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“Hi, Uncie Roman,” she said, beaming up at me.
I nodded. “Heya, Mads.”
“You couldn’t even put a shirt on in front of my child?” Paris scoffed.
I looked her up and down pointedly. “You couldn’t even put pants on in front of your child?”
“It’s a skirt. I don’t expect you to understandfashion.”
If that was fashion, kill me now. She thought she was sexy? She was trying too damned hard.
“Oh, I thought that was a belt,” I replied.
“Okay!” Mum said, holding her hands up. “How about we don’t do this in front of impressionable young minds, yes?”
Paris gave me a smug and annoying victorious look and I just rolled my eyes. I could be the bigger man here. Paris was done pushing my buttons. One would have been forgiven for thinking that our father’s animosity would have brought us together, common enemy and all, but it hadn’t. Paris had always been a vindictive, horrible sister. She took after our father and spent too much of her energy trying to prove it to him, but he never acknowledged it.
“How about Uncle Roman shows Maddy her room while I talk to Paris?” Mum asked.
Maddy’s tiny little hand slid into mine and I looked back down at her.
“Yes, please,” she said.
Fuck everything. What was this weird feeling in my chest when I looked at her? It was like I was going to be ill. It was like I wanted to break something, but I wanted to get as far away from her before I did.
So, I could only nod. “Sure.”
I gave her a little tug as I took a step away. She eagerly took a step with me.
I took another step. She took another step.
One more. One more.
If this was having a niece, this was going to get old real fucking fast.
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Having a new addition to our house was always going to be a huge change. It had been just me and Mum for the six years since pregnant Paris had taken off. Suddenly I was feeling constrained and obligated under my own roof. Imagine my surprise when the one place I could be myself and feel anything like normal was school of all fucking places.
Rio, Steve and I were wagging the next Wednesday afternoon. It wasn’t unusual for us. What was unusual was that Jake hadn’t joined us. As was usual for us, we were having a smoke on our way to the back corner of the oval, which took us past the bleachers.
Piper was sitting about halfway up with her –like– bestest of best friends, Hadley Reynolds. Piper’s eyes were glued to the PE lesson playing out to our right, and her finger was in her mouth. Fucking hell. What I wouldn’t give to be that finger. I’d apparently give enough that I’d pause the boys at the bottom of the bleachers to make sure I got a good look at it.
Hadley saw me watching Piper. I saw Hadley smirk and say something to Piper. Piper’s eyes flew to me, and she hurriedly pulled her finger out of her mouth. That amused me.
Every time she looked at me, it amused me. She constantly looked moments away from looking for a barrel or a bush to hide behind, as if that would stop me from noticing her. If she’d known all the dirty things I thought whenever I looked at her – or thought about her – then I’d have said I wasn’t surprised. But I doubted even Hadley Reynolds could come up with half the shit that went through my head. Perfect Little Piper Barlow hadn’t even thought the tamest of them, I’d bet.
Hadley liked to think she was the promiscuous best friend of this story. She talked the talk, but the walk was significantly lacking. I knew because Rio had given it his fucking best shot and still struck out. Multiple times. I quite often wondered if Rio was sweet on her, the number of times he got himself shot down over her. Maybe he was just a sucker for punishment. Maybe it did us good to be told no now and then.
“Can I ask what we’re doing?” Rio said, looking around as he flicked his butt under the bleachers.
“Making a certain someone uncomfortable,” I answered.
Rio looked onto the oval. “Yes,” he said sarcastically. “Those lacrosse fuckers are well known to give a fully fledged shit about our loitering.”
I rolled my eyes. “Look up, fuckwit.”
Rio turned and looked up. “Ah. That makes more sense.”
