Page 43 of Silver Sanctuary (The Silver Springs #3)

“Good. Now, think about what you want to eat from Dolly’s since we’re going to stop there before we go back home to finish watching that princess bubble sparkle movie we started the other night. The one with all the singing.”

She smiled, and it shattered his heart to know she was putting on a brave face for him. “I think they’re both witches.”

“Well, yeah, the green one obviously is. But the way that pink one hits those high notes… that’s a princess singing for sure. She may have magic, but she has a crown and a fluffy dress and?—”

“Okay, okay. A princess witch.” Brie laughed.

“Think about what you want. I’m serious, too. Fries… a shake… the biggest slice of Dolly’s key lime pie with a heaping scoop of Jessie’s vanilla ice cream. Whatever you want. I’ll be right back.”

Nash shut the truck door gently, waiting for Embrie to lock the door. As soon as he heard the click, he marched straight into the little fucker’s house.

“Coach Caldwell, what can I do for you? Did Archer ask you to stop by?” Nash instantly recognized the woman from soccer practice.

“No. I dropped off my daughter earlier, but it seems that your son told her she wasn’t welcome in your house. She’s been sitting on your front porch for over an hour, too ashamed to call me and tell me what happened.”

“Archer! Come here please.”

“Hey, Mom.” Archer’s eyes widened as they settled on Nash looming in the doorway. “Coach.”

“Archer, did you invite Coach Caldwell’s daughter to your birthday party?”

“I don’t think so.”

“We didn’t even know you had a daughter.”

“Mmm, I do. She plays on the soccer team, and she’s in Archer’s class.”

“Archie? ”

The kid opened and closed his mouth a few times like a fish out of water.

“I’ll help you out since you seem a little stuck. Embrie is my daughter.”

“Certainly not genetically,” Mrs. DeSimone gasped.

“That doesn’t fucking matter. She’s my daughter . Her mother and I are married.”

“Oh, well… congratulations to the both of you. But I’m still not seeing what the problem is? Archer?”

At least the little shithead had the decency to look like he’d swallowed a toad.

“I’m sorry, Coach.”

“It’s not me who you owe an apology to. I expect you’ll think long and hard about the one you want to give to Embrie, who considered you one of her only friends here in Silver Springs before today. But you will have to apologize at school, because you won’t be seeing her at soccer any more.”

“Is she… she’s not playing anymore? Because of me?”

“No, son, y ou’re not playing anymore. I’m removing you from the team. And when I inform Coach Beau about what happened here today, I know he’ll back me on that decision.”

“Excuse me?!” Mrs. DeSimone shrieked. “You cannot do that to my son. He’s got one more year in this league before he’s ready for the road team, and they won’t accept him if he’s been out for half a season.”

Nash held up his hand, the smallest bit of satisfaction settling inside him that the consequences of his actions would come back to bite Archer in more than one way.

“Nothing you have to say is going to change my mind. There’s more to being a part of our team than skill, and Archer knows that. What’s our motto?”

The kid looked at his feet. “Integrity above all.”

“Exactly.” Nash turned back to the mother. “He’s off the team for the rest of the year. If you have a problem with that, maybe you should teach your son how to be a real friend. This is not what we stand for.”

“Archer, I think you need to go back to your party now.”

“Mom, I should apologize?—”

“No. I need to speak with Coach Caldwell and you have friends to get back to.”

Fucking perfect. This lady was going to let her son off the hook. Archer turned to walk away, but stopped mid stride.

“I am really sorry, Coach. I’ll make sure Embrie knows.”

Mrs. DeSimone waited all of five seconds before she started in.

“I’m sure my family can make this right. I know Lacy—we went to school together. Maybe I could talk to her?”

“Why? So you can call her dirt to her face like Archer did to Embrie before one of his little asshole friend’s cut her hair?

They held her pigtail and cut it off her fucking head.

She thought she was safe at a friend’s house.

You better believe I’ll be speaking with the sheriff’s department about pressing charges for assault and seeing what can be done against you and your husband for obviously allowing it to be done in your home, while you were meant to be watching these kids. ”

The last bit of color drained from her face. Good. “I think it’s best you leave.”

Nash nodded, his hands shaking with rage. But none of that mattered now. He had a haircut to figure out and a little girl to comfort.

“You’re mom is almost here. Apparently Aunt Lily is showing her something in Sage’s room, and then she’ll be back over.” Nash smiled as Embrie grabbed another handful of popcorn. They’d spent the first ten minutes home gathering up supplies to chop off the other braid.

Nash was so worried Embrie would take it hard—her beautiful long hair now up above her shoulder.

But she looked in the mirror, smiling as she cut through the thick braid.

Nash did damage control with a little evening out of the ends and her hair actually turned out incredibly cute.

There were tears, but not for the reason Nash had been expecting.

Embrie was so nervous that Lacy would be upset.

“Think she’ll want to finish watching this movie with us? ”

“Yeah! Of course!”

“Okay. I’m gonna go see how it went, then I’ll invite her.”

“Nash—”

“I remember, Brie. We don’t have to talk about what happened at the party.”

