33. Daisy

THIRTY-THREE

DAISY

Arms reached out, steadying me.

I didn't know it was possible to happen twice in my life.

That moment when you look at someone and the world around you shatters. This time, though, it was memories flooding back in. Like a movie playing so fast, I couldn't get the entire story, but felt each scene with the same heightened emotion I felt when it happened in real time.

Every kiss. Every fight. When I said I loved him, when he said it to me, and the feeling of my heart breaking under the weight of the words.

The first night at the party that I kissed him.

Anger and heartbreak rushed in, ready to knock me over.

It was like a day had gone by since the last night I saw him, not six years.

"Kye?" I asked, not quite believing he was standing in front of me, touching me. I knew he had been back in town plenty of times, but we had managed not to run into each other. I had avoided the crew when he was around and he managed to not come around the diner when I was there.

"Daisy," he said, sounding as surprised as I was.

Another wave of heartbreak washed over me at the sound of my name, my eyes already threatening tears.

He stepped back fast, shoving his hands into his pockets, but not taking his eyes off of me. He looked different. We had both grown up, but unlike me, he had gained plenty more tattoos, from what I could tell. His mess of blonde hair hadn't changed, though, still as unruly as the look in his eyes. Every part of him had filled out, muscles more defined, jaw sharper, every deadly part of him harsher now.

He hadn't seemed to have lost any edge to him. Something about him was still feral.

I had wondered if that would ever die. If the wild part of him would ever be quiet enough to live a normal life, but I could tell it hadn't.

I guessed that should be expected when you raced cars and cheated death for a living.

"I wasn't expecting you here so soon," I said, breathless.

"You thought I would miss my sister's wedding?"

"No, but I assumed it would be a last-minute stop on the way to your next race. I didn't think we would see much of you this week."

He smirked. "Not this time. I haven't heard the end of it for cutting it so close to Fox and Ash's wedding. I've become a lot better at planning over the years."

"I see that. A week early? I'm almost impressed."

"Would it get you all the way impressed if I say that I am helping plan and set up everything for the wedding?"

"It would make me say that I know your friends' hectic lives and I assume you got as guilted into it as I did."

"Ahh, they are good at that. You look good," he said, looking me over, but his eyes didn't linger. It should have been a kind thing, the gentleman's thing to do, but I smoothed out my dress, wondering if I looked as chaotic as I felt. "How are you?"

"I'm good. Busy, but good. You?" I asked, hating each word. The small talk was not anywhere near what I wanted to say. Then again, anything I had to say was a conversation I didn't know if I was ready to have. He had left, and I still struggled to accept it. Worse than that, I was struggling with the feeling that jumping into his arms seemed like the most natural thing to do. I had never spent over twenty minutes with Kye without touching him, and apparently muscle memory would not let me forget that.

It had been six years.

Six years without a word.

I had to hear about him a lot. Ever since I became closer to the crew, I heard the updates about him constantly. How well his races were going, how ridiculous his stunts were, how good he was doing. I stayed away when he was home, though. He was a superstar and his friends were proud of him, so I tried to never ask them to stay quiet. I had become used to the updates, but seeing him now was something different.

"Busy, but slowing down finally."

"Wow, never thought I would hear that from your mouth." At the word mouth, he looked at mine, and I was too aware of how badly I wanted to run my tongue over my lips. As soon as I thought about it, it was a battle to stop.

There was no way I could already have these thoughts about him.

I should be pissed, heartbroken, and angry at him, but my heart was thundering in my chest, forgetting every second of the pain.

Maybe it was because I had barely let Mark anywhere near getting in my pants, even though we had been going on dates for months.

Months of dating and the man had barely made a move to do anything more than kiss me, and I hadn't asked for more.

Maybe I was just to horny, and standing in front of the man who gave me the best orgasms of my life. That fact still held up to this day.

"I never thought I would, but with how much is changing around here, I think I'll be around more. I'm still traveling a lot for work, but I'll spend more time here when I can."

"So, I might have to see more of you, then?" I asked.

"Considering you seem to be best friends with the crew now, I would say yes. You don't sound pleased about that, though," he said with a smirk.

"No, of course, it's fine. I'm just surprised. And yeah, they've been great to me. They somehow came back into my life the moment I needed them."

"They have that effect on people, always knowing when to be there and how to be there."

Bailey rounded the corner, running full force. "Hey," she said, grabbing my hand with a pant, her tone was so serious for a four-year-old. "Hey, we are going outside."

"You are still in trouble for running off without me, so you are going to wait. I'm talking." That's when she looked up at Kye, her eyes going wide. I didn't think she was scared, having become used to all the guys on the crew, their scowls, and their tattoos, but more curious than anything.

Her eyebrow cocked. "Who are you?" she asked, stepping closer.

I looked at Kye, his eyes wide. I knew he loved his niece and nephew, but I didn't know how he felt about other kids. One look at him wouldn't have anyone screaming ‘good with kids,' but then again, most of the crew looked like that.

He knelt down, reaching out a hand. "I'm Kye, and you are?"

"Bailey," she said, shaking his hand with her hard little stare, sizing him up.

"Unless something has changed in the last four months since being home, I do not believe I have any nieces that are named Bailey."

"No," she sang out, but I didn't think she actually knew what she was answering.

I laughed. "She's mine."

His eyes flew to mine, fear frozen in them. "I did not know you had a kid."

