A harsh breath left him as he pulled her into his arms. “Love you, sis.”
She mumbled something against his chest, then pushed away from him. “Go home and prepare. She’ll be back.”
He turned for his truck without a glance at us, not that I cared.
Emberly had said more than Cayson or I could’ve offered him . . . and I wasn’t sure I could help him at all anymore. Not when Emberly’s words were going around in my mind for an entirely different reason.
Just by being back in town, my flight risk had turned my world on its side. And I couldn’t let another night go by, pretending my body wasn’t aching to go to her. To just fucking talk to her.
“I’m your flight risk?” Cayson asked as Emberly walked over and fell into his arms, amusement leaking through.
“You were,” she said through her smile, then lightly smacked at his chest. “I could punch Rae in the throat. I told her weeks ago to talk to Sawyer. I should’ve known she hadn’t.”
“I could’ve told you she wouldn’t,” Cayson countered.
Emberly rolled her eyes. “Of course you could’ve.” It was all an annoyed grumble. “Y’all are too alike.”
He nodded meaningfully in the direction of Sawyer’s retreating truck. “And the two of you aren’t?”
“Gotta go,” I said abruptly, turning and heading into the house in a daze. What felt like seconds later, I had my keys in hand and was back outside.
“Where the hell are you going?” Cayson called out as I headed for my truck.
“I gotta try,” I began as he stopped my driver’s door from shutting. “I gotta talk to Madison.”
Cayson’s face fell. “Hunter . . .”
“I need to at least try, Cays.”
“Isabel?” he ground out, brows pulled low in disapproval.
My chest ached even as my heart raced harder and harder, screaming at me to start up my truck and go. “I’ve stayed away from Madison for two weeks, and this is still ruining us.”
“Are you letting it?”
“I can’t stop it,” I shot back, pain lacing my words. “I’ve begged her not to put this distance between us. I told her I was going to tell the rest of my family about us. Tell every—”
Cayson’s expression turned expectant when the knot in my throat had me choking over her response.
“She told me not to,” was all I managed to say.
“I told you, I’ve been dreaming about the day when you would tell your family about me. About us,” Izzy had said the last morning she woke in my arms. “But don’t do this to me, Hunter.”
My head had jerked back on the pillow. “What—do what?”
“I know you’re trying to pretend she isn’t here, but she is. And I know you. I know what she’s always meant to you. So, I know it’s only a matter of time before you do talk to her.” Her head moved in a jumbled mess of nods and shakes as she’d rolled away and gotten out of bed. “And you should because we aren’t together, and you’re a grown man. You can do whatever you want,” she’d rambled quickly as she switched to Spanish, her voice thick with emotion.
“Izzy—”
“But I don’t want to see the difference in you when you do.” Tears filled her eyes, but she forced them away. “And I don’t want to watch you fall in love with her all over again.” She lifted a hand and glared at me in warning. “Don’t you dare say you won’t, Hunter Dixon. I already know you do.”
I followed her off the bed and slowly backed her against the wall, voice low and rough as I held her glassy stare. “Then you should know that I love you.”
At that, her tears fell. Head shaking as she placed her hands against my chest. “I do, but you—” A sob ripped from her as she put pressure against me, pushing me away. “Don’t do this to me,” she’d weakly begged. “Don’t tell me that and don’t claim me when she’s between us in a way she’s never been.”
“Cayson, I have to do this,” I finally continued. “I’m going to. Staying away from Madison might be worse than going to her.”
“You can’t believe that,” he said softly.
“I don’t know! I don’t know because I dunno what the fuck I’m doing other than getting in my truck and going to see her.”
Hesitation and disapproval poured from my brother, but he still nodded and stepped back. “We’ll get the animals put up.”
“Thank you,” I said solemnly as I cranked the engine and shut the door.
My heart raced as I pulled off the property and onto the main road. Threatening to pound out of my damn chest as this frenzied sense of unease and foreboding and wholeness washed over my body. Causing me to press harder on the gas as I headed toward the girl who had owned me for so long.
I offered Raf a forced smile when Avalee shoved my phone in front of my face and watched as his expression froze.
Shifted.
Got all kinds of uncomfortable before he cleared his throat and sent up the exact smile I was giving him.
“Yeah, I see her, Ava,” he said, our daughter’s name falling from his lips in that intriguing and beautiful way thanks to his accent.
I’d always loved the way he said it. Kind of hated it right then. Mostly because I kind of hated him . . . partially because he’d always refused to use her full name.
I hadn’t minded as much before. But all those things that had only bothered me a little now irritated me to no end.
“Why Avalee?” he’d always asked, emphasizing the ‘lee’ part of her name with a forced American accent and an irritated grunt. “It ruins her name and makes her sound like some small-town farm girl.”
“You married a small-town farm girl,” I would remind him, to which he’d always look around and get that devilish smirk of his as he’d stalk forward.
Need flaring in his eyes and rolling from him. “I don’t see one of those around here.”
“And we had so, so, so, so, so much fun,” Avalee went on, continuing whatever conversation they’d been having as she snatched the phone away and broke the connection.
I watched as she dashed away. Telling him about her day and showing him parts of my parents’ house she showed him every single night when they FaceTimed.
But as much as my body and mind ached to, I didn’t show the relief when she took the phone away. I didn’t show the irritation from just hearing his voice. Because she’d already seen too much that first week. My hurt and shock and frustration. Our fight when he’d come home . . .
I wouldn’t put her through any more of this hellish ride. A child didn’t deserve to be dragged through the emotional parts of their parents’ relationship—or the destruction of it.
“Mommy!” Avalee shouted as she ran toward me minutes later, hand outstretched. “Daddy wants to talk to you.”
My expression was nothing but love and feigned excitement for her as I held my hand out. “Is that so?”
She gave one big nod as she came to an abrupt stop. “It’s so, he said it!”