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“I’ll take you to the store and buy you whatever you want, within reason,” I offered.
“Done,” she narrowed her eyes. “You have until the cookies are finished, though. Mom told me to always make sure my bets have stipulations, that way, you can’t get fuc…”
“JP,” Folsom growled. “Don’t you dare.”
JP blinked at her mother innocently. “I was going to say fudged.”
“Sure you were,” Folsom grumbled.
We all ate in silence, and I didn’t finish the last piece of bacon, but only because I was loving the look of glee on JP’s face.
She really didn’t believe in me.
I didn’t have the heart to tell her that I’d be hungry in an hour. Not having two sources of protein usually meant that I wouldn’t be able to go long before I’d have to eat again. I had a bottomless pit for a stomach.
I could eat all day long and never tire of it.
“That’s impressive still,” JP said. “I’m gonna go get ready.”
Then she was gone, leaving me with her mother watching me in amusement.
“Go ahead and finish it,” she rolled her eyes. “She’s not used to seeing a grown man eat.”
That made me feel exceptionally good.
I loved that she wasn’t around grown men enough to know they could put away some food.
That meant her mother wasn’t near them.
Folsom stood with her syrupy plate, then walked over to the counter.
I waited until I’d finished the last slice of bacon, then stood up and walked until I could reach the sink to drop my plate into it.
She seemed to almost melt when she felt me move up behind her. Placing both hands on either side of her, curled around the top of the sink, I said, “I don’t know what I’m doing with you.”
She laughed. “I know what I want to do withyou.”
I felt things inside of me tense. “I’ve done nothing but think about you nonstop since you left.”
She swallowed and dropped her head, chin resting on her chest.
“I couldn’t tell you,” she whispered. “I couldn’t tell anyone. That day I left? That was the day that I knew we’d die if we stayed. As much as I wanted to stay with you, my natural instinct for the last decade of my life has been to run and hide. I’ll not apologize for that.”
I lifted one hand, caught her around the waist, and twisted her until she was front to front to me. Only when her eyes came up to catch mine did I say, “And when it comes to your kid, you always put her first. I’m never to come anything but last when it comes to a choice between us. Do you understand?”
She swallowed. “Yeah.”
Watching her lip quiver made me want to kiss it.
“What are we doing here, Kobe?” She asked. “What…I mean…how? What do we do from here?”
We hadn’t said any words. We hadn’t made any promises. We hadn’t done a whole lot but confess to a few things.
Yet, that was enough. It was all I needed for now.
“We find whoever is going to take the hit that’s out on you,” I said. “We take your girl to the store. We then get rid of Farrell and Lisbeth through the eyes of the law. Then we figure out where to go from there. Whether that’s bringing you back to Accident or me joining a fuckin’ circus. Wherever you want to go, I’ll follow.”
She snickered at that. “You’ll join a circus for me?”
