Page 116 of My Ex's Brothers

I pull out my phone with a shaking hand and dial one number.

“Mia, where are you?” Dane’s panicked voice asks, and I have to bite my lip. Lyla sweetly coos and squeals as I suck in a deep breath.

“Hot To Trot,” I say, my voice shaking. “He’s gone.”

The silence that befalls us is thick. Heavy. Full of unspoken words. But I hear them, all the same.

“I’m coming, baby. I’ll be there soon, okay?” Dane says, and I hear his voice crack. I nod, even though I know he can’t see me.

“Okay,” I say, holding back tears as I hang up. The first tear escapes without warning.

Lyla cries too.

I pull her out of her carrier, holding her to my chest. I bounce her, stroke her back. Nothing seems to work. I close my eyes, fighting back tears as she wails. I get annoyed looks, some sympathetic ones too. But either way, they do nothing to help me. They only make me feel worse. I don’t know how long I sit there, trying to quell her tears or my own.

Everything feels like it’s falling apart around me.

How did things get so complicated?

“Hey.” Dane’s voice pulls me from my thoughts. I look up through tearstained eyes, meeting his warm gaze.

And it all hits me at once.

I let out a heavy sob as Dane pulls me and Lyla close.

“It’s okay, baby,” he says, holding us both. I lean my head on his chest, Lyla squirming between us. “It’s okay, I got you. I’m here.” The warmth and love in his voice spreads like wildfire.

He rubs Lyla’s back, and she settles.

I settle too.

“I told him it was over. It was done,” I say weakly.

“Guessing he didn’t take that well?” Dane asks.

I shake my head. “Said he’ll see me in court.”

Dane sighs. “We’ll get through this, Mia.” He kisses my forehead. “I promise.”

The rest of my day is a daze. I go through the motions. I let Dane guide me into the car. I stay home while he and Richie practice. I busy myself with Lyla, with cleaning, with cooking. Anything to get my mind off of Dex and his threats.

But I can’t stop thinking about how I didn’t see it. How I didn’t see what an asshole he really was. How I wrote off all his indiscretions, all his absences.

He never loved me, and I suppose I never loved him either.

But I can never be completely regretful of what happened because I have Lyla. And for that I will always be thankful.

“Hey.” Tripp’s voice pulls me from my daze, and I look up from where I sit, Lyla asleep on my chest as I curl up on the couch. Richie and Dane aren’t home yet. It’s early.

“What are you doing home so early?” I ask.

Tripp shakes a small white bag in front of me. “Dane said he forgot to get these for you,” he says, his eyes soft and his smile sweet. “Said things were a bit crazy today with Dex showing up out of the blue.”

His words are soft, like his gaze. He doesn’t look upset or angry. If anything, it’s a welcome warmth. He sets the bag down on the coffee table before sitting next to me. I lean into him without thinking and he wraps his arm around me.

“Crazy is an understatement,” I say. His fingertips graze my shoulder, Lyla breathes softly against my chest, asleep like a log. But I feel anything but calm.

“We won’t let him hurt you,” he says solidly. “Any of us. Dex might be family but…you’re not the only bridge he burned.”

---