Page 84 of Loving You

She nodded, accepting that, I supposed. “I appreciate that you feel that way. I think, when you’re a father, you’ll be able to relate to what I’m saying a bit more. But my point is this: I’m so unendingly proud of the man you’ve become. It’s not that April has completed you—you were always your own person—it’s that you’ve stood by your siblings as they’ve found love, supporting them and demanding they be their best. And now you’ve opened yourself up to the same.”

Throat tight, I cleared it. “Thanks. I didn’t realize…”

She shook her head, a small smile playing on her lips. “No, honey, you didn’t. You were so focused on everyone else you didn’t have room to recognize how you’d put yourself on a shelf for some later date. I’m so glad to see you off it, living every moment. Allowing yourself to feel the love you so greatly deserve.”

I had no way to reply to that without breaking down like a child. So, we hugged, both smiling and holding back tears, then pulled back and grinned at each other.

She patted my cheek. “See? Even that wide smile used to be reserved for one of your nieces or nephews, but you’re giving them out like candy, these days.”

I scowled at her, and she laughed, swatting my shoulder. We spotted Lea and Jackson again, the baby utterly captivated by her much larger brother holding her little hand grasped around his thumb and gently rocking as they moved around the shiny wooden floor.

Out of the corner of my eye, I registered Rachel had returned and was chatting with Sammy, Will, Jake, and Ellie.Where the hell was April?I wanted to dance with her again. I wanted—

Jake stepped away from the small group, likely to hit the head, but something made his attention snap up toward the door of the B&B, and then he wasrunning.

The hair on my neck stood up, and I bolted, attempting to cut a path through the dance floor. Nothing should cause Jake concern like that—not today, his wedding day. Not when his wife was standing beside him and everyone he loved and cared about was here celebrating, too.

Not unless something was off.

Still fighting my way to the edge of the floor, my stomach bottomed out when Will shouted, “Hey! What the fuck?” and dashed inside.

Adrenaline spiked and I shoved my way through, running straight to where Jake and Will had disappeared. Sammy and Rachel were talking to Ellie, maybe reassuring her? I didn’t have time to stop and find out.

In my gut, I knew. Something was wrong, and it had to do with April.

I should’ve checked on her when she was taking more time than I anticipated. I shouldn’t have waited so long. I should’ve known something was off when I saw Rachel come back without her.

Sprinting up the steps, I slid on the wood floor as my eyes scrambled to make sense of the scene.Fuck.

Stopping short of entering the room and staying hidden by the stairs, I saw my two brothers with their backs to me, trying to talk some sense into the man I couldn’t believe had dared to show his face here tonight.

It was a face I’d technically never seen in real-life until now, but I knew who it was as sure as I knew that there was no way I’d allow him to walk out of this place on his own two feet if he’d hurt the woman I loved.

“Just let her go, man. This is really fucked-up,” Jake was saying, while he held a hand out to April.

My April.Who had a bloody lip and whose hair was in disarray. Her eyes were wide but not as full of fear as I would’ve imagined considering her asshole shitbird of an ex had his arms barred around her body.

Cliff’s eyes were wild, like he’d been drinking, but the sneer on his face told me he wasn’t completely incoherent. There was so much malice there, it could’ve choked a man. But looking at his hands and craning my neck to see his sides, he didn’t appear to be holding a weapon or packing one at his hip or in a pocket.

He could be an idiot who shoved it in his pants, but I couldn’t predict that, and he was drunk enough based on the softness of his consonants, I doubted he could reach for it very fast, anyway. Not without shooting his probably miniscule dick off.

“You’re fucked-up,” he spat. “This entirefamilyis fucked-up. April’s coming with me where she belongs.”

He shifted on his feet, eyes pinging back and forth between my brothers, and I sensed his energy shifting, too. I hadn’t sparred in a while, but he didn’t look like someone who would handle himself well in a fight.

That said, he had April, and he could still hurt her in a number of ways if he had any tricks up his wrinkled sleeves. I needed a way to get her out of his hands as quickly as possible, preferably before he spotted me.

I’d been hanging back on purpose, knowing my presence might be the thing that caused him to do something stupid on impulse, and I wanted to be armed with a plan to stop him before he did.

Will looked like he might lunge at the man, and I mentally begged him to hold off. Jake was saying something, trying to soothe Cliff, and I took a calming breath, willing my heart to slow and my mind to stay clear despite the fear of April being hurt.

My gaze locked into her—she saw me, and instead of screaming or saying anything, she lifted her chin.

Fuck,I loved her. Even in this moment, she trusted me. She knew I wouldn’t come in guns blazing, screaming at her unhinged ex. I would do whatever I could to help her,myway.

All this assessment happened in seconds. My instincts, training, adrenaline, and pure fucking luck driving me to what I did next. Cliff was babbling about April belonging to him, and I’d had enough. She’d been subject to his drunken ego and abusive ways for too long already, and if Will and Jake attacked him and he flipped out, I feared she’d end up hurt once again.

Using what little of the element of surprise I had, I prowled around Will and into Cliff’s space, right as his bloodshot eyes shifted to me.

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