Page 36 of Unexpected Complication

“Double or nothing,” I challenged.

“You’re on.”

“All right, the two of you. Knock it off. Your bickering is giving me a headache.” Sean groaned.

“He’s cheating again,” she pouted.

Sean sighed. “Cian.”

“I am not!” I pointed my finger at Skylar. “She’s eating the checkers, Sean!”

“I put them back.”

“Only when I caught you!”

His head fell back, laughing. “This is why I’m grateful I don’t have children. Although I bet they’d behave better than you two.”

He stood, snickering. “Why don’t you give it up for a while? We can watch a movie.”

“That’s fine.” Skylar grinned. “I won.”

“You didn’t win! You ate three of your checkers from the board! You cheated!”

“Didn’t.”

“Did.”

“Prove it.”

I looked down and started to laugh. I couldn’t prove it—we only had one kind of Life Saver, and Skylar had shoved them all together now in a pile. She was nothing but a dirty, rotten, checker-eating cheater.

A fucking adorable one.

I threw up my hands. “I give up. I can’t control you—there’s just no way.”

“I’ll share my Oreos while we watch the movie.”

I glared at her. “Fine. But you’re still a cheater.”

She waved her hand dismissively. “Whatever, sore loser.”

“I’ll get you back when we play tonight. I get to choose the game.”

“Whatever makes you feel better, Cian.”

Sean yelled from the living room. “Either get in here and watch the movie or I’m locking you both in your rooms! Now!” I heard him sigh. “I am way too old for this shit, I swear.”

“Oops. We’ve been told.”

Without thinking, I tucked her hand into mine and led her down the hall. “Let’s go, Kitten.”

She didn’t pull away.

Sean fell asleep about ten minutes into the movie. He was sitting in the chair I normally used, so I was beside Skylar on the sofa. His head fell back, low snores coming from his mouth.

“It’s not that bad,” I muttered, kicking his foot. It wasn’t that great either, but the selection at the small Walmart in town hadn’t been stellar. He opened one eye and shrugged, getting up and going down the hall, no doubt for a nap.

I looked over at Skylar, smirking when I saw she, too, was fighting sleep. More than once, her head dipped lower, slowly sinking to her chest. As soon as it made contact, she would startle and pull her head back, only to start the whole process over again.