Page 17 of Truck Stop Titan

“When’s the aunt showing up?” I asked, blinking the muck from my eyes, my jaw cracking with the force of my yawn. I hadn’t slept a fucking wink, the little girl waking all through the night, trembling, crying, screaming.

For reasons I couldn’t fathom, she only calmed when I held her. Only let the doctor inspect her while she buried her face in my chest. Me, of all people. How fucked was that?

“She’ll be here soon. Thanks for coming back,” Leticia whispered, tucking warmed blankets around the child.

The mansion had become a prison, the girl my steel cell. Last night had been my first venture out, and even then, I’d been snagged back into the child’s hell.

Tucker entered the room, coffee mugs in hand. “She finally sleeping?” he asked, kissing his mom on the head, then handing her a java.

“Yes.” She took a sip of her coffee, gaze meeting mine over the rim of her cup, a plan forming in her squinted eyes.

Oh, fuck. I knew what was coming next.

She swallowed. Smiled. Tilted her head. “Dane. You’re great with her. I know you don’t want to be here, but would you consider staying another day or two?”

“I can’t.”

I rolled, sliding my arm out from under the girl’s head, and waited, holding my breath, to make sure I hadn’t woken the sleeping angel. When satisfied she was still unconscious, I inched my way off the bed.

If my brothers saw me, they’d have me tarred and feathered.

Mother and son watched while I stretched the kinks from my weary bones, both eyeing me with suspicion.

“She needs you,” Leticia said, a sugar-coated attack on my heartstrings.

Lady was wasting her breath. I didn’t have a heart.

“And I need to get the fuck outta this prison,” I snapped, agitation, nausea, and dehydration getting the best of me.

Leticia’s eyes narrowed, face reddened.

Aw, fuck. “Sorry, Doc. Didn’t mean to bark at you.”

The sweet doctor shooed me away like my short fuse was no big deal.

“Dane.” Tucker shot me a glare and gestured toward the door. “Outside.”

I followed the lug, too tired, and too fucking hungover to put up a fight. I did, however, snag the cup of coffee he’d left on the table on my way out.

I followed him down a narrow hallway, then up a set of stairs, another hallway, more stairs. He opened a door and led me into a massive, fully furnished studio apartment. “Listen. I don’t wanna know your business, but if you need a place to crash for a while, we’ve got spare rooms. No one will bother you.”

“Thanks, but no thanks.” I didn’t need anybody’s help. Although the bed was huge, and tempting, and damn, how I needed to crash into something soft and sleep for days.

“Fine. Fine.” He stomped to the window and yanked the curtain, making way for the rising sun. “Could you at least wait until the girl settles in with her aunt before you disappear? She needs you right now.”

I’d given too much of my time already. But that girl had my guts wrapped around her tiny fucking fingers. I couldn’t walk away. “Only until she’s settled. What’s the aunt’s name, anyway, and when can I meet her?”

“You know damn well you can’t meet her, and you can’t know her name. Keeps everyone safe.”

“How do you know she’s not an addict like the girl’s mother, or a sadistic fuck like the asshole I found her with?”

Tucker smirked, and had I not been so exhausted, I might’ve knocked that dimple off his face. I shot him a warning glare instead.

Tucking hands into his pockets, he cleared his throat, then said, “Tito did a full work-up. She checks out. The woman’s squeaky clean.”

I nodded, not wholly convinced anyone would be good enough for the girl. Then again, what did I know? Tucker and Tito did the rescuing shit day in and day out. They were the good guys. Me? Heh. I ate pansies like them for breakfast.

Tucker nodded toward the bed. “Room’s yours. We don’t have any other kids at the moment, so you can come and go as you please.”

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