"Well, that's complicated. Hey, Bailey, will you go grab Quinn or Scout so we can go outside?"

She was still looking at Kye, though.

"Why do you have her name on your hands?" she asked, staring at the hands he shoved back into his pockets.

"What?" I asked, looking at her.

"D-A-Z-E," she read out slowly. "That's how she taught me to write her name when I write it for fun." She jerked a thumb at me. This little girl's attitude could fill a room, and I tried to get it under control, but it never seemed to work.

"The attitude, Bailey," I scolded, knowing her accusing tone was going to come again.

"Like Daisy, but without eeee ," she said, sounding it out.

"I think I'm going to need some clarification now," Kye said, looking at me.

"Yeah, me, too. Bailey, please go get Quinn or Scout or Carly. Literally, anyone. I need a minute to talk to Kye."

"Fine," she said, crossing her little arms. "But I want to see it again later."

Kye gave a serious nod. "We can absolutely do that."

She nodded back and took off, running full force towards the lobby area.

"Slow down!" I yelled.

"I really don't think you are slowing that one down," he said, standing back up with a laugh.

"No, I struggle every day with it. That, and the attitude that is bigger than this whole town. I think the crew has rubbed off on her."

He shook his head. "Why did I not know that you have a child? Way to give a man a heart attack. She looks enough like me I had to do some quick math. Please tell me this isn't what I think it is?"

"She isn't mine. Or ours," I added fast, the words causing a flutter of butterflies through my stomach. "Not how you are thinking. Bailey is four. She's my sister's. Was my sister's. Willow passed away a little over three years ago. It was an accident. My dad was getting too old to keep up with a kid and having some health problems at the time, and I don't have much more family. I decided to take her."

"Shit, Daze, I'm sorry. I didn't know. The crew doesn't really tell me about you."

Daze. The nickname I hadn't heard in years. The one I never wanted anyone else to call me. I had told Bailey about it when she started trying to spell my name, but she really just called me Mom now.

"Yeah, I asked them not to."

"What? Why?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. It seemed easier. One more way to keep our lives separate."

He nodded. "I see."

"Come on. Tell me she's wrong. Let me see," I said, holding out my hands for his, needing to know if what Bailey said was true.

"See what?" he asked, looking past me to the doors.

I wasn't going to wait or play this game. I grabbed his wrists, hiding the shot of excitement that went through me from touching him. I pulled his hands out of his pockets, bringing them up until his knuckles touched. The moment my skin met his, I sucked in a hard breath. All I wanted to do was thread my fingers in his.

Bailey had been right.

Clear as day. The letters on one hand read D-A-Z-E and on the other hand read E-E with one little daisy on the pinky finger.

I dropped his hand, stepping back like it hurt. Touching him did hurt, but seeing that was like a knife twisting in my gut.

I could feel how wide my eyes were, how hard my heart was beating, but he only stared, his face stone.

"When did you get that?"

"I've had it for a while." His tone was hard and angry, like I was the one who had done something wrong.

"How long is a while?"

"I don't know, Daisy, a couple years? Does it matter?" he asked, his face hardening into indifference.

"Yes, it matters. When?"

"Maybe four years ago."

Even around four years ago meant he got it tattooed two years after he left.

"Why did you get it?"

He shrugged. It was like he was trying to act like we weren't talking about anything of importance, but tattooing someone's name on you definitely felt important.

"I don't know. I guess I had too much to drink one night and missed you. A stupid, impulsive, permanent mistake."

My mouth fell open. The words twisted like a knife, but it didn't matter. My name was on his hands.

I didn't have any tattoos, never being able to decide on one thing that I would want on my body for the rest of my life, but he seemed like it wasn't a big deal to have my name on his hands.

He was branded with my name and acting like this was normal.

Not only that, but a place where everyone would see it.

"Kye!" I said, stepping back again.

Bailey walked around the corner. "I found one!" she yelled.

Carly followed, letting out a screech as she saw Kye.

"You're here," she cried, coming over to him, Jax trailing behind her. "Why didn't you come see us first?" she said, tears actually falling now.

"I told you he was meeting us here," Jax said.

"I just got in. I was going to be late if I didn't come straight here," Kye added.

She was nearly sobbing, Kye's arms wrapped tight around her.

"Glad you made it," Jax said. "If you haven't heard, we have hit the point in pregnancy where everything makes her cry. Everything . So watch yourself."

"I can't help it. I haven't seen him in two months and I missed him."

Kye just shook his head at Jax. "At least someone missed me."

"We all missed you," Jax said, shaking his head. "Carly, why don't you go sit with the girls outside by the pool? The water will feel great on your feet."

Carly looked down. "My swollen, ugly feet that I can't even see. You know I can't make them look any better," she cried.

"No, sweetie," I said, stepping in with raised brows at Jax. "He meant you deserve a rest. Come on." I grabbed Lily's hand, still holding Bailey's, who then grabbed Carly. "The girls are waiting for us, anyway. Remember?"

"No. I don't remember anything. Ugh, this is it, Jax. No more kids. We're done."

We headed to the door, and I couldn't stop myself from looking back at Kye. He was talking with Jax now, but his eyes still found mine.

He gave a tight smile, one that shattered my heart like he had done years ago.

I had stayed away from Kye for six years, thinking that my heart couldn't take being close to him, that I would never be strong enough to be around him again.

And I was right.