Page 78 of Daddy's Little Survivor

He felt Monroe stiffen in his arms and he ran his hands up and down her back, trying to get her to relax. He didn't like how tight she was and he didn't like that this had happened and he wasn't contacted.

“Why wasn't I contacted?” he asked Ezra.

After he figured out why he wasn't contacted, he was going to comfort Monroe, his Little Bunny. She needed him and he was about to give her his undivided attention.

“I asked her if she wanted me to call you and she told me no. Repeatedly. She assured me she was fine and I know I should have called you, but I didn't want to go against her wishes,” Ezra said and before Michael could say anything, he continued to talk. “I know since I'm a Daddy that I would have wanted to be contacted, and I was going to an hour ago, but my guy called me and I needed to answer it. Monroe was safe the whole time so you don't need to worry about that. I made sure to look out regularly and make perimeter checks and my guy also went up and down the street and into the other neighborhood to make sure everything was okay.”

Michael couldn't be mad at him because he had taken precautions to make sure she was safe. And while he didn't like that Ezra hadn’t contacted him, he also knew that after the text came through, Ezra was probably really busy. But that didn't mean Monroe shouldn't have called him. She should have and she had to know that.

“I'm going to go talk to Monroe and then we can talk about what your guy said,” Michael said.

Ezra nodded and went back into the kitchen. He walked with Monroe in his arms toward the couch and sat her down.

“Noooo,” Monroe whined.

“I need you to sit here and I'm going to be right in front of you, but we need to have a talk,” Michael said. “Can you look and pay attention right now? It's important.”

She nodded her head and held on to his hand as he knelt in front of her. He had found out after several times that she paid better attention when they were at the same height. It probably made her at ease knowing they were equal in a sense instead of him towering over her, and he would do it every single time if it made her comfortable.

“Can you tell me why you didn't want Ezra to call me?” he asked.

“I,” she took a breath in. “I didn’t want to b-bother you. Y-you were busy with meetings a-and I know th-they were important.”

It broke his heart that she thought the meetings were so important he couldn't come to her, because she was wrong.

“If you would have called me, I would have dropped everything and come to you. You are my number one priority and one of the other guys probably could have stepped up in my place,” Michael said as he squeezed her hand. “You are so important to me.”

“I didn’t want you to miss them and lose an opportunity that could have been yours, but was missed because of me,” she mumbled.

“It doesn't matter. I would have dropped everything and come to you because I love you. I want what's best for you and they would have understood that I needed to go home. The other owners of the club know the situation. You come first.”

Monroe sobbed and chuckled at the same time. “This probably wasn't the ideal situation to tell me that you loved me since I'm in danger, spooked, and can't stop shaking.”

He didn't know what was going through her head and he really wanted to know.

“I'll tell you I love you every day to make up for it. I'll tell you so many times you'll ask me to stop,” he chuckled. “It might not have been the way I planned on telling you, but you need to know how important you are to me. I love you and if you need anything, and I mean anything, you call me if I'm gone. I will find some way to come to you.”

And he meant it. If he was in a different state and she called him and really needed him, he would find a way to get back to her. He wasn't messing around because she meant so much to him.

He realized she hadn’t said it back and he understood. Michael didn’t want her to feel pressured to say it back. He knew she had some feelings toward him but he didn’t think it was to the point of love yet.

“Monroe, you don’t have to say it back. I didn’t tell you so you would say the same to me. I wanted to tell you because you needed to know and I needed to tell you,” he told her, grabbing her face with his hands and kissing her forehead.

She nodded her head, but he could tell it didn’t sit well with her.

“Can you hold your hands out for me?” he asked.

Michael didn’t like how he felt her shake as he kissed her forehead. Had she eaten anything since she got the text?

“Ezra?” he called out.

Her hands shook badly as she held them out in front of her. He grabbed them and held them in his.

“Yes?” Ezra asked as he walked into the living room.

“What all did she eat today?” he asked.

He thought about asking her, but knew she may play it up a bit and he wanted to know exactly what she ate.

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