“You two will be fine. You’ve had fun before.” He smirks, his eyes moving from me to his brother. “Behave.”
Rocco shakes his head. “Food and bed. That’s all I care about. I’m exhausted.”
My belly immediately growls at the mention of food, and Rocco’s eyes slide to me, missing nothing.
“Pizza!” Adaline exclaims as she comes back down the hall, always wanting pizza. She’d eat it every day without complaint if I allowed her.
“Pizza it is.” Rocco doesn’t realize it, but he just cemented his awesomeness even more in Adaline’s eyes.
“Later,” Carmello calls out before slamming the door behind him, leaving us alone.
“Bath and bed right afterward, Adaline,” I tell her.
“Okay, Mom,” she groans, sounding sad and defeated but looking up at Rocco like he’s going to rescue her.
But he shakes his head, killing her dreams. “Bedtime for all of us. We all need our rest.”
“Fine.” She kicks her little pink tennis shoes against his dark hardwood before lifting her big doe eyes to him. “Pizza?”
“You got it,” he says with a smile, sucked right in.
Two hours later, our bellies are full, and I’m cuddled in bed with Adaline. This is the first night I’m not afraid or filled with worry as I close my eyes.
We’re safe.
Beau is hopefully hundreds of miles away, not giving two shits that we aren’t there anymore.
I rub Adaline’s cheek with the backs of my fingers until we both drift to sleep.
I roll over, and sunshine hits my face, the warmth against my skin unmistakable. I turn, expecting to see my little girl next to me, but instead, I find nothing but an empty space and a dented pillow.
I rocket upward, a knot starting in my stomach before the panic follows up my throat.
Jumping up, I start tearing the blankets off the bed before looking over the edge, praying she’s on the floor fast asleep.
But she’s not.
The room is empty.
Oh God.
Oh God.
Oh God.
My heart races, and a cold sweat breaks out across the back of my neck.
There’s nothing more terrifying than not knowing where your child is, and I am there.
“Adaline,” I whisper, not sure what time it is or if Rocco is still asleep, but freaking the fuck out.
Walking quickly, I open every door, glance around, call out her name, and when I come up empty, I move on to the next.
“Adaline, baby. Where are you?” I say a little louder this time as I make my way down the hallway to the living room, hoping she’s passed out on the couch.
Each step causes my heart to race a little faster and my stomach to twist a little tighter.
But the living room is empty too.
She’s nowhere. Gone. Poof.
Fuck!
What if Beau found us and took her?
The reality of that being a possibility makes my knees weak, almost giving out underneath me, but I catch myself on the edge of the couch, trying to breathe.
He didn’t find us.
We’re safe.
I remind myself, repeating those words as I continue my search, calling out for Adaline over and over again, waiting for her reply.
But the house is dead silent.
As I turn, I notice the sliding glass door to the pool area is open, and my heart comes to a screeching halt, and my chest fills with nothing but emptiness.
Adaline doesn’t know how to swim.
Oh my God!
I didn’t even think about the fact that there’s a pool only a few feet away and I have to have a talk with her about going out there without me. I run forward, pushing the sliding glass door open farther and rush toward the pool.
It’s empty.
I glance around, my hands and body shaking in fear and only getting worse with every step I take.
What if she’s not here?
What if he did find us and he took her in the middle of the night without me even waking up?
I run inside, making a mad dash for Rocco’s room and don’t even knock.
I open the door and immediately come to a dead stop and cover my mouth.
Oh shit.
Rocco’s lying there, his eyes open, mouthing, “Help me,” with Adaline curled against his bare chest, sound asleep.
9
Rocco
Rebel’s eyes widen as soon as they find Adaline.
“Help,” I whisper to her, needing a rescue.
I’ve been lying here for damn near an hour, not moving, too scared to wake the kid.
I don’t know how she got here or why she is in my bed, but when I opened my eyes, I was in utter shock.
The last thing I wanted to do was scare the child. I didn’t know if she’d wake up in a panic or cry out for her mother. And I knew I didn’t want to piss off Rebel either.
So, I lay here and waited.
The minutes ticked by as I studied the little girl’s face.
The dip of her nose, the plumpness of her cheeks, just like her mother’s.
Everything about her is a carbon copy of Rebel’s beauty.
I don’t know what her father looked like, but I know she didn’t get a damn thing from him…thank God.
Rebel walks into the room, her eyes moving from me back to Adaline, the color returning to her face. “How did this happen?”
“I don’t know,” I whisper, remaining completely still. “She was just here when I woke up.”
“She was just here?” she asks, repeating my words.
“Like I said…she was just here.”
I peer down, soaking in the little girl fisting her pink blanket in her hand and curled against my chest.
“I don’t understand.” Rebel leans over and stares down at Adaline too.
“Me either, sugar. I went to bed alone and never thought I’d wake up the opposite.”
“I didn’t even feel her get out of bed. I almost had a heart attack when I woke up.”
“Makes two of us.” I smile but remain frozen, almost too scared to breathe, even though the kid hasn’t moved, even with our whispering. “While I love the chitchat, I could use a little help, Reb. Got nothing on under this sheet, sugar.”
Rebel’s mouth falls open, and her eyes dip to my lower half. “What?”
“Naked as the day I was born, babe. You remember what I look like underneath this, yeah?”
Rebel’s mouth opens and closes, but her eyes narrow, flashing with…lust? She definitely remembers. How could she forget? I fucked her every way possible and as many times as I could before…
“She sleeps heavy. Don’t worry. You can move.” Rebel slides her arms under Adaline’s small body and pulls her away gently.
“Mommy,” Adaline whispers, her voice deeper than usual.
Sleeps heavy, my ass.
“Hey, baby. Let’s get you back to bed,” Rebel says sweetly, kissing the little girl’s puffy pink cheeks.
There’s a part of me that goes all soft on the inside seeing this side of Rebel.
I’d never thought of her as a mom, but then again, who thinks of someone that way when you’re so young?
I never would’ve expected her to walk back into my life, ten years after the accident, with a little girl in tow.