and use their eyes to communicateeverything going on in their heads without saying a word, leaving the rest of us out of their brains. I’ve seen it happen before, but have no idea what it’s like. I’ve never been close enough to someone to have that kind of bond.

When they finish, he turns her around and back into my arms. I give him my own thanks with a head tilt, but Ginny comes without a fuss, wrapping her arms around me again and holding tight. I’ll never let her go.

It takes Ginny an hour of riding around on the bike before she yells in my ear that she thinks she’s okay now. I swing through a burger joint and get us some food and head to my house. It’s not much, but it’s mine, and I have a lot of land surrounding it. It’s a small ranch-style house with what I call two and a half bedrooms. Anyone who can really call the third room a bedroom is fooling themselves. A twin size bed doesn’t even fit in the fucker if you want to actually walk around. But it’s fine for a wall of monitors and a desk and chair. I do have a bed and nightstand in the second bedroom. You never know when someone might need a place for the night and Annie’s been up here a couple of times and stayed with me. And now, I’m glad the sheets are clean because Ginny’s staying tonight. If I can’t have her in my bed, at least she’ll be close and I’ll know she’s safe. The rest of the house is what you’d expect. A small kitchen and living area, two bathrooms that aren’t anything to write home about, and a laundry room between the garage and kitchen. My original goal was to build my dream house on the land and knock this one down, but that hasn’t happened yet. Not sure it ever will, honestly.

“Wow,” Ginny says, pulling off her helmet. “This view is breathtaking.”

“It’s the reason I bought it.”

If there’s a canyon in Boulder Canyon, I’m in the deepest part of it. Surrounded on three sides by the hills and mountain range, there’s hiking for days to be had just a short walk from my front door.

“I can see why.”

“Why don’t you grab a seat on the couch and I’ll get us something to drink?”

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