DECK

I couldn’t let go of Shiloh once we got back to the car park, so I grabbed her harness and helmet out of Darth’s truck. I needed to keep her close for a while more. Once we arrived back at the compound, Darth immediately got out his medic kit and went about cleaning up her wound. He determined it to be superficial, and he used the special glue most doctors used on children instead of suturing. I could see how much he hated having to doctor her. Yeah, he had done it many times before with scraped knees, splinters, and so forth. We all had. But fixing something that was caused by a really dangerous situation? We all need a strong drink to get over this, I thought.

I was sitting on the end of her bed, holding her little hand while trying to reassure myself that she was okay, not hurt too badly, or not affected by what had gone down in the park.

Fuck me. My daughter had literally been in the sights of a madman.

That pissed me off. And scared the fucking shit out of me.

Another thought entered my head that also pissed me off. I knew I was going to have to bring my prick-faced brother in on it. Jason had police contacts at his disposal, and the club had a

clean nose with the local cops. And we aimed to keep it that way.

Ford could tap into the local council’s street cameras without too much problem, but the official police ones, we wanted to go about that in the right way. And I knew, even though Jason and I had major issues between us, his love and dedication to Shiloh were without limits.

“Daddy,” Shiloh whispered. Her voice was groggy and soft. Darth had given her some children’s Panadol to help ease the stinging in her arm.

I reached out with my free hand and rubbed it over her soft hair. Every touch calmed me. “Hey, baby girl. Daddy’s here, honey. Go back to sleep.” I kept my voice low and quiet.

“Is you mad at me, Daddy?” she asked, tears filling her eyes.

“No. No, no, Shiloh, I’m not mad, baby. Daddy was scared and worried about you. So were all your uncles.” I was quick to reassure her. I swiped my thumb over her cheeks and wiped away her tears.

“But you looked mad, and you used your loud, growling voice.”

God, this kid. She had my heart so choked up with love for her. “Yes, baby, I used my growling voice, but only because I was so scared for you.”

Shiloh studied my face for a second. I could see her three-year-old brain mulling it over.

“Okays, Daddy. Can you get Char for me? I needs to hug her.”

My head started spinning. Jesus fucking Christ. Charlie! I’d fucking left her at the fucking park. I quickly looked at my watch to see it had been over an hour since we’d gotten back. Has she been out there all this time? Of course, she has, you fucking dickhead. You left her there all alone.

I pulled out my phone and shot a text to Darth.

DECK: I need Vegas in here with Shiloh. I fucking left Charlie at the park.

It didn’t take more than forty seconds for him to reply.

DARTH: Charlotte just walked in the door. She is hurt. Vegas is on her way. How the fuck did we forget about her??

Fuck if I knew. But I didn’t bother texting it back to him. Hang on! I looked back at his message and read it again. Charlie was hurt? How? I didn’t hear a shot or anything like that.

I wasn’t willing to leave Shiloh in there alone, so I had to wait it out until Vegas made it to my room.

I heard footsteps just outside the door and then a knock. I turned to see Vegas standing in the doorway, a look of concern and disappointment gracing her stunning face. I couldn’t blame her. I was disappointed in myself. Real fucking disappointed. Hurting Charlie in this way was going to cost me, and I just hoped the cost was some grovelling and not losing her.

I turned back to Shiloh, then leaned in and kissed her soft cheek. “Daddy is going to go get Charlie for you, baby. But I want you to sleep while I am gone. Vegas is here to sit with you until I get back. Okay?”

Just mentioning Charlie put the biggest smile on my girl’s face. Well, one of my girls was smiling. Now I hoped I could do the same for my other girl after the big fuck-up of leaving her all alone at the park and not even talking to her after the incident. Yeah, I was screwed.

Moving past Vegas, I gave her arm a gentle squeeze. “I will fix it,” I told her, knowing that was what had her disappointed in me.

“You better. Darth has already had a mouthful from me. Stella is ripping into Booth and Creed, Mia is trying to be mad at Steel, but his leg is giving him trouble, and I’m sure if Rainn knew and was here, Mannix would have very sore balls,” she angrily whispered to me, making sure to keep her voice low so Shiloh couldn’t hear.

Christ, the brothers were really copping it.

Feeling brave, I leaned in and kissed her forehead.

“Thank you, Julie,” I said, using her real name.

Some of the heat left her eyes, and she gave me a tiny smile. “Yeah, well, you make sure those prospects pay for letting Charlotte and Squirt leave the compound without a detail. It is their fault more than it is hers.” She gave my chest a pat and walked into the room. Her smile was gentle as she took in my sleeping princess.

As I walked briskly down the hall, I had to agree with Julie on everything she’d said. The prospects definitely knew the rules and had a lot of explaining.

I hoped my knees were feeling better because I was about to get down on them and stay on them until my sweetness forgave me.