Even as I’m berating myself, I go to her room and use my key to open her damn door. I enter slowly at first to see if she’s awake. She’s lying on dark brown sheets, her blonde hair fanning out over her pillow and her hand under her cheek. She looks almost angelic. You certainly would never guess that she took a man’s life today. She did it with deadly accuracy, too. That didn’t escape my notice. Torch had mentioned the girls had been training themselves while they were on the run. I mostly wrote it off, but it’s clear that now it was serious fucking training. You don’t get that fucking accurate even close-up without hours put in. Add in the fact that Beth was shaking when she did it, and… well, hell… it makes you wonder exactly what she can do.
I walk over to the corner where she keeps Gabby’s crib. She’s outgrowing it. Soon, she’ll be in a toddler bed. I missed so much with her. My eyes immediately go back to Beth. I didn’t use a condom when I fucked her. She’s the only woman I’ve ever fucked without a condom. It’s like second nature with her. I don’t think she realizes it yet and I’m sure as hell not going to tell her… at least not yet.
I might be crazy as fuck, but I’m tying her to me again, and this time she’s not getting the chance to get away. This time no one is coming between me and what is mine. Not fucking Viper or his club, and definitely not my own. This time, things will be different. Beth will accept it. She won’t have a fucking choice. Beth is going nowhere—unless I’m right beside her.
She’s mine. Nothing else matters.
“Are you ready?”
I look up from putting some more Cheerios in Gabby’s plate to see Skull standing there looking at me expectantly.
“Ready for what?” I ask him, confused.
“We’re going for a ride today,” he announces, as if it’s something I should have known already.
“I can’t go for a ride, Skull,” I tell him, half-tempted to say yes—and I can’t do that. What happened yesterday can never be repeated. Never.
“Yes, you can,” he says, but instead of sounding put-off or frustrated because I’m refusing, he’s… smiling. How long has it been since I’ve seen him smile? How tempting it would be to feed that smile and get lost in him…
“I can’t. I don’t have a sitter. And don’t you have a girlfriend to take for a ride? Or does she only ride on her broom or your…”
“Ah…ah…ah…” Skull interrupts me, shaking his finger. “Better watch your words in front of our daughter. I’m not asking anyone but you, Beth.”
God, how tempting. Asshole. I need to remember he’s an asshole.
“I suppose I should be flattered, but that doesn’t change the fact that I don’t have a sitter.”
“That’s why we’re taking Gabby with us,” he explains.
I freeze. “We are?” I ask confused.
“It’s time I start spending more time with my daughter.”
“Oh. Actually… that sounds great. Doesn’t it, Gabby? Would you like to go bye-bye with daddy?” I ask her, getting her up out of the chair.
“Ice cream!” she yells excitedly, moving her hands up and down with her happiness. I laugh.
“Uncle Torch has her a little spoiled. She thinks going bye-bye means ice cream automatically,” I tell him when I stand beside him with a wiggling Gabby.
“Then daddy needs to take her for ice cream, ‘cause daddy is more fun than Uncle Torch,” Skull tells her, and she giggles.
“Daddy more fun,” she says, though I’m positive she doesn’t know what she’s saying. Still, I know what Skull is doing and I can’t stop from laughing. I watch as he pulls her in to kiss her forehead. Gabby wraps her arms around him like she’s been holding him her whole life. The picture makes my heart squeeze in pain of what might have been. I close my eyes briefly against the weight of the regrets swamping me.
“Beth.”
Skull’s voice grabs me and pulls me from my thoughts. I slowly open my eyes to find him and my daughter staring at me. Our daughter.
How often have I wanted that? How often have I needed this very thing? How is it fair that I’m getting it now when it’s much too late?
“Sorry. I’m just a little tired. I didn’t get much sleep,” I tell him, not a lie exactly. “What time will you be back with her?”
“You’re not understanding me, Beth. The three of us are going. You, me, and Gabby.”
“Why?”
“Do I need a reason to spend the day with my family?” he asks, like none of the hate and anger exists between us anymore.