Page 29 of Daddy's Little Survivor

“Everything all right?” Jaxson asked.

He hadn't told many people why he was taking time off and he knew the other owners were probably worried about him.

“Everything's fine,” he replied.

“Is she all right?”

Michael closed his eyes and took a deep breath in. He hadn't told Jaxson why he was taking time off which meant either Mac or Finn had mentioned something.

“How'd you hear?” he asked, not answering the question at all.

“Mac said he brought some clothes over to you from Finn's house. You wouldn't miss work unless something was wrong with her,” he replied. “Sorry if I wasn't supposed to know, but after your text saying you weren't coming in for a couple of days and not giving any explanation, it threw me off. It threw us all off.”

He should have known it would pique their curiosity. Nothing better to do than gossip, those guys, but he hadn't cared at the moment. His only focus had been Monroe and making sure she was all right.

“Yeah, I knew better than to send a text without an explanation, but I didn't care. She's doing okay.” Michael finally answered his question.

“Well, I'll let you go. Oliver and Leo should be able to handle this, but on the off chance they can’t, I’ll let you know,” Jaxson said. “Also, we need to do inventory for the medical side and you need to be there. You know what we need and don't need. We're running low on some things, so you're going to have to come in sooner rather than later. I know you don't want to, and I don't know the whole situation you have with the girl. Bring her with you if you have to.”

Jaxson ended the call and Michael let out a sigh. He was supposed to do inventory today, but meeting Monroe had thrown everything off. He simply didn't want to deal with any of his other responsibilities right now.

It sucked that he was the only one that could do it. Leo and Oliver had been medics in the army so they knew some things, but they didn't know everything. Compared to him, they only knew the basics.

Michael didn't like thinking about it that way, but when he had talked to them several times about things, they were confused and had no clue what he was talking about. Maybe it was time for him to offer some training classes at the club.

He took a deep breath in and rubbed his hands across his face. Things felt like they were starting to get out of control and he needed to quickly fix that.

Light footsteps pattered against the floor, bringing Michael out of his thoughts. Monroe walked into the kitchen with her plate and protein drink.

From the looks of it, she had eaten some more of the food, but he would have liked all of it to be gone. She needed all the nutrients and calories she could get. Hopefully, she’d finished the protein shake.

“Are there any foods you would like and can eat more of?” Michael asked once she made eye contact with him.

He had thought about asking before, but didn't know if she saw him or not and he didn't want to scare her. He didn't want a repeat of this morning.

Monroe shrugged her shoulders and looked at him. Had she had different types of food? Or was she just too afraid to say anything?

“If you think of anything, you let me know. I don't want to make something you don't like,” he said.

Her facial expression didn't change, but she did nod her head. Good. She was listening, but that didn't mean she was actually going to tell him if she wanted something.

He had no doubt whoever she was with before probably didn't give her a lot of choices. Michael was going to make it right and make sure she knew he was a safe place for her to ask questions and say what she wanted.

It was going to take time, but he was willing to wait. He wanted to see her flourish and be confident.

“I need to talk to you about something,” Michael said.

Monroe's complexion went pale and he cursed at himself in his head. He could have said that in a better way and now she was scared again.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

MONROE

Ashiver ran through her body as she stared at Michael. What could he want to talk to her about?

They had been talking about food that she liked and would want and suddenly he said he needed to talk to her. Nothing good ever came from that statement.

Could he be wanting to tell her Jared had found her? Had he known this whole time that Jared wanted her and now he was giving her back to him?

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