“God, I—”
“There you are, honey. Come along, your mother is ready to go.”
Jade looked the man over and disliked him on sight, but she tried to hide it and smiled at Tessa. “Well, it was nice to talk to you.” She hugged her and whispered in her ear. “You’re not alone.”
“It was nice to meet you, too.” Tessa flinched when the man grabbed her arm and pulled her away.
Jade’s teeth snapped together to prevent herself from taking the prick down. She watched as the man dragged her over to the mother, and the three of them slowly walked out of the room.
Her first instinct was to find Cole. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw him.
“There you are, baby. I was ready to come to find you.”
Jade saw the few guys standing near them on the team. Eric, Nate, and Blake were two of them.
“Daddy, I talked to Jerry’s sister, Tessa. It’s horrible. Her mother is dying of cancer soon, and her neighbor is trying to takeover. He touches her, and she’s afraid of him. I don’t like him at all. He makes me scared. Cole, she’s got no other family, and the guy has kept her friends away. I told her we’d help her. Can we, please? She lives in Little Rock.”
Cole put his arm around her shoulders. “Of course, we will. I’ll talk it over with the guys, and we’ll come up with a plan.”
“Maybe one of us can stop by there. We can tell them we just wanted to check on them,” Eric said.
“I’m actually going to be in Little Rock the day after next. I’ll drop by then,” Nate said.
They all nodded, and Jade felt better knowing the guys were involved. They wouldn’t let anything happen to Jerry’s sister.
“Are you ready to head back to the hotel, baby?”
She smiled up at Cole and nodded. It looked like her man needed some extra special attention tonight. “Yes, Daddy.”
He pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “Then let’s go.”
Chapter Eighteen
They waved to Blake as he unlocked his door down the hallway in the hotel.
“Night, guys,” Blake said.
Cole pulled out his key. “Here, let’s get inside. I want a shower with my woman before bed.”
“That sounds wonderful,” Jade said.
Cole locked the door behind them and started pulling off his uniform. He was glad he didn’t have to wear it often because it always felt stiff. Still, he was always careful to hang it up properly because all his medals were on it, and he didn’t want anything to tear or stain.
He watched Jade slip out of her dress and drape it over a chair.
“I’ll be right in.”
Jade nodded and walked into the bathroom. A moment later, he heard the shower turn on.
He walked into the room naked to see Jade was already in the shower with her hair up. He pulled off his prosthetic and hopped in behind her.
She turned with a smile and hugged him tightly. “How are you, Daddy?”
“I’m good now that I’m with you.”
She raised her head and stood on her tiptoes. “Kiss, Daddy.”
The first touch of their lips took every bit of sadness from his mind, and all his attention went to Jade.