Seeking Happily Ever After (Ever After #8) - Elena Aitken Page 0,61
Cocked his fist and froze at his best friend’s undefended face.
He was about to punch his best friend and Damon wasn’t even going to stop him because he knew he needed the release. The reality of the entire situation hit him. He dropped his arm as his shoulders slumped and a sob ripped from deep in his chest.
Without missing a beat, Damon pulled him in and hugged him hard.
It didn’t take long for the anger and anguish to subside enough for Nick to allow Damon to lead him into the main house, where he set a glass of water in front of him and sat across from him at the kitchen island. Katie had appeared with a wet towel and gently, without asking, took Nick’s hand and started cleaning the cuts.
“What can we do?”
Nick dropped his chin to his chest. “Nothing.”
“I don’t believe that, Nick.” Damon shook his head. “It’s not like you to just give up. You never give up. There’s a problem, you solve it. So let’s—”
“We can’t.” He jerked his hand away from Katie and immediately felt bad. “Sorry.”
“It’s fine.” She smiled kindly, and took it back and resumed washing the cuts.
“We can’t solve this,” Nick said to Damon. “I’ve been talking to Chris, and he says we have to play by the rules on this one. She’s not biologically my daughter and that means I have no rights. It’s so fucked up.”
“That is fucked up. There has to be something they’re missing. You can’t just give a child back to the parent who abandoned her like she was nothing.”
Damon’s words hit him like fresh punches in the gut.
“It’s not right. What did the caseworker say?”
“Chris is waiting to hear back, and I left a message, too. But Jessica has a clean drug test and…” The visit with Susan Johnson had gone so well, she had to be on their side as far as custody went. It was her job to do what was in the best interest of the child. Surely she’d see that what was in Amelia’s best interest was him and Charlotte. They were what was best. And—Charlotte. She’d left. She was so hurt. So angry. And… Nick looked at Katie. “Charlotte left.”
Katie nodded. “I know.”
“Do you know where she went?”
Katie shook her head and, finished with his hand, which was now throbbing, released it with a gentle pat.
“She hates me.”
“I’m sure she doesn’t hate you,” Katie said. “She’s hurt and confused.”
“I’ve screwed everything up so badly.” He wanted to hit something again but the pain in his fist reminded him why that wasn’t likely a good idea. He was lucky it wasn’t broken. Even if it was, he didn’t care. He didn’t care about anything without Amelia and Charlotte.
“I’m going to call Remington.” Damon pushed away from the counter with sudden force. “He’s an old friend from school,” he explained as he pulled his cell phone out. “He’s a cop in town and…well, I don’t know what he can do. But maybe he can at least keep an eye out for Jessica’s car and…”
Nick nodded. It was something. “Call him.”
A few minutes later, Damon was off the phone. “Okay. Remi is going to keep an eye out for the car. He’ll let us know if he sees anything, and as soon as he locates her, he’ll keep a tail on her as much as he can. It’s not much, but...”
“It’s better than nothing.” Nick nodded. “And it’s a whole lot better than what I’m doing.” He couldn’t sit any longer. “I need to go after her.”
“Who?”
He stopped. His hands might be tied when it came to Amelia. He’d take Chris’s advice because he didn’t want to screw it up. He’d play by the rules, even if it went against everything he thought was right. But he’d do it for Amelia. He had to.
But Charlotte…there was something he could do to fix that. Hopefully. She’d been hurt before. Badly. And she’d trusted him. He’d betrayed that trust and he’d spend the rest of his life making amends for that if she’d let him. But first…he needed to find her.
“I need to find Charlotte,” he told his friends. “I need to tell her everything.”
“Nick?” Katie stopped him, confusion on her face. “Isn’t that why she left?” she asked. “Because she knows everything now?”
“No.” He shook his head. “She doesn’t know how much I love her.”
Charlotte backed up into the cabin. Her pulse thundered in her ears, making it hard to think straight.