4. Bronson

brONSON

I hardly keptmy eyes off of her all day.

It had been a challenge to pay attention to anything the guys were saying and I'd been ribbed about it constantly. They'd also made me fill them in on Lake"s and my past.

"Now it's all starting to come together," Gyth murmured loud enough for us all to hear.

"Sometimes you're wise and can give the best relationship feedback, then the next second you"re as blond as your beautiful wife," Kace told him, snickering.

Gyth growled, drawing my attention away from the beauty across the lawn I couldn't stop thinking about.

"Watch it when you talk about my wife, asshole," Gyth replied, mock glaring at Kace. We knew the big guy well so it was easy to see the fun banter between the two and know he wasn't truly pissed.

Bodie let out a deep laugh. "Way to prioritize, dude. I mean my wife is exactly where my attention would be, but I'm shocked you let him get away with basically calling you a ditzy blonde."

"He won't get away with shit." Gyth smacked his hand down on Kace's shoulder. "This fucker will get his when the time is right."

"Good to know," Bodie said just as I heard a weird noise that had my gaze snap back to the ladies.

I wasn't prepared to see liquid flying from Lake's mouth and nose. Capri patted her back and she seemed to get things under control. I was almost sure whatever had her losing her drink had to do with me by the look on her face and I couldn't help but smile.

Then both ladies" demeanor changed as they talked and I wondered what they were saying. I watched closely but their conversation stopped as Lake dipped her hand in her pocket to retrieve her phone and answer it.

When her face went a bit white and a worried look crossed her features, my feet were moving across the open landscape.

"Okay, thanks for letting me know, Dave. Yeah, I'll see you tomorrow night."

Who was Dave? I felt my hackles rise hearing her talk to another man. Again, something I had no right doing, but also something else I couldn't seem to control. Only she didn't look happy with the call. She looked afraid.

"Lake, what's going on? What did this Dave guy do?"

She looked at me but then her gaze veered toward her daughter still hanging with the other kids. Stormi had fit right in. Embry had taken the recently turned six-year-old—something the little girl had told me numerous times that day, proud about her age—under her wing like a mama bird protecting her young and she'd been thriving instantly.

Then Lake looked around at all the adults, the guys having followed me over. We were all built the same. Protect and serve, with great instincts. Even Landon, the only one who hadn't served in the military and a lawyer, was still so much like us.

"I'm going to say this once and then we are getting back to our day. I won't ruin Stormi's Fourth of July or anyone else's." She took a deep breath. "Like Ruby said earlier, it feels like someone has been around our home. Sometimes I feel like I'm being watched. And Dave called to tell me that a man called my work for the third time in the last couple of weeks to ask when I worked next."

My body went tight and filled with anger. We all knew and would tell her not to dismiss how she felt. If it seemed like she was being watched and with what she was saying about someone calling her work, my instincts said she was right.

She needed to trust hers.

The thought of someone lurking around her home while she and Stormi were there alone, was unsettling and made my blood boil.

"I think I need your guys' help," she said softly.

Moments before, her voice was stern, but it had completely changed with her admission. I had an inkling that asking for help was as foreign to her as feeling Stormi put her hand in mine earlier by the car was to me.

Braxton stepped forward. "We will do whatever we need to in order to keep you and your daughter safe."

That is my line.I growled.

"This guy too," Braxton told her, ignoring the sounds I was making.

"Thank you. But I meant what I said." She glanced at her child one more time and then looked back at Braxton, causing me to want to touch her face and make her look at me. "It will be after today."

"Okay," he told her.

The cop in me wanted to shake her and Braxton both, telling them we needed to talk about this right then but when Lake's eyes met mine—finally—I knew if I pushed she may walk away for good and not let us help her.

I wasn't going to let that happen.

She gave me a look waiting for my response.

"Tomorrow." That's all the time I would give her. "We will talk about it tomorrow," I told her firmly.

Sounding none too happy but complying, she said, "Fine."

The ladies swarmed her.

"Let's go grab you something stronger than a soda," I heard Alley tell Lake as they pulled her away.

