Daddy’s Wild Girl (Montana Daddies #16)

Chapter 25

25

“ I need to go for a run.”

Both Hayes and Corbin glanced up at her. Hayes scowled.

No surprise there.

But Corbin stared at her with longing and heat in his gaze.

Oh heck.

She was wearing yoga pants, a crop top, and a lightweight jacket.

Nothing overtly sexy.

But he was eating her up with his gaze like she was candy and he was an eight-year-old on Halloween.

Swallowing, she attempted to wet her dry throat.

Three days had passed since the bridge incident.

After that first day, she’d forced herself to get out of bed and continue on with her life. There was no point in wallowing away in bed.

She knew that she should really contact her mother. Find out what was going on.

But she couldn’t help but feel that might play into her plan. That it was what she wanted. So, for the moment, she was going to pretend ignorance.

That she never saw that commercial. Hell, if she hadn’t gone to Callahan’s that night, she might not have. She didn’t watch TV and tried not to spend too much time online.

It was better for her mental health that way.

“Running? Now?” Hayes asked. “It’s nearly dinnertime. I’ve just put the shepherd’s pie in.”

“Yummy shepherd’s pie!” She bounced on her toes. “I love shepherd’s pie! We can have it when we get back.”

“It might burn.”

“Guess I’m going for a run with you then,” Corbin said.

She swallowed heavily at the thought of running with Corbin. Short shorts. A tight top. Maybe even topless. Sweat running in rivulets down his tanned chest.

“Bebe? Bebe! Are you all right?”

She jolted as Corbin suddenly appeared in front of her.

“Yep! Are you all right?”

“Yeah. I’m all right.”

“He’s not the one who just zoned out and started drooling,” Hayes said dryly.

“I was not drooling!”

Was she?

Oh. Lord. Please don’t let her have been drooling over this man.

Not that he wasn’t drool-worthy. He was definitely that and more.

However, she didn’t want him to know that she thought him drool-worthy.

When he turned away, though, she definitely wiped at her mouth.

Just in case.

“I should come too,” Hayes said. “We’ll have to be thirty minutes, forty tops.”

“What? No!” She hadn’t been out of the house at all these last few days. She had cabin fever and a measly thirty minutes of running wouldn’t solve the problem. “I need to go for longer.”

They shared a look.

“Come on, after the first part of the run, then we’ll come back past here and run up and down the block while you take the shepherd’s pie out,” Corbin suggested.

“Fine,” Hayes grumbled.

As they ran back toward her house, she knew for sure that thirty minutes wasn’t going to cut it. Her body wasn’t strained yet, her muscles weren’t burning, and she wasn’t panting for air.

She hadn’t pushed her body to the point that she’d be able to collapse into bed tonight. To where her mind would actually quieten.

“I’ll be ten minutes,” Hayes ordered.

Corbin nodded. “We’ll run up a few blocks, then come back and get you.”

“I’ll be ten minutes, tops.”

As soon as he hit the stairs to her house, she was ready to go again, running past Corbin. “Come on! Let’s go!”

She had to get those good endorphins flowing. She needed the adrenaline boost.

“Hey, wait up, Bebe.”

She grinned and pushed herself to go a bit faster.

“Bebe, you need to stay with me,” Corbin commanded.

Damn. How did he get so close to her so quickly?

“Remember the rules?”

Oh. Crap.

She slowed slightly and turned her head to look up at him. “But you’re right here beside me.”

He shot her a look. “You ran off.”

“I forgot,” she said with a grimace. “Sorry, got carried away.”

“Well, just remember next—shit!”

Bebe let out a small scream as someone rushed out at them from a dark driveway that ran between two of the houses. It was there to provide access to the houses behind them.

The enormous person was dressed all in black, and there was something over his face that obscured it. But she couldn’t quite figure out what.

Panic had her freezing, unsure of what to do.

And then she saw the knife. And she realized he was about to stab Corbin.

“Corbin! Knife!” she cried. “Help! Knife!”

Corbin was doing surprisingly well against the guy who was a lot bigger than him. Then again, he didn’t seem to have the same skills Corbin did. He was running at him, slashing without any real thought. He seemed to think he could outfight Corbin simply by being bigger.

And the knife! Don’t forget the knife!

“Bebe! Run!” Corbin yelled. “Back to Hayes. Now!”

