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She holds up her hand to keep me from talking.

“Her dad didn’t do her any favors. Her mother is a good woman, but Skull will never be a man who takes direction from his woman.

Gabby was a sweet child, but that sweetness spoiled , and she didn’t know how to react when a girl who could have anything she wanted was losing the one thing she wanted most. I understood it.

I didn’t like how she reacted. I tried to talk to Dom, but that boy has always been headstrong.

I hoped it would work out. Sometimes two people can be better apart.

They’re just not made to fit and forcing it, well … that never works out.”

“Is there a reason you’re telling me all this, Nicole?” I ask, tiring of these heart-to-heart conversations that my new family— I’m not even sure I fully want —keep trying to force on me.

“She needed a wake-up call. A big one.”

“I don’t think?—”

“No woman ever needs one that big. It has broken things inside her that won’t ever completely heal.”

“Nicole—”

“Ever,” she murmurs. “I saw it in Dani and that almost got both of us killed. I see the same thing in Gabby. I held on to Dani and tried to always let her know she had me. I thought it worked. It didn’t. You need to be prepared in case you can’t break through all the way either, King.”

“I’m not going to let her drown in the shit that is swirling in her head, Nicole. It’s not in me to do that.”

She nods. Then she shocks the shit out of me.

She slides her hand against the side of my face.

“You’re a good man. There’s so much of your father in you it sometimes just completely leaves me speechless.

” I swallow at the emotion that brings. I’m not sure what to do with it.

“You’re not mine, King. I get that, even if I wish you could be. ”

Fuck. Jesus. What the hell do I do with that?

“You saved my boy. You’ve helped Dragon reconcile everything in a way he can breathe again. You’re a good man.”

“Nic—”

“I think you could be good for Gabby.” Fuck, not this again.

“That said, some women can latch onto an offer of friendship and expect more. That means you need to listen to her when she talks about leaving. Plus, I’m not sure staying near her parents or around my boys is good for her.

That’s something you need to consider. Gabby is fragile.

A new place where no one knows her might help not only her, but everyone involved. ”

“You’re wrong. She’s wounded, but the Gabby I know is not fragile. She’s finding herself and she can do that best here. If anything, her leaving would make it easier on others—not her. Gabby’s not a part of their lives, unless they make the effort, and it appears they aren’t going to.”

“You can’t expect my boys to?—”

“No, I do not. They’re never going to be friends.

Gabby doesn’t need them in her life either.

She apologized to all involved face-to-face, and that’s all she can do.

You can’t erase the past, so it is what it is.

For her part, besides apologizing, she’s getting therapy.

I don’t know, and she hasn’t shared, but I’m thinking she’s doing that so she can be a better person for her child.

It’s definitely not something she’s doing for shit and giggles.

Gabby’s responsible for the child that she’s carrying and being alone is not a good option.

I aim to make her see that. The woman lives terrified of her child hearing it’s a product of rape.

Does that sound like a reason for her to go halfway across the country with a newborn, no one at her back, no support at all, and a very small bank account? ”

“King—”

“Does it, Nicole?” I insist on a growl.

“No,” she admits.

“It sure as hell does not. I’m going to help her. I’m going to do that in whatever form comes along because even if no one else in this fucking place can see it, I can. She’s a good woman who is struggling to not drown in the shit she’s swimming in. Who she was is not who she is now.”

“You didn’t know her before,” she warns.

“You’re right and you’re wrong. I had to do surveillance for Ford.

I saw Gabby. I was not impressed. I may have not seen the inner workings of her mind, but I saw the spoiled princess and the anger, just the same.

I did not like her back then. I fucking like her now—and that’s putting it mildly.

Sometimes life forces you to change, Nicole.

It just happens and if people can’t see that, then they haven’t lived enough for darkness to touch them, and they should thank the man above for what they haven’t endured.

I’m a man who grew up in it. I survived.

I want Gabby to have the chance of survival, too—her and her child. ”

“I’ll go help, Dani,” she murmurs.

I nod, trying to get control of my anger. Fuck, maybe it would be better for me and Gabby if I head out to Denver with her. These damn heart-to-heart talks are getting worse. You’d think these fuckers would realize I don’t have a heart left.

No matter how much I wish I did.