Inevitable Fidelity (Book 3 in the Original BOC Series) ✔

Chapter Thirty-Six

Nathan stared at the dashboard in front of him. He couldn't think. Couldn't speak.

He was exhausted, drained. He didn't even notice when Adam pulled up to the hospital, putting the bronco in park. Nathan appreciated the silence they were sitting in since he didn't have anything to say really anyway.

Raising his head to lean back against the headrest, Nathan's heavy sigh gave Adam the opportunity to look away from his friend to the steering wheel. There were no words he could offer Nathan after finding out about what happened to Darla.

What could he say? I'm sorry?

Adam's jaw skewed to the side, lowering a brow and kept his blue eyes on the horn of the wheel. He could barely hear his own voice when he asked Nathan if he wanted to go inside or just wait here.

Turning his eyes to him, Adam wasn't sure if Nathan heard him. He was just staring straight ahead with this glazed over look, eyelids half-drooped and taking deep breaths before letting them out slowly through his mouth.

Adam raised his brows, leaning cautiously forward, "Nate...?"

"Yeah..."

He lifted his head off the headrest, turning his head a portion to nod that he'd get off now. He looked in the backseat where his little darling was sleeping on his jacket.

Nathan's heart was hurting so much just staring at her.

He felt powerless in making what happened forever go away. But he couldn't. And it was driving him crazy that Darla was never going to be the same after this. His little darling would never be the same, even if she was smiling, giggling, and everything else that she'd normally do. Because deep down inside of her, Nathan knew it was impossible for her to never not have that darkness invade her memory.

Nathan swallowed down his threatening tears.

He'd been crying in the backseat, holding his daughter in his arms for half the drive away from the warehouse. He couldn't stop letting his tears run down his face, kissing her head over and over again, murmuring into her hair that he was so sorry.

He cried even more when her innocent thinking had revealed itself and she looked up at him with her opal eyes, giving him that nose-scrunched-front-teethed smile.

"Don't cry, daddy... Chamby's okay now."

Nathan had nodded, sobbing that she was right and kissed her forehead, lingering there as he shut his eyes tightly. He wrapped her in his arms and rocked her slowly, humming until she was fast asleep.

Adam reflected the motion of looking in the backseat, his eyes saddening at his niece's sleeping face.

He was hurting for her, and Adam just wanted to go home to Lily and cry in her lap that he felt useless at not being able to comfort his friend nor Darla. He also wanted to go into his son's bedroom and lift him out of his crib and have him sleep with he and his mother.

He wanted to make sure that Justin was protected enough... something that Nathan thought probably when he'd gotten a hysterical phone call from Mara at a late night at work that their daughter was missing and her bedroom window was broken into.

Adam glanced at Nathan after softly asking if he wanted Adam to wait in the bronco with Darla. Nathan sighed, shaking his head. He lowered his mouth to the back of his hand that rested on the shoulder of his seat.

He mumbled against his hand that it was best to get Darla checked out.

"I have to make sure she's okay... even... even though she won't be."