Page 164 of Daddy’s Fortitude

“Have you got somewhere you can stay tonight?” he asked. “I’m going to have someone here by morning to watch over you, but I’d feel better if you weren’t on your own tonight.”

“Yeah, I have somewhere I can stay. I’ll take Kevin with me, obviously. I don’t need anyone to keep an eye on me, though. I’ll be perfectly safe.”

“You definitely need someone to keep an eye on you,” he told her. “Just keep yourself safe tonight. Can you get this person to come over and get you? I don’t want you driving around in your vehicle since they already know what it looks like.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll do that,” she said. “I just can’t believe all of this. Why would they set her house on fire before she had a chance to pay up?”

“Don’t know.”

“Where are you guys going to stay?” Kirsten asked.

“I don’t know.” That was next on his list to sort.

“I’ve got a cabin, it’s off-grid and no one else knows it’s there. I go there when I need to get away from everything. It was my grandfather’s. He was the guy that started the Emporium. It’s even got security cameras. My husband put them in years ago, wanting me to be safe, even though we were in the middle of the woods.”

Her husband?

“I used to laugh at him, asking him if he was trying to keep track of the bears. Anyway, my point is that maybe you guys should stay there. You could keep her safe, but be close enough in case the police want to talk to you, or anything like that.

“Sounds perfect. Thanks, Kirsten.”

“I’d do anything for Aimee. She deserves to be loved, to be taken care of. I want her to have everything she needs, even things that she doesn’t really realize she does need. For so long, she’s been the one holding everything together. She’s been the one awake at night worrying over how to fix the house and how to pay the mortgage. And I’d just like her to have some peace.”

“I’m going to take care of her. I promise.”

After ending the call with Kirsten he sent a message to Branson, then settled in the chair to watch over Aimee.

Strangely enough, watching her sleep should be boring. It should be annoying, and he should feel restless. Instead, something settled deep inside him. She was alive, she was here, and he was going to do whatever it took to look after her and keep her safe.

The next morning, Ammo waved off the orderly and pushed her through the hospital in a wheelchair. When she was a passenger, he drove.

That was just the way it was.

“Thank God I’m getting out of here,” she said. “I can’t believe I had two nightmares last night. Hope I didn’t wake anyone else up.”

Ammo was pretty certain that she’d woken up half the hospital with her screams, but he wasn’t going to tell her that.

He was glad he’d been here to help her, to soothe her when she got upset. He fucking hated that she was having nightmares in the first place and he wanted to ensure that she never had them again.

“Now, are you sure you don’t need to pee?” he asked.

She had a habit of forgetting to go and then remembering right before they got into his truck.

“I’m good. I promise. Where are we going?” she asked as they reached the parking lot.

Standing by his truck were Webb and Eli.

“Hey, Webb,” she said, waving at him. “What are you doing here?”

“Webb’s here to help me keep you safe. This is Eli. He’s here to keep watch over Kirsten.”

“Oh, hi, Eli. Thank you for coming all this way. You guys really didn’t have to.”

Webb opened the truck door and raised his eyebrows as he stared down at her.

“Yes, we did,” he said.

“Have you got everything packed up?” Ammo asked him as Eli disappeared into the truck parked behind them.