Hayes! She had to get Hayes. He could help.

But she couldn’t leave Corbin. She just couldn’t! It didn’t feel right to run away, even if she knew he wouldn’t be happy with her. Instead, she looked around for something to hit the attacker with!

Who was this guy?

Was this her stalker? Was it real? Was he attacking Corbin first to get him out of the way and then he was going to go after her?

Finally, she spotted a stick lying on the ground. Picking it up, she ran at the guy who Corbin was fighting off. Corbin landed a knee to his gut. This was her moment to help! But then Corbin glanced over at her, a look of horror filling his face.

“Bebe! No! Run!”

That moment of distraction was enough for this guy to regain his breath. Standing, he stabbed at Corbin’s chest. Corbin managed to dodge at the last moment, but the knife still slashed his arm.

“Nooo!” she screamed.

“Hey! What the fuck!”

Glancing over, she saw Hayes racing toward them. The attacker must have seen him too and decided that three-on-one wasn’t odds he liked because he turned and took off.

She stood there, panting in shock, unsure what to do or feel.

“What the hell?” Hayes said. “What happened?”

“Fucking bastard was waiting for us. Jumped out at us from that driveway. Didn’t see him hiding there in the dark. He had a knife. I would have had him, but . . .”

They both turned to look at her.

Corbin would have had him if it weren’t for her.

Oh no.

What had she done? She was an idiot. She’d just about gotten Corbin badly hurt.

Wait! He was hurt! Dropping the tree branch, she ran toward him.

“You’re hurt!” she cried. “Oh my God! You’re bleeding.”

This was her fault. She’d distracted him and now he was bleeding.

“We need to get you home. No! To the hospital. We need to go to the hospital. Hayes! Go back and get the car!”

“He will not do that,” Corbin growled at her while he took hold of her shoulders with his hands.

What was he doing? He shouldn’t be using his arm! He was bleeding.

“Here! Let me use this to wrap around it.” She started to draw off her jacket, but he gave her a sudden, quick shake.

Bebe stared up at him in shock. “Corbin! Stop moving!”

“What were you thinking, Bebe!” he practically roared.

She stared up at him in shock, her mouth dropping open.

“Corbin,” Hayes said warningly, stepping up to them.

“No! Do not interfere! She needs to hear this.”

Oh God.

He was going to tell her off, explain all the ways that she’d fucked up.

And she had fucked up. Big time. She’d gotten him hurt. What was she thinking, going for a run?

She had a fucking stalker!

Oh God.

Bebe put her hand over her mouth, feeling like she was going to vomit.

She had a stalker.

“Bebe? Hey, Bebe, what’s wrong?” His voice had gentled, but she barely registered that. She was too busy freaking out.

She had a stalker.

And he’d tried to stab Corbin.

This . . . this was all her fault. What an idiot she was!

“Shit! She’s trembling,” Corbin said.

“Delayed shock, probably. You yelling at her isn’t going to help that.”

But he had every right to yell. Because she was an idiot who’d nearly gotten him killed.

“You could have died. He h-had a kn-knife. This . . . he . . . what just happened?” Why was she trembling so much? She couldn’t seem to get herself under control. Her breathing was coming in erratic pants.

“Corbin, we need to get her back to the house. It’s not safe out here.”

She was aware of Corbin swearing before he lifted her into his arms, cradling her against his chest.

He shouldn’t do that. He was bleeding. What if he bled out? He moved at a near-run and she wanted to protest, but she couldn’t get her mouth to work.

What was wrong with her?

Why couldn’t she breathe?

“Shh, baby,” he told her as he climbed the stairs to her house. “You’re okay. You’re going to be all right. Let’s get you inside and warm. Everything will be okay. I’m not going to let him hurt you. He’s gone. He can’t hurt you.”

Her?

What about him? Why was he worried about her?

“I’m going to secure the house. Get her situated in the living room,” Hayes barked. Then he disappeared while Corbin carried her into the living room.

He set her down on the sofa, her gaze fixated on his arm.

On the blood coating the top of his arm.

Bebe swallowed heavily as he grabbed a blanket from the old blanket box she had.

Again, not hers. It was something that had been left here by the old owners.

However, the blanket was hers. It was one of her favorites. Soft and cuddly. It was pale yellow, a bit faded in places, but she didn’t care.

He lifted her feet onto the sofa, turning her so she was lying down with her head resting on a couple of cushions.