Nash stood in the kitchen, his hip leaning against the counter until he heard Lacy’s key slide into the lock. The door opened, and a very flushed version of his wife walked in.

“Hey, how was lunch?”

“Good! I had such a nice time, and Sloane seemed more relaxed around me. It was nice to see her smiling and I really felt like I was a part of the group. I’ve never had that before.”

Nash pulled Lacy into a hug, wrapping his arms tightly around her body. “I love that, Lace. I’m so glad it was a good time. You deserve that.”

“Something did happen though.”

His hands rested on her arms and he held her out to look in her eyes. The way she said it so clearly framed that it wasn’t anything good.

“What? Are you okay?”

“Mhm. My mom showed up.”

“In Lark Lake?!” What were the fucking odds of that?

“Yeah. She said she’s staying at an old friend’s house now. The only thing is, she doesn’t have any old friends. She has a lot of old dealers, though.”

“I’m sorry, babe. ”

“That’s not all. I saw him, too.”

“Him?” His mind went blank until he saw a crack in his wife’s facade. She was hiding pain behind her beautiful smile. “No. Why didn’t you call me? Please, please tell me Gunner’s fists are bloody from beating him to a pulp!”

“No, but we did call the sheriff’s department, and they did send someone out to deal with them. I called our lawyers to let them know what happened and that they threatened Embrie again, so that should all get documented and at least add to things in our favor.”

He took a step closer, pushing her hair behind her ear. “What do you mean they threatened Embrie?”

“It was all the same things she said the first time around, nothing new. Just more… crass.”

“I don’t like that you didn’t call me. How am I supposed to keep you safe if I can’t even trust that you’ll call me when you need me?”

She sighed, her hands sliding around his neck before pulling him down toward her until they were standing eye to eye.

“You told me I could trust our friends—our family—and I did. Please don’t be mad at me.”

“Lace.” He lowered his face just a few inches and kissed her. “I’m not mad at you; I’m so fucking proud of you. I guess I just don’t like the idea of someone else getting to step in and be there for you when it should always be me.”

“Don’t worry.” She laughed as her head drifted down onto his chest. “I’ll take you over the grumpy statue any day.”

He held her, swaying gently to the music filtering in from the living room.

“How did everything go here? Did Embrie have a good time at the party?”

“Everything here is fine.”

“Is?” Her head popped up off his chest. “Was it not for a while?”

“I handled it. She asked me if I would be willing to talk to you about it, but that she doesn’t want to speak about it yet. Not with me, and not with you.”

Her brows furrowed. “She’s not hurt?”

“I would have called you immediately if she’d been hurt, Lace. You’re her mom.”

Lacy studied his face for a moment. “She’s okay? You had it handled?”

“Wasn’t anything a pair of scissors, and some fries and pie from Dolly’s couldn’t fix.”

“Scissors, fries, and pies. I’m terrified about what that means.” She looked around. “Where is she?”

“In the living room, watching a movie. Why don’t we sit at the table.” He grabbed her hand and led her to the chair.

“Okay, I’m sitting. Spill.”

“The kids at the party only invited her to bully her.”

“No.”

He nodded. “They said some really mean things to her about Amber, and about how Embrie was dirty. And when she tried to get up to leave, someone there pulled her hair and cut off one of her pigtails.”

Lacy jumped up from her chair so fast he thought she might fall over. “THEY DID WHAT?!”

“Please, I promised her. She’s embarrassed and feeling vulnerable and I promised her you wouldn’t make a big deal out of it.”

“Not make a big deal out of it?! Nash! Someone CUT my baby’s hair! Against her will! That’s… it’s …. I can’t…”

“It’s assault. And Colt agrees.”

“What do you mean Colt agrees? What, is he like our own little Caldwell family deputy now?”

“He’s one of the only people outside of our group that I trust. So yes, I sent him the details of what happened, and the pictures of Embrie’s hair. And then I helped our daughter cut her hair so that it all matched. And you know what she told me?”

“What?” Lacy sank back down into the chair, tears filling her eyes.

“She thanked me for helping her feel safe.” Nash’s own eyes began to sting.

“I tried my best, Lace. I told her that boy—those kids—they don’t get to take her power away.

And when she cut the other side, she looked right at me and I swear, Lace, she said, ‘Don’t worry.

I took my power back.’ It was incredible. ”

Lacy nodded, but he had no idea what she was thinking. And she didn’t say another word to him. She just got up, grabbed his arm and tugged him toward the sofa.

She sat down next to Embrie, gently touching the ends of her hair before she pulled their daughter into a hug.

“I love the new hair.”

He heard Embrie’s little sniffles even though her face was pushed right into Lacy’s chest.

“I’m glad Nash was there to help you, baby.”

He watched as Embrie pushed back from her mom, wiping her eyes on her sleeves. “I am too.”

They spent the rest of the day together, snuggled on the couch, watching the bubble princess witch sing about some far-fetched thing, but Nash couldn’t have cared less about what was on the TV.

He would get justice for Embrie. They would make sure Amber was out of the picture for good.

And nothing was going to stop him from always keeping his girls safe.