Page 25 of Endlessly Yours (The Wilder Brothers #10)

“No. I should have said something. Damn it. I need to go find her.”

I nodded and watched as Rory chased after Cameron, and I shook my head.

“Everything okay?” Ava asked, frowning.

“No. Cameron keeps lashing out at Rory, and she went too far this time. But I may have towered over her and growled.”

“What did she say?” Ava asked.

When I explained, she narrowed her gaze. “Good on you. Rory is too lenient sometimes, but I get it. Cameron is hurting, grieving, but at some point, there’s no excuse for being rude and cruel. Because that was cruel. I’m going to go after them and see if there’s anything I can do.”

“Should I go too?” I asked. “Apologize?”

Ava shook her head. “No. You didn’t do anything wrong.

I don’t know how Cameron and Alice’s parents disciplined them or even raised them, but from what I can tell, they ignored them a lot.

Alice clings to you like she’s never had a father figure in her life, and she slid right into Rory’s arms as if she’s always been there.

Cameron? Cameron was old enough to know something was wrong in that family.

Especially from what we can tell about the whole community.

You’re doing a good thing. However, we will have to have a talk at some point. ”

My mind whirled as I tried to figure out exactly everything that she had just said. After the word father figure, I had blanked.

“What do you mean?” I asked, scowling.

“You’re dating my best friend. We’re going to have to have words.”

“Ava, really?”

“Somebody needs to protect her. Those girls are her only family, at least by blood. But I’m her family too.” She sighed. “Just like I’m yours. So, I’m happy for you both, and just be careful. Both of you. There’s a lot of tentative paths and tripwires for all of you.”

And with that, she followed where the girls went, and I pinched the bridge of my nose.

“Ava go off with your woman?” Wyatt asked.

“Should I hit you or something for calling her that?” I asked as I looked up at my brother.

“No. Because you’re just as much of a possessive asshole as I am.”

I shrugged because he wasn’t wrong.

“You have dark circles under your eyes, bro. You want to talk about it?”

I nearly shook my head but sighed. “I had a dream about Amara last night, and then somehow it turned into Rory having cancer, so not really.”

Wyatt’s face paled, and he cursed. “I’m sorry. Fuck.”

“Pretty much. There’s nothing I can do about it.

I don’t have to do too much dream searching and therapy to figure out why I had the dream.

But it still kicked me in the ass last night.

And then Alice had a nightmare about her parents, and here we are, with Cameron calling people names, sobbing far away, and I’m standing here, talking about my feelings. Which you know I love doing.”

“The fact that you’re even talking to me at all is progress.”

“I’m fine. Yes, I’m a little lost sometimes, but it’s not like it was yesterday. It’s been years. I’m always going to miss her. I’m always going to think about her. But I know now that I’m not stepping out on my wife by being with Rory.”

“Good. Now, are you going to tell us what you feel about her?”

“Not even a little,” I said softly as I stared out to the soccer field and frowned.

“Hey, do you see Alice?” I asked, slight alarm tingling down my spine.

Wyatt looked towards the field and shook his head. “Maybe she’s over the ridge? I see the other kids, though.”

“Yeah, maybe she’s there. Faith is at Eli’s place, right?”

“Yeah, the littles wanted to have a play date, but I knew Rory wanted Alice and Cameron close.”

“Let me go find Alice. I don’t know, maybe she went and followed Rory and Cameron?” I asked as I picked up my pace, jogging towards the field.

“I’ll go check,” Wyatt said as he ran towards the building.

I looked over the field, past the ridge, past the hill, but couldn’t see the little girl.

I stopped the closest kid and did my best not to scowl. “Do you know where Alice went?” I asked.

“No,” the kid said, but he raised his chin.

I raised my gaze. “You’re going to want to change that answer.”

“I don’t have to answer to you.”

“Excuse me, that’s my son,” a clipped voice said from my side, and I turned towards a woman with a scowl on her face and her phone in her hand.

“Sorry, I’m looking for Alice. She was out here playing. I’m one of the Wilders that owns this place, and Alice is one of ours.”

“Oh. The little girl with pigtails? She was right here.” She frowned, searching the field with me.