“That’s it, baby. We’re going to have you feeling better soon.” Then he took her shoes off and put her feet on another cushion before placing the blanket over her.

Oh. That felt so much better. Especially when he tucked the blanket tightly around her. She now felt like she could breathe. Maybe even relax . . . oh fuck!

What was she doing?

She couldn’t lie here and let him take care of her! She should be taking care of him. This was terrible.

Sitting up, she reached for the blanket and shoved it off her.

“Hey, what are you doing?” he asked, turning back to her. She saw that, at some stage, he’d wrapped something around the top of his arm.

When had he had the chance to do that?

Didn’t matter. Who knew what kind of germs that knife had on it? She had to clean the wound and dress it.

Oh God.

“Lie back down, baby. You’re in shock. I’ll be with you in a moment to help, okay? I’m just going to check in with Hayes and get something for this.” He waved at his arm.

“I’ll get the first aid kit!” she cried. “You shouldn’t be taking care of me. I should be looking after you.” She attempted to stand but wasn’t paying attention to what she was doing and tripped over the blanket.

“Oh no!” she cried.

But she should have known he’d catch her. He was a hero, after all. He grabbed her before she fell to the floor, grunting slightly.

Probably because she’d knocked into his arm.

“I’m sorry . . . I’m sorry,” she cried. She fully expected him to grow mad at her. She was mucking everything up. “I’m so sorry.”

“Hey, hey. You’re okay, baby. Everything is all right.”

It wasn’t, though. It just wasn’t.

But, shoot! She was doing it again! Ignoring his needs for her own. This wasn’t her. Or it wasn’t who she wanted to be. And she had to help Corbin. He was always taking care of her.

“Don’t . . . don’t distract me!” she told him, pulling away.

“I’m distracting you?” he asked, observing her carefully. “How am I distracting you?”

“By trying to take care of me when I’m supposed to look after you. You’re injured!”

“Baby, I’m fine. This is barely a scratch.”

“Barely a scratch!” she cried, her hands reaching up to tug at her hair. It was still pulled back into a ponytail so she dragged it free, tugging at the strands. The pain helped her clear her head.

“Hey, stop that. No hurting yourself.” He reached up with his good hand and freed her hand from her hair. “Everything is all right, Bebe.”

She shook her head. She was beginning to feel like she was on repeat. Her mind kept flitting from one thing to the other, unable to settle.

A sob broke free from her chest and she could feel the tears welling.

“Please.”

The word was broken. So garbled that she wasn’t sure that he’d be able to understand her. But he gently maneuvered her onto the sofa, then crouched in front of her. His face was filled with nothing but concern.

Surely, he had to be feeling some anger. Right?

Here she was acting nuts when he’d just been stabbed. There had to be a hundred other things he wanted to do rather than take care of her.

“What do you need?” he asked her.

She took in one breath. Then another.

Focus. Stay calm.

Get it together.

“Your arm. It needs to be cleaned and bandaged.”

“You’re right. It does. As soon as Hayes is back, I’m going to go do that, okay?”

She let out a shaky breath, nodding.

“You’re safe now, baby. I’m sorry. I know that was really scary. You must have been so panicked. But we’re back in the house. Hayes is with us. The security alarm is on. You’re safe.”

Was she safe?

She didn’t feel safe. Her stomach was bubbling with nausea. She was trembling. And all she wanted was to crawl into his lap and bawl like a baby.

Get it together.

“Are you feeling better now?” Corbin asked.

“Yes.”

Hopefully, that came out with more conviction than she felt. Because she felt like she was falling apart at the seams.

He eyed her for a long moment.

“Everything is secure,” Hayes said, striding back in. “You need to go take care of that wound. Who knows what that knife had on it. Your tetanus is up-to-date?”

Tetanus? Oh God.

A whimper escaped her and both men zeroed in on her. Corbin stood and shot Hayes a look.

“I’m up-to-date with everything. Besides, I’m fine. I’ll go clean up and be right back. Okay, Bebe?”

She nodded numbly.

“Stay right here with Hayes. Understand me?” There was a sterner note in his voice now. He pulled the blanket up and tucked it around her shoulders as he spoke. Then, with one finger, he tilted her face back. His finger felt like it was burning against her cold skin. “Understand?”

“Yes. I’ll stay here.”