We arrived at his apartment minutes later. The tension had increased with each second we were confined in the tight space of his car.

I needed air.

I needed a breath.

Dammit, I needed to breathe.

I was grateful he didn’t stick around when we entered his apartment. He headed straight for the shower and left me alone to my thoughts. My thoughts as tears spilled onto what I was sure was an insanely expensive couch.

Twenty minutes later, he emerged looking the role of a high-powered businessman while I had leftover snot drying on my face.

“Ready?”

“Do I have a choice?” He wisely chose not to respond and held the door open.

“Sheldon will take you to get clothes. Get whatever you’ll need.”

“How long do you plan to keep me here?”

“I told you. Until you give me what I need.”

“If I tell you what happened Saturday, you’ll let me go?”

He nodded but just as quickly averted his gaze, and I had the feeling it wasn’t his intention at all.

“We’ll see,” I returned and bypassed him with my arms crossed under my breasts. His gaze raked them, and I tried my hardest to only feel disgust. There was nothing desirable about an engaged man. I wasn’t naive enough to believe he actually loved her, but nonetheless, he would belong to her when they married.

It only solidified my decision to never return home if I were able to leave alive and sane.

The drive from the city to Six Forks was made in silence. So many times, I wanted to ruin the quiet and tell him exactly what I thought of his impending nuptials.

Sheldon greeted me at the door with a smiling Kennedy, who looked as if she had just finished rolling in syrup. She quickly sent her inside to clean up after one glance at my appearance.

“Willow! What has my brother been doing to you? You look fucked up,” she cried with extra emphasis on fucked.

“Your fiancé should teach you how to use better language,” Dash joked.

“I’m not a pet dog,” she snapped back.

“Prove it.” They began bickering back and forth, and because I felt as if I were intruding on their teenaged sibling duel, I stepped past Sheldon and let myself into the house.

I didn’t see Keenan when I stepped inside, so I turned the corner into the first room that turned out to be the kitchen. I did witness the little mischief-maker pouring ketchup on her pancakes, though.

“Hi,” I greeted. She dropped the ketchup and threw her hands in the air. I laughed at the sight of her. Her pictures didn’t do her justice, and the brief moment I saw her at the wedding wasn’t enough to realize how cute she was.

“Hi,” she whispered and plopped onto her butt in her seat where her feet had been planted.

“You must be Kennedy. I’m Willow.”

“Hi, Willow.” Her pronunciation of my name was more like ‘whoa’.

“It’s very nice to meet you.” She only stared back while I grappled for something else to say. “What do you have there?” I nodded at the pancake cut into tiny triangles with ketchup and syrup.

“Cakes. Want some?” She picked up the tiny square with the most ketchup and syrup soaking in and extended it. There was no way I would eat that so I wondered how I could refuse without hurting her feelings?

I was saved by Keenan’s sudden appearance. He swooped down and ate the offering out of her hands, making hungry noises. Kennedy erupted in a fit of laughter and swatted away at her father when he pretended to eat her tiny hand, as well.

“More,” he demanded.

“No, Daddy. Willow have some.”

Keenan finally looked up at me with mischievous eyes, the same eyes Kennedy had clearly inherited, and a shrug. “Sorry, Wills,” he laughed using the nickname he dubbed me with five years ago. “I tried.”

“Maybe she shouldn’t eat that, either. She could get a stomach ache.”

His smile turned down and his head snapped back to his toddler. “Hey, princess. How did you get the ketchup?”

“Daddy ate a burger last night.”

His eyes widened and he snatched up the bottle and ran the short distance to the pantry as if hiding the evidence. The evidence was also all over Kennedy’s face and clothes as well as the pancakes that remained so I wondered what his game plan was.

“When Sheldon comes in and loses her shit, we say the kid acted alone,” he prepped me.

“Keenan…”

He covered Kennedy’s ears. “If I get in trouble, I won’t get my afternoon nookie when Ken takes her nap.”