Only One (Reed Brothers)(16)

He shakes his head. “I’ll wait for Matt.”

Carrie comes out just a minute later, and she looks calmer than she did when she went in. “You okay?” I ask. I wrap my arm around her and pull her close to kiss her cheek.

“I’m okay,” she says. “They’re going to keep her here at least overnight.”

“Is your dad coming?”

“He’s on the way.”

“Okay,” I say. “You ready to go? I have my jeep outside.”

“We can take her,” Matt says.

I shake my head. “I can do it.” I won’t leave her. Not now.

Matt motions me toward the front door and I follow him. Suddenly, he turns and jerks me toward him, his hand strong on my neck. I flinch, but I take it. “Her dad’s not here, and no one else is here to take care of her while she’s vulnerable. So why should I trust you to do that?” He stares into my eyes.

“I wouldn’t take advantage of her,” I say. I shrug out of his hold, and he looks surprised by that. “In fact, I’m the one who will protect her from anything. So don’t assume you can run me off by intimidating me.”

He grins. “I like you.” He steps back. “See you in the morning!” he calls over his shoulder. Paul follows him to the truck, stopping for only a moment to pat me on the shoulder and say, “Good boy.”

I laugh. Paul’s talking to me like I’m a puppy. “Screw you,” I say to his retreating back. He just laughs at me. I’ve seen all the words they bleep from his mouth on the show. I doubt I could surprise him.

I shake my head and turn to Carrie. She yawns, and she looks like she can barely stay on her feet. “C’mon,” I say. “Let’s get you home.”

We get to her house and she climbs out of the jeep. I go inside with her, and she walks straight to her bedroom. Does she want me to follow her? I do it anyway, because I can’t stand having so much space between us. I feel almost like she’s going to shatter, and that I need to be there to catch the pieces. Maybe even to put her back together.

She turns down her covers and steps out of her jeans shorts. Then she does that trick women must be born doing—when she unhooks her bra and pulls it from her sleeve.

“Stay with me?” she says quietly. She looks at me, watching my face. I pull back the other side of the bedcovers and kick my shoes off. I slide beneath her covers with my clothes on and she rolls into me. “I had another minute,” she says quietly. “Two, actually.”

She lays her head on my chest and wraps her arm around my chest so tightly that she tucks it under me on the other side.

“How did it go?” I ask.

“It went.”

“Good?”

“Yeah.” She heaves a sigh. “Thank you.”

I kiss her forehead. “You’re welcome.”

She yawns against my chest, and I can feel the warm breath of her exhalation through my shirt. “You won’t leave, will you?” she asks quietly.

“No, I won’t leave.”

“Promise?”

“Yeah, I promise.”

“Good.” She snuggles into my chest, and I imagine that our heartbeats have lined up, just like our breaths and our bodies. I’m not sure that our worlds can line up as cleanly.

***

It’s probably a few hours later when I hear her door open. I jerk awake and look up to find her dad standing beside the bed, staring down at me. Then he turns and leaves the room. He leaves the door open, so I roll out from under her and follow him into the kitchen, where he’s getting a bottle of water from the fridge. “Mr. Michaels,” I say.

“Nick.” He doesn’t look at me. He just looks into the fridge.

“Um…” I jerk a thumb toward the bedroom. “I was just keeping Carrie company. I didn’t want her to be alone.”

“Um-hmm,” he hums.

“Really, sir,” I say. “I didn’t…I wouldn’t…” Shit. I swipe a hand down my face.

He glares at me. “You couldn’t keep her company and not be in her bed?”

“Well, she kind of needed me, sir.”

“Needed you in her bed?” His brows form a vee.

“She needed someone to hold her. She was having a pretty hard time.”

“Dad?” Carrie says from the hallway.

“Care,” he says softly.

She falls into him and he holds her tightly. “I’m so glad you’re here.”

He glares at me over the top of her head. Then he sets her back from him. “No boys in your bedroom, Care,” he says.

“Oh, yeah.” She looks at me sheepishly. “Sorry about that. We weren’t doing anything. It was nothing.”

“It didn’t look like nothing,” he says. He tips her face up. “It looked like something. Dads don’t like somethings when it comes to their daughters.”

She laughs. “I get it, Dad.” She reaches out for my hand. “Can Nick stay?”

He snorts. “Not in your bed.”

She nods, and he kisses her forehead.

“I’m going to lie down. I want to go see your mom early tomorrow.”

He goes into the master bedroom and closes the door behind him.