“Gigi? Gigi! What’s wrong? Baby?” As he grew closer, he reached out for her. He could now hear her labored breaths, could see the fear on her face. His heart raced. What the fuck had happened? Had someone hurt her? Scared her?
She shied away from him, throwing her arms up in a defensive position. She let out a cry as she fell backward onto the ground.
“Gigi! Careful, you’ll hurt yourself.” He crouched down and she shoved herself backward.
“Stay away from me! Don’t hurt me!”
Confusion filled him. Why was she so scared of him? Then he took a good look at her, noticed the glazed look in her eyes and he wondered if she wasn’t seeing him at all.
“Gigi? It’s Macca.” He kept himself low, making certain to keep some distance between them, trying to make himself as unintimidating as possible. She was obviously terrified. She didn’t need him to add to her fear. Fuck. All he wanted to do was pull her onto his lap and wrap his arms around her. To protect her from whatever had obviously scared the crap out of her. He’d been gone less than two hours. He’d still expected her to be sleeping. What the hell had happened?
“No. No, I won’t. I won’t!”
“Gigi, it’s all right. You’re safe. No one will hurt you. I’m here.”
She shook her head frantically, her arms wrapping around herself protectively. Worry chilled his blood. What was going on? Had she had a bad dream? Had someone come to the house?
“Stay away. I won’t do it. I won’t.”
She wouldn’t do what? What the hell was going on here?
“Gigi?” She didn’t reply. Didn’t even acknowledge his presence. Okay, so that wasn’t working. He took a deep, calming breath. He had to keep himself under control to help her.
“Little girl, Daddy is here. And he needs you to look at him.”
Shoot. Still nothing. What was he going to do? An idea occurred to him, but he felt like a bit of an ass for doing it. Then again. . .he couldn’t help her when she was like this. He was all too aware that she’d been running on a hot road in bare feet. He took a glimpse at the soles of her feet. They were filthy and scratched. Her foot looked slightly swollen. She didn’t need to be out in the sun, either. She was still suffering the effects of her Lupus flare-up. She didn’t complain much, but he knew that her joints were still giving her issues at times. And she was still very tired and run-down.
“Little girl, look at Daddy.” He made his voice sterner and she seemed to still, as though she was listening. “If you don’t look at Daddy right now, you’ll be in trouble.”
She wouldn’t be, but she didn’t know that. He let out a quiet breath as she raised her gaze to him.
“D-Daddy?”
“That’s right, it’s me.” Relief flooded him. And he dropped the stern persona gratefully.
With a cry, she reached out for him, her arms outstretched. Gratitude flooded him. That one gesture told him more than anything how much she trusted him. He sat right there on the side of the road and tugged her onto his lap. She was still shaking, her skin hot and sweaty. He placed his fingers on the pulse on her neck. Fast and erratic. Not good.
“Baby, what are you doing out here? Why are you running outside in bare feet? What happened?”
“I-I-I. . .”
She shook so hard she couldn’t even speak. “Easy, baby. Let’s get you out of the sun.” He stood with her in his arms. He carried her into the car, settling her in the passenger seat. He drew the seat belt across her and stepped back. She let out a cry of distress, reaching for him.
“No, no, don’t leave me. Don’t go.” He cupped the side of her face, leaning in to kiss her lips gently. “I’m not going anywhere, baby. I just need to get in the driver’s seat so I can take us back to the house.”
“No!” she cried out, clear alarm filling her face. “We can’t go back there! He’s there!”
“He? He who?” Fuck, had someone been at the house? Had they tried to hurt her? “Who is it?”
She gulped in her breath. “Your dad.”
Shoot. She shouldn’t have said that. Should she? But then, he’d seen what a mess she was, he was going to want to know why. And his dad was still back there. Oh fuck, she couldn’t go back inside. Not even with Macca. Nausea bubbled in her tummy.
Macca had already started the car and was driving them up the road.
“Sick, gonna be sick.”
He gave her an alarmed look and drew the car off to the side once more. He jumped out, racing around, getting her out of the car just in time as she vomited her lunch up. Gross. Gross. Ick. She hated vomiting. Her body trembled, and she would have fallen if he hadn’t held her steady.