CHARLOTTE

What on earth just happened? Those words and so many more were racing around in my head. One minute, I was having ice cream with Shiloh and laughing with her. Then the next, Darth and Deck were running full force at us while the other four men were running just as quickly towards a blue vehicle, which I had only noticed twenty minutes earlier. They seemed to be taking photos or something. I noticed a long round black object hanging slightly out the window. At first, I had been a bit concerned, but when I saw a yellow flashing light on top of the roof, I’d decided it must be one of those cameras taking photos of local areas to put on a mapping programme.

When I saw Deck running, his voice yelling at us to get down, I knew something wasn’t right. I didn’t know why but my first instinct was to protect Shiloh, but when she noticed her daddy, she jumped away from me. What shocked me the most was Darth. He tackled me to the ground, rolling so he took the brunt of the fall, then he rolled me under him to put his back in the way of whatever danger they thought was out there. When he did, I felt a sharp pain in my shoulder blade.

I lifted my hand and felt around until I felt coldness against my fingers. Pulling my hand back, I gasped when I saw blood. Oh, great. Tears sprang to my eyes instantly. I wasn’t much of a pain person. Sure, my feet hurt with dancing and my muscles could ache something fierce from a performance, but the pain associated with blood—that I wasn’t so good with.

But the pain in my heart hurt the most. Even after Deck could see Shiloh was okay, he never acknowledged me at all. Even Darth seemed to forget me after saving me from what I had no idea. Creed, Steel, Mannix, and Booth also ignored me. Their focus was entirely on Shiloh and the cut on her arm. I hated that she got hurt. Was it my fault? Should I not have been out with Shiloh without one of the men with me? Deck was strict about her being without what he calls detail. But I’d honestly thought, after the last few weeks and me driving her to school in Deck’s truck myself, it would have been fine taking her out on a playdate to her favourite playground. I couldn’t find Deck when I wanted to leave, and I tried to find one of the other guys but only saw the prospects Squid and Seb. And they said it shouldn’t be a problem. They certainly didn’t look like they wanted to come, so I didn’t bother asking. Judging by Deck’s reaction, I probably should have.

I swiped at the tears that had escaped without me realising and huffed out a breath. Now what? Did I walk back to the compound? All my stuff was there since I lived with Deck. My horrible little apartment was gone, and the furniture I had was in storage in a shed on the club’s grounds.

I had no idea what to do.

The late afternoon cold breeze was coming in, and my shivering was telling me my lightweight dress and sandals weren’t going to cut it much longer sitting out here. My cardigan was somewhere over near the playground under a tree. Seeing that as my next step, I climbed to my feet from the ground, and suddenly, a blinding pain ripped through my leg. Reaching down, I lifted my dress to expose my thigh and saw quite a large gash there.

I burst into tears from the shock and the pain and then hobbled the few hundred yards to the big tree I had been sitting under earlier, watching Shiloh play happily.

Somehow, that felt so long ago.

Awkwardly, I fell on my butt. My leg was throbbing, as was my shoulder, and I wasn’t sure if I could move anymore. I knew now that I had sat down, getting up was going to be a huge struggle.

Oh, no, the recital! The thought suddenly popped into my head. Would I be able to dance? Would there be a recital at all? If Deck didn’t want me anymore, how could I stay here now? The apartment I had may have been horrible, but it was cheap, and it took me ages to find. Most of the places around there I wouldn’t be able to afford.

Argh, what was I doing? Giving up without a fight? This was so like me, assuming I’d done something wrong. And if I had, putting Shiloh in danger certainly wasn’t on purpose. That little girl was my world, and I would always do everything in my power to keep her safe. And if Deck doubted it… I pulled in an unsteady breath because just the thought of him not trusting me left me feeling sick to my stomach. How could he not trust me? Hadn’t I showed him all the trust in the world?

I mean, I’d moved in with him only weeks after we starting being an ‘us.’ I handed over my virginity to him, and in some ways, my submission. Not in the BDSM kind of submission, but I trusted Deck to know how to take care of me—and my heart. His overprotective and slightly controlling ways suited me. It might not have been every woman’s taste, but I liked being taken care of completely. After years of no love from my family, I liked that this hunk of a man saw it as his job to look after me.

I loved the feeling of being wrapped in his strong arms all night, his weight on me, trapping me like he couldn’t let me go. Like he needed me, and without me, he couldn’t sleep.

I loved being picked up over his shoulder and slapped on my butt as he hurried to our room because he couldn’t wait another second to be alone with me. I loved when he picked me up, put me in his ridiculously huge truck, and buckled me in, making sure I was safe. He was always making sure of that, and I let him. I trusted him to do it. I had given him that because I knew it was what he wanted. Now it was his turn to trust me to do the same for him and Shiloh.

I wasn’t going to run this time, quite literally. I grimaced as I looked down at my leg. The blood’s flow had congealed a bit, but the throbbing was still there.

Last time I didn’t trust Deck enough to let him help me, I ended up on the stage at Gypsies. Not my finest decision but Deck fixed it. So this time, I was going to fix it.

I really needed to think about getting myself up off the cold ground. The grass was growing damp from the night air, and goose bumps were appearing everywhere on my skin.

But I was not ready to haul myself up, pull on my big girl panties, and adult just yet.

At the moment, I just wanted to sit there—mostly because I had no choice—and have just a teensy tiny pity party for one.