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Dane pushed my shoulder, but we made our way to his bedroom, which like mine, was insulated, so it was relatively quiet despite the party happening two houses down. Rip went to a shelf, grabbed a book, and carried it over to her. “This one.”
She checked out the book as Dane said, “Pajamas.”
“You too.” Rip pointed.
“Me too.” Dane pointed at me and said, “You too.”
“I’ll be right back.” I ran out of there, to my room, and returned to find her pulling back the blankets.
“Get in.” She indicated, and I laughed but slipped into bed with them. We looked ridiculous. Well, maybe not. More like a same-sex couple, and Rip was our kid. I considered I could do worse than Dane. He could do worse than me. We both had a future of worse in store for us. The best took a seat at the foot of the bed and looked at us. She said, “I want to take a picture. You’re so cute right now.”
Dane popped her knee with his foot. I saw the blanket move. I shook my head.
“Shhh.” Rip was serious about his storytime. He settled back against the pillows and said in a whisper, “Okay, Hoppy.”
“Okay.” She smiled, and I closed my eyes because the way she looked at that kid was killing me. I leaned back and let myself drift a bit. Think of a time when we would cuddle up and plan a future that we could never have. I didn’t know that back then. I thought I still had control of my life’s path.
I felt the tug on my fingers and opened my eyes as she said, “Come on.”
I looked over and realized Rip was sleeping. His arm thrown back over his head, he slept like his dad. His dad was yawning but waiting at the door. He said, “Let’s go. I haven’t got all night.”
His dad was about to piss me off. “Where are you going?”
He lifted his lips in a grin that told me exactly where he was going. I asked, “Why?”
“You know why.” He winked at me. She did not know why we were having this spat. I huffed and puffed all the way to my room, where he called out, “Dibs.”
“I fucking hate you.” I moved to drop down on my bed.
Harpy went over to the massage table and asked, “When the hell did you get this?”
“Arrived today. Squeak set it up for me.” I watched Dane pull his bottoms off and climb onto that table, all thrilled as he put his head down and sighed. I looked at Harpy, who did not seem pleased about this revelation. I said, “Oof. Yeah. Glad you called dibs.”
“What?” he asked, but she slapped him on his naked ass, and he yelped. He was pushing up, and she pushed him back down. “What the hell?”
“You want a massage? Fine.” She had zero bedside manner this evening. She stripped out of that hoodie and then the shirt underneath. She had a tank top under that. I settled in my bed and found some spa-like playlist, and started it up on the surround sound.
She glared at me, and I smiled at her. I admitted freely what I felt because I was settled with it. “I love you.”
“Fuck. You.” She squeezed his shoulders, and he groaned, winced.
I bit my lips and closed my eyes.
I felt the slap to my chest and popped up as Dane was stepping back. “You’re up, asshole.”
At this point, I was about to be an even bigger asshole. I smiled at her and held my hand out, and said, “Come here, baby. I don’t want one. I just want you next to me.”
He stiffened and turned just enough to glare at me. He had to go back to his room and his son. I smiled brightly at him as she removed the rest of her clothes and crawled into my bed, where she belonged and had since I met her. She snuggled up to my chest and said, “I’m so tired, and I have to get up early—”
I stroked her hair. He was ready to murder me. I knew that. Making it worse, I said, “I know, baby. I’ll help you in the morning.”
We had limited time because once Apollo got his contract settled…she would be working a lot, and she already did a lot of real work around here. Between that and her classes, our schedules, when would we get our hits? She was a drug, and I needed my fix.
He flipped me off and left. I settled into a peaceful slumber with Harpy wrapped up in my arms.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Dane
