Page 129 of Ever With Me

Audrey’s eyes were wide.Terrified.

“Hey, honey,” Maddie said, leaning back from her seat and grabbing the little girl’s hand. “Hey, look at me.” She yanked her phone out of her purse and clicked on one of her favorite social accounts. “Have you seen this guy before? He makes the most incredible things all out of chocolate. Look at this. This is a train he made.”

Audrey’s gaze refocused away from the outside, where the paparazzi had continued taking pictures, to the video playing on the screen. Slowly, her little face relaxed as she got sucked into the video, mesmerized.

Brooks shut her door and then hopped into his seat. “Jesus,” he muttered, raking his fingers through his hair. “They’re fucking relentless. How many pictures do they need of me putting my niece in her car seat?”

“I don’t know.” She took his hand with her free hand. His half-polished fingers were trembling.

She’d figured he was used to this by now. “They do this all the time, though, right?”

He met her gaze and flexed his fingers. “It’s one thing if it’s me, Maddie. I invited this sort of attention into my life. But you? Audrey? Kayla? That’s another thing entirely. They should have the decency not to harass the people I care about, but they don’t.”

“They should have the decency not to harass you, either, Brooks.”

He released a slow, deeply held breath and started the engine.

“I see more?” Audrey asked from the back seat.

Maddie smiled and scrolled to another video. “Here. He makes a big banana out of chocolate in this one.”

“Thanks,” Brooks said as he drove. “You’re pretty good with kids, you know that?”

“It’s because of Emily and Olivia. I have practice. It doesnotcome naturally.” Truth was, since Brooks had come into her life, she hadn’t seen much of her own nieces, and she felt a little guilty about that. Naomi hadn’t complained yet, thank goodness, but she’d have to make up for lost time soon enough. Before it became any more obvious.

“Where are we headed?”

“Pops keeps his pontoon on a little slip near the Serendipity, actually. So just head in that direction, and I’ll give you better directions as we get closer.”

“Shit, they’re fucking following us,” Brooks said with a growl, his eyes focused on the rearview mirror.

“I take it you don’t normally go out with Audrey in public?”

“Rarely. And never when these assholes are around.”

“Mommy said that’s a no-no word,” Audrey said without taking her eyes off the phone.

Maddie put another video on for Audrey and handed her the phone. Reaching over, she rubbed the back of Brooks’s neck, which was knotted with tension. “Relax, it’s gonna be okay. Don’t let it get to you.”

Brooks didn’t respond, his gaze continuing to dart with annoyance at the mirror.

By the time they’d arrived at the pontoon, his mood seemed to have soured altogether and Maddie could hardly wait until they got on the water. At least the paparazzi couldn’t follow them out there.

Pops was waiting for them with a tiny life jacket for Audrey, and Maddie helped her put it on, then handed her over to her grandfather to seat her on the boat.

“Hold up,” she told Brooks as he moved to follow his niece. She caught his hand.

Brooks gave her a steely-eyed look.

“Let this go, or this won’t be fun for anyone,” she whispered. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she stood on her tiptoes and kissed him slowly as though no one else was around.

He didn’t return the kiss, and she pouted. “Come on, babe.” She searched his gaze. “Can’t you justtrynot to let it get to you? Yes, they suck, but they’re keeping their distance now. And once we’re on the lake, they’ll stop following.”

He chuckled bitterly. “Yeah, I’ve had them chase me on a boat before. More than once. Not that I think they’ll do it here, but that’s not the point.”

“The point is that your niece is here. I’m here. And we want you to have fun with us.”

Brooks gave a stiff nod after a moment, then climbed onboard wordlessly.

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