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There was a long pause before Kristy finally said. “Okay, I’ll let them know, and I’ll pop over tomorrow with the deets.”
“Thank you, Kristy. Seriously. You have no idea how much this will help.”
“You’re welcome, sweetie. Anytime.”
They ended the call, and Mak practically bounced into the dining room.
“Good news?” Thunder asked.
“Uh, yeah, kinda. I got a bartending job for Saturday night that pays really, really well.”
“All right, babe, that’s awesome.” He sounded so genuinely happy for her, she couldn’t help but beam at him. As though he’d been around children his whole life, he stood and transferred the sleeping Emmie to her. Once her arms were full of her warm, sleeping sister, who she refused to acknowledge now smelled like Thunder, he leaned in close. “Thank you for dinner,” he whispered against her ear. “I owe you one.” Then he pressed a lingering kiss to her cheek, and her damn knees wobbled.
On shaky legs, she followed him to the door and watched him jog to his bike. Without looking back, he swung a leg over the beast of a machine, giving her a prime view of his exquisite ass. One quick wave and a wink later, and he was off like a shot.
“Ugh,” Mak said to her sleeping sister. “Why, Emmie? Why?”
“Why what?” Lee said from directly behind her.
“Jesus!” Mak yelped, jumping so hard it was a miracle Emmie didn’t wake. “You scared me.”
“Sorry,” he said in a tone that relayed otherwise. “You fucking him?”
Her mouth fell open. “Excuse me?”
Lee tilted his head and folded his arms across his chest, looking much older than his eighteen years. “I asked if you’re fucking him.”
“Yeah, I heard you. I just can’t believe you asked me that.” Especially with the way his social life had been going. Though she had no actual proof, she was pretty sure he’d been hooking up with random girls every chance he got. Another young adult experience he’d embraced to the max. And what the hell could she say about it? She sure as hell hadn’t had any kind of normal dating life as a teenager. She’d been pure as the driven snow until her nineteenth birthday when she’d been married off and spent the night, legs spread while a sixty-year-old man tried his damnedest to knock her up. What kind of advice, warnings, or education could she impart on him? None he’d take seriously. So she made sure his stash of condoms never ran dry because the last thing they needed around the house was another mouth to feed.
Lee shrugged, then turned and began to walk back toward his bedroom.
“Wait, Lee, hold up,” Mak said as she rubbed a hand across her forehead where an ache was firing up. “Um, I’m gonna need you to watch the kids again this Saturday night. I got a really great paying—”
“Seriously?” he asked with a roll of his eyes. “I can’t this weekend, find someone else to be on babysitting duty.”
“Are you working the closing shift at the pizza parlor?” Crap, she hadn’t even considered his schedule before agreeing to the job. Still, the money was so good, maybe he could swap shifts with someone.
He dropped his gaze and kicked at the frayed edge of the shabby runner lining the front hallway. “Nah, I’m not working.”
“Well, if it’s a party, can you go late? Or skip it? Lee, it’s five hundred dollars for four hours of work. That’s insane, and we could really use it.”
Still looking at the floor, he sighed. “Fucking sick of always needing money.”
He didn’t make a ton at his job, but it took so much pressure off her to have another earner in the house. She still paid the majority of the bills to allow him some spending money, but he definitely contributed. In fact, she’d thought he was feeling pretty good about his own money situation since getting the job.
“I know, Lee. It’s why I’ve been taking more jobs.” Having parental conversations with him never came easy. Whether it was the closeness in their ages, their size difference, or the fact she never felt like she had any idea what the hell she was doing, acting as a maternal figure to him proved a challenge. Having difficult conversations about his life made her feel like a fraud. “Um, I thought you were doing okay with the money you made at—”
“I’m not working there anymore.”
She blinked. “What?”
“I lost the job. The freaking dictators who run the place said I was late too many times. Such bullshit.”
Mak swallowed. Tread carefully. “Wow, ah, when did this happen?”
With a shrug, he leaned against the wall. “Dunno. A week ago, I guess.”
A week ago? “Jesus, Lee, why didn’t you say anything? And how have you been paying for stuff?”
He shrugged again. “Been using what I had saved up.”
She pressed a hand to her suddenly queasy stomach. “Lee, that was the money you were starting to save for the future. To maybe get an apartment, or maybe go to college someday. To have…more.” It’d been something she’d been adamant about when he started working in the last place they’d lived. No matter how much he made, she insisted he put a small percentage aside.
