Show Me the Way (Fight for Me #1)(28)

104.3

Fuck.

That panic surged.

That is bad, right?

Truth was, Frankie’s health wasn’t a gamble I’d ever take.

I gave her a dose of Tylenol then grabbed a washcloth from the linen closet, ran it under cool water, and pressed it to her forehead. I held it there as I picked her back up and carried her out to my bed, laying her on it. “Hang on one sec, Frankie. Daddy’s going to make sure you get all better.”

She just gave me a trusting nod and curled up on her side, clinging a little tighter to the doll she was always dragging around. I slipped into a tee, jeans, and a pair of shoes, before I had her back in my arms, grabbing my keys and wallet from the entryway table, and rushing her out into the night.

The hour was deep, moon hanging midway on the horizon, peeking out from behind a streak of wispy clouds stretched in front of it. I wrenched open the back door of my truck and got her into her booster seat, buckled her quickly, and jogged around to the front. I slid the key into the ignition and turned it.

The engine cranked but didn’t turn over.

“Shit,” I muttered under my breath. I pumped the accelerator and tried the ignition again.

A slow dread sank in with the realization.

Fuck.

The cabin lights hadn’t illuminated when I’d opened the doors. I glanced up. The overhead light switch was still set to on.

Fuck.

Frankie had asked for the light so she could look at a book when we were driving back from the lake on Saturday night, and I’d forgotten to switch it off. Leave it to my old-as-shit truck. Or just to me.

The battery was dead.

“Shit.” I drummed my thumbs on the wheel, calculating just how long it would take me to get the battery charger out of the shed to juice this thing up, when my attention snagged in the rearview mirror.

The sleeping house behind us was bathed in a shallow pool of moonlight, the windows darkened and encased in silence.

The woman probably hated me.

At least she should.

I still couldn’t believe the dick move I’d pulled two nights ago, the way I couldn’t stop from pressing myself against her, taking a little bit of what I couldn’t have.

I knew better.

But I couldn’t stop after I had heard what’d gone down in Frankie’s room. That quiet understanding that had poured from Rynna, like she might actually have the ability to get what me and Frankie had been through. Like maybe she’d been through some of the same bullshit, too.

Goal had been nothing more than thanking her. But I’d gone and gotten stupid. Had gotten too close. Had touched her because I couldn’t stop myself.

Not when I was engulfed with her presence. Cherries and sugar. So goddamned sweet.

None of that mattered right then. The only thing that mattered was Frankie, who was moaning in the backseat, her head bobbing all over the place. Worst was I couldn’t tell if she was nodding off to sleep or truly coming in and out of consciousness.

Any loyalty I had didn’t come close to touching that.

I hopped out of the truck, wrenched open Frankie’s door, and had her back in my arms in the next second. With one arm holding her against me, I grabbed her booster seat and then strode across the vacant street.

There was no hesitation when I bounded up the steps and pounded on Rynna’s door.

I stood there, shifting my feet anxiously while I waited, that unease growing tenfold when I saw a light flicker on through an upstairs window. Thirty seconds later, footsteps were shuffling across the floor. I could almost feel her confusion when I sensed her peering out the peephole at us.

But the second she did, there was no delay, and she was tearing open the door.

Concern was written all over that face.

That goddamned striking face that made something inside me light up at the sight of her.

“Oh my God, Frankie Leigh.” It was whispered panic pouring from her pretty mouth. “What happened?”

Those java eyes darted to my face.

Worry.

Fear.

I forced down every convoluted feeling I had about her. “She woke up with a fever. My battery’s dead in my truck. Need to borrow your car so I can take her to the ER.”

“I’ll drive you,” she said instead of agreeing. The girl was already sliding on a pair of flip-flops that had been sitting by the door.

“That’s not—”

She held up a hand, cutting me off the way I had continually done to her. “She’s sick, and you’re obviously upset.” Her tone softened. “I’ll drive you. It’s not a problem.”

The part of me that always needed to prove that I could raise my daughter alone wanted to rear its head and fight her. I bit it back. Focused on the feeling of my daughter in my arms.

Frankie’s well-being was my only concern.

“Thank you.”

I should absolutely not be accepting this woman’s generosity.

Every fucking one of the reasons why surged to the forefront of my mind. Screaming at me why this was wrong. To watch the line I was toeing.

Somehow, I couldn’t bring myself to care.

Rynna grabbed her purse and stepped out, still wearing what she’d obviously gone to bed in—a pair of thin cotton striped pants and a black tank.

I dropped my gaze. At least I managed to find the self-control not to watch the sweet sway of her luscious ass.