“Are you guys okay with that?” Torin looked towards Jason and Kristy Aldridge, who both looked a little hesitant.
Dahlia turned to them. “I need to get out of here, and I know you guys are needed here. I will be totally fine.” Her father looked tense, but she wasn’t wrong—it was clear that Jason played a far larger role in Torin’s shit than I even realized.
“We almost lost you.”
The words filled the space as I saw everyone really absorb what he was saying. It was a painful reality.
“But you didn’t,” she stated softly. “Plus, if we are trying to avoid attention, traveling as a family is a horrible idea—think about every vacation we go on.”
It was true, the media loved the Aldridges and were constantly following them. I had no idea how they had managed to shield Dahlia from it for so long.
“Let’s talk about this later, but that should work,” Mrs. Aldridge conceded.
I had a feeling that Dahlia would need to convince them pretty strongly for them to fully agree to that concept.
“Fantastic, let’s go eat dinner then. It’s set up in the pavilion,” my father offered, breaking the tension. Everyone got up and headed out through the side doors, but Dahlia didn’t make a move to get off of me. When the others came to sit near us, I could tell she was thoughtful, watching the parents gather around the large outdoor table.
“What’s going on in your head?” I asked softly.
“I have a question.” She drew her bottom lip in with her teeth.
“Okay,” Sterling encouraged.
“When you had George here…what did you do to him?”
One of them made a concerned noise, and King offered me a look that made me realize he was actually worried about her response to the truth. I fixed my gaze on Dahlia and really looked at her, realizing that she knew. She knew the truth already.
“What?” she asked softly.
“You know what we did. I don’t know how you know, but you do,” I stated confidently, her cheeks staining pink.
“I do,” she murmured. “I don’t want to be left out of the loop anymore… I don’t need details, especially specifics about that stuff, but I want to know what’s going on. I don’t want to feel clueless.” Her comment was directed to King, who nodded stiffly.
“Your father,” she continued, motioning to Dermot, “showed me a video of you guys in the basement with George.”
Fuck.
Silence filled the space as she looked at all of our faces before giving a small smile. “Well, that’s not the reaction I expected. You all look terrified.”
“You aren’t?” Sterling audibly swallowed.
Her face turned thoughtful. “I think that had been his intention…but it didn’t scare me. I think I knew what you guys were capable of. He asked me what I saw, and I just said ‘the men I love.’”
My perfect, sweet bunny.
I burrowed my nose in her hair, hiding my smile, and she continued, “I want to make something clear though. There is nothing that can scare me away. I’m here for the long haul, as long as that’s what you guys want.”
King let out a choked noise, looking dazed. “What ‘we want’?”
“Yep.” She nodded simply.
“What we want is you,” Dermot responded immediately.
“Forever,” Stratton added.
Her smile was fucking glorious. “Fantastic. Now let’s go eat.”
I blinked as she escaped my arms. Somehow this magnificent woman continued to surprise me. I had a feeling there would never be a moment that I would find out everything there was to know about Dahlia.