Page 110 of Well Aware

No offense, because I loved Texas with my whole heart, but I felt like I was about to get jumped by my old teammates, they were glaring at me so hard.

“You did so good, Mama!”

God, I loved that she was talking so much.

I had the man at her side to thank for that.

“Thank you, Iris.” I hunched down. “Are you okay with a hug?”

She wrinkled her nose. “After you shower.”

I giggled. “I can do that.”

She kept hold of Beau’s pants as we wound our way through the crowd.

I was beside her the entire time, my gaze mostly on her, when I saw the arm that went around her waist.

I cried out in anger as I turned and reached for my girl.

I blinked when I came face-to-face with a cop who was holding my child to his chest.

“What the fuck?” I cried out. “What are you doing?”

The crowd around us went still at my yell.

Beau took a threatening step toward them as Iris started to scream bloody murder.

Everyone winced, and there was not a single person in that stadium who wasn’t watching now.

“We were informed this child was kidnapped from her father.”

“That child is my child,” I disagreed, reaching for her. “Give her to me right now.”

“Sorry.” Two other cops came to block my way. “Until we know for sure, and you can provide proper paperwork, that won’t be happening.”

Iris continued to yell.

“This is her child,” all of my teammates started to encircle the group of five cops. “Give her back!”

The trigger-happy one to Iris’s left put his hand on the butt of his firearm.

I tensed.

“She’s autistic,” I said. “You touching her is causing her distress. She hates when people touch her that she doesn’t know. And she even has trouble with me sometimes.”

I felt Beau’s hand clench on to my hip, and I had to force myself not to reach for her again.

“Officer,” Beau said quietly. “You’re scaring her. She’s terrified, look.”

The officer looked but didn’t seem to care.

“And I’m not sure what your partner there is hoping to accomplish by placing his hand on that gun, but if he decided to shoot, there are hundreds of innocent bystanders that are in the line of fire, even if he does hit what he’s aiming at.”

“Give her back!” The crowd closed in. “That’s her child!”

Hell, even my old team was joining in.

Vanessa, the goalie who’d been crying earlier, was holding up her phone. “Look. That’s her and Iris when Iris was eighteen months. This is for real her child.”