A solemn look came over her face. “Yes, but I’m more sad for you.”
My brows shot up. “Why’s that?”
“Because you loved your daddy, and he hurt your mommy, which hurt you really bad. Even though I lost my mommy, I still have my daddy.” Glancing at me over her shoulder, she added, “And you would never do anything to hurt me like that.”
My hands froze in her hair as I tried to process her words. In spite of all my shit, Willow thought I was a good guy—a guy who would never hurt her. I sure as hell hoped I could live up to her expectations. It was a lot of fucking pressure. “You’re right,” I croaked. Cuffing the back of her neck playfully to ease the mood, I asked, “When did you become so wise?”
She shrugged. “Mrs. Martinez used to say I was an old soul.”
The mention of someone from her former life made me think for a minute about how she had mentioned the “Mean Man” again. The shrink she saw twice a week had warned us not to grill Willow for any information about what she had witnessed. But at the end of the day, we needed more intel. “What can you tell me about Mean Man?”
Willow immediately turned white as a sheet, and a tremor ran through her body. In a strangled voice, she replied, “No. I can’t … I can’t ever talk about him. He’ll hurt me.”
Even though I wasn’t used to showing her a lot of affection, I pulled her into my arms. “No, baby. He won’t. Me, Uncle Rev, and Bishop, and the rest of the Raiders won’t let him. He can’t get to you. I promise.”
My words seemed to ease Willow’s concerns a little because she stopped trembling. Taking her by the shoulders, I gently eased her back to where I could look into her eyes. “Maybe if we knew what he looked like, we could find him and put him in jail.”
My pep talk did nothing to convince Willow to talk. She just slowly shook her head back and forth. “Okay, then, let’s change the subject. All this shit is too heavy for someone your age.” I swept up her long, dark hair. Twisting it around, I wrapped the hair tie around it. “There. How’s that?”
Willow turned around on the bench. When she was facing the mirror, she turned her head left and right. “It looks good. Will you put the ribbons in now?”
“You’re a bossy thing, aren’t you?” I teased, trying to lighten the mood.
She laughed. “Maybe.”
Although it pained me greatly, I tied the ribbons around her bun. I had to admit that she looked cute as hell. Her outfit had transformed her into a ballerina. Whether or not she had any talent for it was yet to be seen.
“Okay. That’s enough mirror time. Let’s get you to Miss Alex,” I said.
She reluctantly turned from admiring her reflection and met me at the door. When she tugged on my hand, I bent down to her level. She surprised the hell out of me by standing on her tiptoes to bestow a kiss on my cheek. “Thank you, Deacon.”
“You’re welcome.”
Cocking her head at me, Willow asked, “Maybe soon I’ll be ready to call you ‘Daddy.’”
Her statement caused me momentarily to stagger back. Where the hell had that come from? Did I even want the kid to call me “Daddy”? I’d sure as hell have to be more of a father for her to call me one. I couldn’t deny her words caused an ache to burn through my chest. Somehow I finally found the words to respond. “I think I would like that.”
Willow smiled before bounding out the door. When we got back into the gym, I noticed two or three of the guys standing stock-still outside of the boxing ring. Instead of their attention being trained on Bishop, they stared off to the side. It took me only a moment to figure out who they were staring at.
I started to tell them to put their tongues back in their mouths, but I never got the chance. Instead, my eyes zeroed in on what they were obsessed with. Outfitted in her own skintight leotard, tights, and skirt, Alex was bent over, ass in the air, with her palms pressed to the mat. I could have never imagined something as simple as stretching could be so fucking sexy.
Oblivious to all the stares, she rose up and then brought her arm over her head. As she leaned in to the stretch, her ass swished provocatively. When she finished with the one arm, she moved on to the next one. And then she pulled a move that proved my undoing. She stretched her leg out next to her head. “Fucking hell,” one of the guys muttered.
“Why are you all staring at Miss Alex?” Willow demanded, bringing me out of my fantasy of how many positions I could put the very limber Alex in.
Willow’s words startled Alex. Her leg dropped down, and then she whirled around. When she saw all the men standing around, her face flushed. Trying to ease her embarrassment, I shouted, “Go on. Show’s over. Go back to work or whatever the hell you were supposed to be doing!”
As the men scrambled, Willow raced over to Alex, who was now cowering in the corner. When I reached them, Alex shook her head. “I don’t think this is going to work.”
“Look, I can promise you what happened was just a onetime thing. There’s never any women down here, so naturally they had to gawk when they saw one.”
Alex’s cheeks were still red. “I won’t feel comfortable. … I won’t be able to focus if I have to worry about being ogled.”
“What’s ogled?” Willow asked.
“Don’t worry about it,” I snapped.
“I’m sorry. I just can’t.”