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“I don’t understand a word you are saying to me.” I looked at him and blinked for emphasis.
“You will.” He moved to the cabinet and pulled down a plate. “Do I need a glass or—”
“On the table.” I indicated. “Along with the juice.”
Why the hell was he here?
I placed the plate on the table as people began to filter back into the house. Lots of high fives, bragging. Dane and Tituss showed up right as Apollo cut into his stack of pancakes. I blinked at them. Fighting? For real? Yes, by the look of it.
“Dad! I got pancakes.” Rip held up his last bite.
“I see that.” He looked at me and asked, “Can I—”
“Of course.” I didn’t say anything more. I turned and started cooking more pancakes.
Tituss moved next to me, put his hand on my lower back, and said, “We didn’t know.”
“Know what?” I shout whispered? “That someone said something stupid at the pool? That…wasn’t because of me…was it?”
He stroked my head, leaned in and kissed my temple, and said, “Not all of it, but yeah.”
Chapter Thirty
Apollo
I already knew who I was kicking out of the room next to mine. The guy was hearing impaired and easily convinced to go to a better location. I wanted her right next to me in that house. She couldn’t stay in the Bunny House and be the boss. It would be terrible. I knew that. I lived that. No matter what fucking house I was in, I was the boss, and they all knew it. Junior House was miserable since my return. I was miserable since my return.
Harpy had to be miserable. I would not let her stay here with these animals anymore either. She made them breakfast and stood at the stove, where she made a smaller pancake for herself. Rip turned to her and said, “One more?”
“What do you say?” Dane asked.
“Please, Hoppy.” Rip smiled at her. She winked at the little monster, and the kid giggled.
I fought the smile trying to land on my own lips. What the hell was it about her? She wasn’t exactly Helen of Troy, yet an entire frat just went to fists over disrespecting her at the pool. Disrespecting a house bunny. Not attempting a sexual assault with a reptile, but words. Not even words, laughter.
They laughed at her, and Dane, the future lawyer, went Hulk Smash on his frat brothers and, in an odd turn of events, on his actual brother. I observed the foursome in this kitchen and how easily she interacted with them. Dane, a psycho if ever there was one, was fiercely protective of that kid, yet she was the one who had him at the game last night.
His family had a skybox. I knew that because ours was next to it. That is where I watched from. Better weather since it was indoors, better food since it had an actual dinner, and yet he had put them close to the bench so…he could see them. Him. Maybe it was just about the kid. With Dougie’s death, the whole breakup with Essie. He’d been stockpiling that for a minute.
Still, this kid was my cousin’s kid, too. Dane didn’t know that. Not yet. His family didn’t know that. Sure, they had investigators, but…they were our people, so…we told them what they needed to know. His family was on warning because of this kid. Dane was on watch because of this kid.
I felt like a babysitter to over a hundred people too old for me to be babysitting. As I pushed out of the chair, I looked at the brunette at the stove and moved in her direction. I heard the chair scrape. Fucking Tituss was the worst with this one. I looked at them, looking at me, as I leaned against the counter next to her and asked, “What’s your favorite color, Harpy?”
She blinked over at me. They both frowned, studied me. Oh, this just made it all so much more fun for me. She said, “Black.”
I considered this. “Second favorite.”
“Blue?” she seemed confused.
“Light or dark or—”
“I don’t know? I guess…” She looked at Tituss, at Dane, then at Rip and smiled. “Green. Like his eyes. That is my favorite color now.”
That kid laughed and blushed as he shoved more pancakes in his mouth.
“Green it is then.” I winked at her and lifted off the counter. “See you Tuesday. It’s almost done.”
I walked out of there and headed back to my house. I passed various scrappers talking and tending to one another. So in the grand scheme of things, it was at least good to know the guys could still fight. Even the delicate ones pulled out some skills or took a punch. This is why I was not so surprised to see another relative of Dane, Gordie, engaged to Arlington, another family asset, tending to Sanjay or Squeak as they called him because he…well, I guess he squeaked when they fucked.
