Play Fair (The Devil's Share Book 3)(55)

“You love them.” Luke reached across the table and tapped my arm.

I sent him a watery smile. “More than anything.”

He shook his head. “You don’t want to run. It never even crossed your mind before today.”

My voice cracked. “No. But I can’t be the reason he loses her. I love Landry, more than I love myself. So her happiness comes first. No matter what.”

Lexi reached for my hand with tears in her eyes. “Now that’s a mother.”

I went upstairs and for the first time in a long time, I got in my bed. I felt lonely and sad and I cried myself to sleep.

***

The next day I was sitting at Landry’s swim lesson, searching for puppies on my phone. I wanted to do something special for Landry and Jacks. And the two of them wanted a puppy so damn bad, it was adorable. I’d told them both over and over that they needed to wait until they moved to Texas. But now? After last night? I wanted to do this for them. I thought about it a lot and decided that I would stay until the trial. I’d move back into the guest room and I’d sit Diane down and tell her that I had a return ticket home and that Jacks would hire a new nanny in Texas. Landry would be sad that I wasn’t moving with them, but she’d be safe. And I’d promise her that I would visit.

I’d spent the past hour looking at all the different local shelters’ websites. When I clicked on the last page, I’d about given up hope of finding what I was looking for. And then I saw him. He was a two-month-old Great Dane/American Bulldog mix, solid white with a black patch over his eye. He was perfect.

When Landry got out of the pool, I rushed her through getting dressed. We usually went and got something to eat after class; she was always starving. But I drove us straight to the shelter instead. It took three pages of paperwork and one cuddle session in front of a shelter worker, and then he was ours.

We were stopped at a gas station on the way home; the puppy had peed in Jacks’s Tesla. “Landry, be sure to hold him tight, there are lots of cars around here.” She had him in her arms in the front seat while I did my best to soak up urine from the backseat. Maybe Jacks was right after all—getting him potty-trained before they moved was smart.

“Okay, Momma.”

I went stock-still, my eyes searching the parking lot. Was she here? Had she spotted us? I stood up, checking every car window I could see into. And then I realized something, she didn’t call Amelia Momma, she called her Mom. I dipped my head down to look at Landry. She was cuddling the puppy and giggling while he licked her face. She didn’t have a care in the world. She hadn’t seen her mom; she’d called me Momma. My eyes filled with tears. I took a few seconds to get my emotions under control and then I threw away the rags I was using. “Okay, sweet girl, climb in the back and get your seat belt on.” I waited for her to buckle up and then I passed her the wiggly puppy.

I couldn’t leave her. What the hell was I thinking? Me going away wasn’t our only option here. They wanted permanent? We’d give it to them.





Chapter Twenty-seven


Jacks


Last night had been f*cking brutal. Bryan had destroyed me. What I couldn’t figure out was why, because I knew she hadn’t had one foot out the door. Right? Maybe she just wasn’t willing to fight for us. I hadn’t talked to her today. I was avoiding her, which was easy because I was in the studio and she was with Landry at swim. See? I knew she had swim class today.

“Earth to Jacks.” Luke snapped his fingers in front of my face.

“Sorry, what?”

He cocked his head. “How you doing, man?”

I shook my head. “I feel like my heart was ripped out of my f*cking chest and the sun will never shine again.”

Luke’s eyebrows rose. “I wish there was something we could say, or do, to make it better.”

“There isn’t.” I didn’t want to talk about it, it hurt too much. The thought of Bryan leaving was literally gut wrenching.

“What are you going to do?”

I looked over to Smith. “What can I do? She’d rather run than fight. And I can’t even blame her. Between Landry and her mom…my life is chaos right now. She has every reason to want to go.” I just thought we meant more to her than that.

“Fight for both of you.” My head shot up at the sound of Dylan’s voice. I hadn’t even heard the door open.

“What?”

“You heard me, Jacks. Fight. Fight enough for the both of you.”

I stood. “Are you kidding me right now? You’ve been all but daring her to leave for the past month, and now that she actually is, you want to be supportive?”

“I realized something last night.” She closed her eyes, steeling herself. “I was wrong.”

She opened her eyes and I held her gaze. “She lied. Last night, she lied about why she was leaving. Didn’t she?”

“Go ask her yourself. Go fight.” She gestured to the floor above us.

I turned toward the stairs. I’d show these people a f*cking fight. I wasn’t going to let her leave us, and she had another think coming if she thought I’d let her sacrifice herself for us. I entered the main floor to the sound of Landry laughing. It was her super happy laugh; it sounded like little bells. I followed the sound into the backyard where Landry, Bryan, and Dagger were running around with the cutest white puppy I’d ever seen. “B?”