Beautiful Broken Promises(102)
“How’s your mom doing?” he asked, looking at Jaxon.
“Please tell me you aren’t interested in her, too. If one more guy asks me if my mom is single, I’m gonna start throwing punches,” Jaxon whined. That got a small laugh out of me.
Mack shrugged his shoulders coyly. “I’ll see her around.” When Jaxon groaned, Mack turned his attention toward me. “How’s your daughter doing?”
“She’s perfect.”
He nodded his head. “Good… good to hear. That was some tough news, son. Hug em’ all tight tonight.” His words sounded exactly like something my dad would tell me right now, and I reached out to shake his hand in appreciation. “You’ll need questioning, so don’t go headin’ outta town.”
“He used to be a cop, I’m sure he knows the drill, Mack,” Jaxon added.
“Yeah?” Mack’s eyebrows perked up. “Need a job?”
I chuckled and shook my head. “No thanks. After the last four years I’ve had, I look forward to my boring desk job.”
Mack nodded his head as if he understood and then lifted his chin toward Jaxon before walking away. Jaxon feigned a jab at me. “There isn’t anything boring about working at The Riley Group, you ungrateful bastard,” he smirked while rounding the side of my car.
“Thanks, man…” I started. “You really saved my ass. I could easily be sitting in the back of that patrol car right now, so I appreciate it.”
“That f*cker deserved it, and I would have been honored to bail your ass out of jail,” he said with a shrug. We both sat down in the car and I reached out to shake hands with him.
“Let’s head out… I want to get back to my family.”
~~~~~~~
With a new set of clothes on and a small bag packed for Kate, I stormed out of the house and ripped open my passenger door. Jaxon had taken over the driver’s seat, claiming I wasn’t in the right state of mind to handle the roads. My chest was squeezing in on itself, and I couldn’t get my hands to stop shaking.
“Where the hell did she go?” I barked.
“Dude, calm down…” Jaxon tried to placate me.
“No, f*ck that. If this were Emerson, you’d be blowing up! Braden’s terrarium is gone.”
“Oh… okay…” I knew he hadn’t understood my words.
“His favorite thing in the world. If that’s gone, then something’s up. What the f*ck is up, man?”
“Okay, I don’t really know yet. I know that Raegan was upset. Jace and I told her to give you a moment to cool down. Let’s just get back to their house and I’m sure we can figure this all out.”
“You told her to give me a moment?” I bit out.
“Yeah…”
“And she listened?”
“Well, when you weren't responding to her…” he trailed off. Raegan never left anything alone. She always pounced on me to fix problems, right there and then. What was going through her mind? I had been in a state of shock after I beat Adam down, so I don’t remember hearing anybody saying anything to me. I guess Rae could have been trying to talk to me… but I just didn't hear it. There had been blood everywhere, and I just couldn't forgive myself for erupting like that in front of her.
“God, I freaked her out, didn’t I? I was so angry…” I tried to reverse my memory and remember what exactly had happened after Adam passed out. I didn’t think I said anything to upset her…hell, I didn’t remember saying anything at all. “She wouldn’t take Kate…” I wasn’t sure why I said that out loud. Raegan would never do anything like that to me.
“No, she wouldn’t,” Jax confirmed.
“I can’t stand the other option either.”
“What’s that?” he asked, turning onto the dirt driveway.
“Her leaving Kate. Leaving me.”
Before he could push the gear into park, I went flying up the porch steps and shoved inside Audrey and Jace’s door. Just as I stomped into the foyer, a little blur flew past me. I looked down and watched Kate, in socked feet, using the wood floor as her personal skating rink. She ran past me again and then stopped before quickly scurrying back in front of me.
“I’m skating, dad!”
“I see that,” I chuckled.
The instant I saw her brilliant blue eyes, a large piece of my heart unclenched and I scooped her up. Her arms wrapped around my neck and we squeezed each other like we hadn’t just been eating dinner together only a few hours ago. This is how she greeted me every time I went away, either to work or just to the gym. How could I ever live without out this again? How had I not suffocated, living without it for so long? No matter what happened with Rae, she would be my constant and I swore I would be hers.