Page 97 of Wicked Brutal

Mom comes up beside her without saying a word and slides an arm around her waist. Ally leans into her. Dad stays where he is. Watching. Letting me lead.

I carry Tobias to the couch. “Come on.”

He keeps his arms around my neck. “Where?”

“Man-to-man.”

That gets a wet sniffle out of him. “A real one?”

“Very real.”

“Like you and Walter?” I glance at Dad. His mouth twitches.

“Exactly like me and Walter.”

That makes Tobias loosen his death grip enough for me to sit him beside me. He stays plastered against my side. Ally sits on my other side with Mom beside her. Dad takes the chair across from us. Nobody interrupts. Nobody tells me what to say.

I know how this works. I’ve been on Tobias’s side of it my whole life.

I take a tissue from the box on the table and hand it to him. “First thing.” He wipes his nose. “Ally isn’t mad at you.”

He looks around me at her. “I’m not,” she says immediately. “I’m so sorry I yelled at you.”

“You were scary.” Her face crumples.

“I know. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

I put my arm around Tobias. “That’s the important part. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“But I asked if it was Victor’s.”

“Because you didn’t know.” He looks at me.

“Is it yours?”

“Yeah.”

“For real?” His eyes drop toward Ally’s stomach. “There’s really a baby in there?”

“There really is.”

“How?”

I stare at him. Dad immediately looks down. Mom presses her lips together. Ally makes a tiny sound beside me. “We’re going to skip that part of the man-to-man.”

“Why?”

“Because there are levels to these things.”

“I know how babies get there.”

Ally’s head whips around. “What?”

“Dad told me.”

I keep my face neutral. “What did he tell you?”

“That husbands put babies in their wives.” Ally closes her eyes. “And Victor is supposed to be Ally’s husband,” Tobias continues. “That’s why I thought it was his.”