Page 109 of Heartstring

His eyes burn with anger.

I close the door behind us and raise my hand to shut him up before he lets go of his temper.

“First, I want to remind you she can hear what we say in here, especially if you shout. Second, you have a very scared little girl in there who’s terrified of how you’re going to react.”

“How I’m going to react? Fuck, Tyler, do you know what it’s like to try to protect the most important person in the world only for them to disappear?”

“I do, actually. Which is why I’m telling you, you need to calm down, or you’re going to scare her and she won’t open up to you.”

He runs his hands through his hair, squeezing it tight.

“Look. Right now, you want to punch something, but she’s here and safe. It sounds like she has something to tell you, but she’s scared to say it. I don’t know what it is, but you know what teenagers are like. Everything’s blown out of proportion at that age. It’s probably not as bad as she thinks, but she clearly thinks it’s bad enough to run away.”

He takes a few deep breaths.

“Why did she run here?”

I close my eyes and take my own steadying breath. “You’ll have to ask her that.”

“Okay.”

He opens the door and steps into the hallway leading to the living area. I stay behind to get my heart under control.

Once I can take a step without crumbling, I go out there.

“I’m going to take Stan for a walk and give you some privacy. Seymour is upstairs working. He likely has his headphones on, so he won’t hear you. I’ll write down his number so you can message him if you need anything.”

With that, I grab my boots, coat, and Stan’s harness and step into the frigid cold.

The low temperature helps distract me from what’s happening in my house. Hopefully, by the time I come back, I’ll be strong enough to face Mik and figure out what’s happening between us…if there still is an us.

34

MIK

NOW

Stay calm.She’s safe. Every kid out there has done something like this at least once in their lifetime.That’s what I’m saying to myself as Tyler leaves his own home to give us some space.

But she’s not any kid. She’smykid.

God, if anything happened to her…

I take a steady breath, trying to keep Tyler’s words in my mind.

He doesn’t have to be this kind, and I certainly don’t deserve it after my behavior the last few days.

Kay has curled herself up on the couch. She looks so small and fragile.

My porcelain baby doll. That’s what I used to joke with the guys when we carried with us everywhere. She was our porcelain baby doll, so we needed to treat her like a precious, breakable musical instrument.

How on earth do other parents cope when they have more than one kid? I’m trying not to lose my mind here, and it’s just one kid. Okay, so it’s one kid with a hell of an attitude and smarter than most adults I know, but still a kid.

“Come here.” I pull her into my arms and hug her tight.

“Can’t breathe.” Her voice is muffled against my chest, but instead of letting her go, I kiss her head over and over.

“What’s what? Can’t hear you.”