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“We’re going to be good friends,” Mercedes says, hugging me tightly. “Sandy doesn’t like people and won’t let anyone besides me touch her. She chose you.”
And then she’s gone. Leaving me to stare at the tan girl sitting beside me.
“I assume you’re Sandy.”
I allow myself five minutes to breathe and just release the stress of the situation before heading to Mercedes little yellow car. I don’t know Severn as well as I wish I did and I was mostly focused on staying alive while Mercedes was driving, so I take a couple of wrong turns as I navigate my way back to the tattoo parlor.
Chapter Ten
How to raise someone else’s child
Lucian
Alistair tears out of here so quickly I can’t help but allow dread to settle in my stomach. Dana walks into my section with a glass of water for my customer and a frown.
“I don’t know,” I answer the unasked question. “Give it ten minutes and then start calling them.”
She hands the glass to Steven, a walk-in customer, before leaving us alone.
“This is new,” he gestures to me.
I chuckle. Dana strapped Tyler to my naked chest using one of her scarves. It’s a little weird but it works. I can still help customers and the kid is fast asleep.
“He’s my girls’ kid,” I reply.
Wait. What? When did she become my girl? Is this what Alistair and Malichai meant when they said I’d know the right woman for me? Can one day really be enough to make these kinds of decisions?
My mind has been swirling with thoughts of her for hours. It’s been love and lust, claiming her, or just having some fun. I know that I want her but do I want to keep her? Do I want to raise another man’s child? I do know I don’t want to give her up so maybe she is my girl after all…
“That’s cool,” he says, lying back down. “Not many men are man enough to raise another man’s child.” I raise a brow. “My old lady had four under the age of eight when I met her. She thought I would run for the hills the moment I found out. Now our oldest just finished high school with honors.”
“And the father?” I don’t want to pry but this guy can give me an insight I didn’t know I needed.
“He came around in the beginning. He was more this weird uncle that always brought presents,” he replies as the sound of my tattoo gun fills the room. “But I was never worried. I wouldn’t do anything to keep a man from spending time with his kids, you know?”
“How’s your wife feel about all that?”
He chuckles and I almost fuck up a line. “Sorry,” he says. “I told her if she wanted to go back to him all she had to do was say so and I would step aside. Family is a big deal to me and all. She told me to fuck off. Said if she was done with me she’d find herself a pretty little wifey, something nice to look at.”
I shut down the gun as my entire body wracks with laughter.
“Sounds like quite a woman.”
“I’ll bring her around next time.”
***
Twenty minutes after Alistair left, Dana still can’t reach either of them. Steven has left with the little script tattoo he wanted, and I am stressed as fuck. Of course, I don’t have Cassandra’s cell number so I can’t call her.
When the door swings open and she walks in, a sigh of relief falls from my lips. She stares at me in confusion before heading to the diaper bag and digging inside. She pulls out her cell phone, quickly scrolls, and dials.
“Dr. Novak, please. This is Dr. Robins.” She waits impatiently, tapping her foot. “Hi, Emma. Sorry to call out of the blue. I’ve sent some friends your way with their pit bull. He has a spider bite.” She listens to the other woman speak. “The owner says she saw the lump last night. I don’t have a practice set up yet, so I gave him some water for the dehydration. He’s around eighty pounds.”
She listens once more before turning to me. “How old is Zeus?”
“Three,” Dana chimes in when I take too long.
“He’s around three years old. I don’t have any other medical history but I do know he’s a rescue. They should be there in the next half hour. Thank you so much.”
