“I can’t tell you,” Rhys said.
Cullen took a threatening step forward. “The fuck you can’t.”
Rhys pushed him back. “I promised her, and I won’t go back on it. She’s the one who will have to tell you.”
Cullen couldn’t comprehend anything bad enough to have that look of anguish on Rhys’s face. An aching thought started to build. “I saw her today.”
Rhys looked surprised. “How did it go?”
“Not good. I know I fucked up at the bar. I was so surprised to see her.”
“She’s now trying to come to terms with a life without you.”
Cullen growled. “I can’t take the thought of her not being mine.”
“You might not have a choice. She changed over in Germany.”
“Is she here?”
Rhys shook his head. “No. She’s out with some girlfriends.”
“Oh, God, at a bar?” Cullen asked.
Rhys chuckled. “No, the girls she’s with are women who have daddies and they wouldn’t let their girls step foot in a bar. She has at least two daddies watching over them. They’ll bring her home later.”
The was a moment of silence.
Rhys scowled. “By the way, I should warn you that she’s determined to learn how to drive.”
Cullen paled and could feel the blood leave his face. “Oh, hell no. I forbid it. She’s going to kill someone or herself.”
“Maybe with a lot of practice…”
“No. You know her coordination is horrible, and she gets distracted so easily. Remember when she and I were driving far away from everything? I thought it was a good place to train her, but no, she saw a kitten off the side of the road. She was so enthralled with it that we ended up in the ditch.” Cullen knew he was getting worked up, but he and Rhys had tried a dozen times, and she never improved.
Rhys chuckled. “We both have stories like that. Do you want me to tell her you were here?”
Cullen thought about it for a moment and then shook his head. “No. I’ll just keep trying.”
“By the way, I’m all for you guys being together. She needs a man like you, and you need a woman like her to soften you up.”
Cullen nodded because he agreed. “Hey, one more question. When we talked today, I called her little bird, and she said to stop calling her because the little bird died in Germany and will never come back. What did she mean?” Just by the look on Rhys’s face, Cullen knew it was bad.
“Ask her,” Rhys said.
Cullen watched the door close, turned, and walked back to his truck. He drove home with more questions than before, and he needed the answers as soon as possible. He thought about finding out where she was and going there but decided to let her have fun with her friends.
Later that night, in bed at home, Cullen went over everything he had heard about Hannah. He knew the only way he’d be able to get all the answers was to hear them from her. He’d have that talk sooner than she wanted to, but more than anything, he needed to know what happened to his little bird.
Chapter Six
Hannah waited until the daddies left the playroom at Kinley’s house before turning to her friends.
“Okay, spill it,” Kinley said.
God, she didn’t realize how nervous she would be talking about it, but then again, she hadn’t had a conversation with anyone about it. Her brother was there and knew what had happened, and that was it. They never talked about it because it was too painful for both of them.
“Okay, so my brother and I went to Germany to see our uncle. He was our only living relative, and he was very sick. We’d met him a long time ago and felt we needed to see him before he passed.”