Her response pleased me. "I can't, I'm driving."

I'd been to too many accidents where a drunk driver was involved. I'm sure Lake had as well. And I knew within seconds of watching her with Stormi, she'd never do anything to put her daughter in harm"s way.

"We have hours left and fireworks still. It will take the edge off. One of the guys can take you home," Alley told her before they disappeared into the house.

I sucked air in through my nose and blew it out. "I'll be the only one to take her home," I murmured.

Eyes were on me. I didn't have to look to know all the guys were watching me.

"We'll let you. If she's okay with it."

I spun around to look at Rowan. I could tell it was him by his voice and the way he was studying me when my gaze met his.

"What the fuck?" Irritation radiated off of me.

"Hey," he said. "I want nothing more than for you two to make amends and get a second chance. I don't know what I would have done if Brinley hadn't given us one. But take my advice. Listen to what she is saying even when she's not talking or you'll blow it. I know what I'm talking about."

He was right. I knew he was, but that didn't make it any easier to hear or think of her leaning on someone else. Someone that wasn't me.

Where were you all the other years she needed you?

How could I ask her to trust me and confide in me when I'd left her? When I wasn't there for her for so long?

Gyth slapped me on the back. "It's gonna work out, man."

"How do you know?" I asked him.

"Look around. Every one of us has been in your shoes and it worked out for us, so don't doubt me," Gyth told me.

"See what I mean." We all looked at Kace then. "He really does give good advice and knows what he is talking about once in a while."

Some of the tension left my body as I laughed along with everyone else.

They were an awesome bunch of guys and amazing friends.

My gaze tookin Lake and her daughter.

The bright smiles on their faces as they watched the firework show that Lyric and Bodie were putting on for everyone was awesome to see. Stormi sat between her mom's legs on the blanket, both looking so happy.

Lake had stuck to her guns and wouldn't utter another word about the phone call she got or anything she'd been experiencing. She was a phenomenal mother who put her child first and wanted her to have the best day. Watching her throughout the party with Stormi had been enlightening. I was seeing everything I was missing while around her and all my friends.

I was realizing what I wanted.

My own family.

I'd never found anyone that made me want to settle down or who made me think about having children. With my eyes still on mother and child, I took a deep breath.

Maybe that was because the right one was the one I'd left behind all those years ago. We were so young, how would we ever have really known?

You knew, you idiot. And you still left.

Cracking, pops, and bright colorful lights lit up the sky making all the kids squeal with delight. They were clapping their hands screaming for the guys to do more. It was the distraction I needed to pull me from thoughts about the past.

"Bronson, Bronson, did you see that?" Stormi was off her mother's blanket, barreling toward where I stood behind everyone sitting down. Seconds later she was standing in front of me. She looked to the side of me where Hudson was perched on his father's shoulders and then she looked back at me with longing.

Before she could even ask or I even thought about asking Lake for permission, I plucked her up into my arms and swung her up onto my shoulders. Stormi giggled with joy and the sound slipped right into my soul.

Lake looked over and her gaze turned wistful before she masked her emotions. All throughout the day her walls would slip and then erect themselves again.

Would I ever be able to make her trust me again? Could I scale her walls and make them crumble so she'd let me in? It was probably too soon to tell, but I sure as hell was going to try. I might be getting ahead of myself, but now that Lake was back in my life, I knew I'd never be able to let her go.

And I sure as fuck wasn't walking away again.

"Uncle Bronson, put Stormi down, we want her to play with us while we watch the rest of the fireworks," Peyton, one of the twins said as she patted my leg.

"You do, do you?" I pulled Stormi from my shoulders and planted her feet on the ground.

Stormi stood below me, staring at me with her beautiful milk-chocolate, brown eyes. She tilted her head to the side, her long, light-brown, wavy hair flowing around her. The girl was adorable and her eyes were as expressive as her mother's. She wanted something.

"Can I call you Uncle Bronson too? I don't have any uncles. It's just me and my mom."