This time, a cold sweat began to trickle down my back, and I looked down at the little kid. “Do you know where she went?”

“Some of the older kids were making fun of her and called her an orphan, so she ran off. I’m sorry.” His little lip quivered, his eyes filling, and I wanted to shout, to do something, to find those kids and shake them, but instead, icy cold fear slammed into me.

“Jacob.” The woman looked at me. “I’m so sorry. I’ll help you look. And I’ll have a talk with him.”

“I don’t care,” I said as I kept moving, searching for Alice.

I pulled out my phone, dialing Wyatt. “Is she there?” I asked as the other man answered.

“No. You find her?”

“No. Some kids picked on her, and she went running. I don’t know where.”

“Brooks?” Rory said into the phone, and I cursed.

“I’ll find her, Rory. I promise.”

“I’ll search too. I don’t know, just tell everyone. I’m sure she’s fine. She’s got to be fine.”

I looked over my shoulder, and I was far enough away that I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but I saw Rory and Cameron running out of the building, the other Wilders moving in a quick unit.

Trace came running up to me as I searched through the field, down the embankment where we had acreage of land that was open space that was off limits to guests. There were coyotes, rocks, places to fall, cacti, and countless other areas that were roped off for a reason.

“Okay, what is she wearing?” Trace asked.

I shook my head and then froze. “Jeans, pink sneakers, a white T-shirt with little pink daisies on it, and pigtails.”

I couldn’t quite believe that I remembered everything about what the little girl had been wearing, but we had all had breakfast that morning, even Cameron.

It was as if we had been a family. And I’d be damned if I lost that kid.

“On it. You keep this way, keep your phone handy. And we’ll canvas the area. I’m sure she’s just behind a little building or something, okay?”

“Yeah, yeah,” I bit out, my voice short, and then I was running over the hill and down past the rocky ledge where any number of accidents could happen.

Bile filled my throat, but I kept going, calling out for Alice. “Alice! It’s Brooks. Where are you?”

Nothing. Then my phone buzzed.

Heart racing, I answered. “Do you have her?”

“No. Do you?” Rory asked, and I heard the panic in her tone. And yet, she wasn’t crying or shouting, and I knew she was being strong for Cameron.

“No, but we will. I’m searching, and I hear the others searching too.”

“Okay. We’ll find her. Please find her, Brooks,” Rory whispered.

“I will,” I promised.

And I hung up, sliding my phone into my back pocket as I continued to search.

There was a large crest of limestone, some of it had fallen in thanks to erosion over time, and a huge cactus was right next to it.

I either had to walk over the limestone or take the long way around, but I had a feeling the limestone was too weak to handle my weight, so I jogged past the cactus when the sound of a little sob hit me.

I kept running, cursing as one of the barbs stuck into my arm.

But I ignored the pain as I finally saw a little girl cowering underneath a copse of small oak saplings that hadn’t fully grown yet and jagged limestone pieces.

She had a cut on her knee, and one pigtail had fallen out, yet it was all I could do not to run to her and pick her up into my arms.

“Are you okay?” I asked, my voice shaky.

Alice put her arms around my neck, holding tightly enough that I nearly couldn’t breathe.

“Brooks. I got lost. And then there was a cactus.”

I looked down at her knee, at the two little barbs sticking out of it, and I shifted her weight so that I was cradling her in my arms.

“We’ll take care of that as soon as we get a Band-Aid, okay?”

She nodded, tears streaking down her dirt-stained cheeks.

I had gotten barbs like that in my knee once when I was a kid, and pulling it out wasn’t easy because of the hooks, hence why I hadn’t bothered with the ones in my arm. We would just deal with it, but all that mattered was Alice was safe.

I moved past the pile of rocks and saw Ridge running towards me.

The look of relief on my brother’s face nearly knocked me to my knees, and he pulled out his phone.

“Brooks has got her,” he said, and I realized I hadn’t called anyone. I had just held this little girl and knew I needed to get her to Rory.

Because, damn it, I loved this family. With everything that I had. And, as Rory and Cameron ran towards us, and we held each other close, it was all I could do to hold them even tighter or run away.

And the scary thing is, I didn’t know what the answer should have been.