My gaze briefly left her face and peeked over her head toward Lake. It was obvious she'd heard what her daughter had said. Lake's lips were pressed together in a thin line and a bit of sorrow swam in her eyes. I lifted a brow to ask permission to answer her child's request and my heart thumped heavily when she nodded.

I brought my attention back to the munchkin in front of me. "You bet you can, sweetheart."

Stormi's smile was radiant and she let out a, "Woo hoo!" Then she and Peyton were running off to catch up with the other children who were playing a game of tag as the grande-finale of fireworks lit up the night sky.

I dared another look toward Lake and watched as she chatted with the other ladies. She laughed at something Gemma said and the light, magical sound went straight to my groin. Lake had always had the best laugh.

Still did.

The sound of a child screaming changed my thinking in a split second as I noticed Peyton rushing toward Lake, yelling, "Something's wrong with Stormi!"

Lake was off the blanket and running in the direction where Stormi lay on the ground. Me and the other adults followed behind her.

She knelt down beside her. "Baby, where's your inhaler?"

I'd heard them talk about asthma and being careful about how hard she played as the party went on throughout the day. I couldn"t imagine what it was like to have a child and watch them struggle.

Lake turned toward the adults when Stormi didn't answer. "I have one in my purse in—"

When her daughter started to talk in the middle of Lake's sentence her head snapped back to Stormi.

"O-on," Stormi wheezed, struggling to get words out as her chest rattled and her cheeks pinkened, beads of sweat gathering on her brow. "B-Blanket."

"I'm on it," I said, loudly.

Flying across the lawn like I was racing the 100-meter sprint in track and field, I got to the blanket and crashed to my knees. Unable to see well, I ran my palms across the fabric, fumbling to find what we desperately needed.

"Found it!" I called out, leaping to my feet and sprinting once more.

Heart racing, I handed the inhaler to Lake and she shook it as she softly instructed her daughter on what to do. I was sure Stormi knew, but she was struggling and Lake's soothing voice probably helped.

The other children stood around with wide eyes and the parents held worried, concerned expressions as the scene unfolded.

After a couple puffs, Stormi seemed to be breathing easier though her hands trembled, likely from the medication's effects. She looked around at the kids, her cheeks pinkening further as a look of embarrassment crossed her sweet face, and she bent her head toward her lap.

"Hey, sweet girl. It's okay," her mother whispered.

Stormi shook her head and I heard a sniffle that ripped my heart open.

The other ladies were trying to gather the kids and get them to move away so they didn't have a big audience, and to give her more room to breathe, but then something truly phenomenal happened.

Dexter, Gyth and Summer's son, moved toward Stormi and sat down beside her. Even though it was hot, he had on a pair of light athletic type pants and yanked up one of his pant legs. Stormi watched him with interest and then her eyes widened.

"I can't always go as fast as all the others or play as long with my fake leg, but they like me anyway. And we like you." Everyone had stopped when he approached the little girl, watching the exchange. "You're our friend forever, Stormi. It's okay to be different, right, dad?" he asked, looking toward Gyth.

"You bet it is buddy," Gyth told his son, a proud look on his face.

Embry approached and knelt down next to them. "You're one of us now," she told the girl, sounding just like her mom and all the other women whenever they welcomed someone new into their fold. "We all stick together."

Stormi looked up and gave them a soft smile. Lake had tears swimming in her eyes and I found myself with a few myself. My friends were raising some amazing kids.

"I'm going to go get us all some popsicles," Embry said, getting up and heading toward the house. She looked over her shoulder and gave a sassy smirk that I was sure she must have learned from her aunt Alley, then said, "He's a sweet one, that Dexter, but nobody better forget that I'm going to marry him."

Dexter let out a deep groan, sounding like his father. "Not this again."

Everyone was laughing, including Lake and Stormi.

I took a deep breath and blew it out, glad everything was okay.

Absently, without thought, my emotions driving me, I placed my hand across my chest and rubbed it. In just a day, Stormi had wormed her way into my heart where I knew she would stay.

Just like her mother.