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“Excuse me,” she said authoritatively. “Is that any way to treat a guest?”
Something about the way she said the wordguestruffled my fur. There shouldn’t have been a reason for it. I was just their babysitter for the night. These kids didn’t mean much to me outside of what they meant to Virginia.
But something was off about that word. Something had struck me that wouldn’t back down until I turned around to face it.
I just didn’t know what thatsomethingwas, or how to make it go away.
Adhara hopped down from the couch and walked around it to stand next to her brother. The twins held hands and gave me such apologetic expressions that whatever thesomethingwas hanging in the background became far less important than comforting them.
I knelt to the ground on one knee. “Listen, I’ll be here for most of the night until your mama gets back, so we should set some boundaries.”
The twins nodded.
“We’re playing video games all night.”
Gasps and cheers exploded through the room over Virginia’s huffs and sighs. I laughed while standing up and leaning against the couch.
“I’m mostly kidding,” I offered Virginia. “But you have to get your chores done first, alright?”
“Alright!” the twins replied.
Without letting go of each other, they ran off, looking way too identical with their shoulder-length black hair and matching band shirts. Those vintage tees were undoubtedly Virginia’s. Either that or it was something they had rummaged out of a bargain bin.
I crossed my arms over my chest. “Handfuls. Like you.”
Virginia gave me a sheepish smile while blushing. Dang, I didn’t know I still had that kind of effect on her.
She shrugged. “They’re willful.”
“How long you working tonight?”
“Until the bar shuts down, I guess.” She threw her hands in the air. “I’m always the one they call because I’m the most responsible, I guess.”
“You guess, huh?” I teased. “You can’t take shorter hours? I mean, Blake has offered you protection all these years. He can’t pay for your stay here?”
Humor drained from her face along with a good bit of color. She spun around and went to the hall mirror where she fussed with her hair, her makeup, her outfit. She looked like a mom right now, but I was willing to bet she had a tiny tank top tucked in that satchel of hers that she was going to wear behind the bar.
Fury settled into my bones. And that shouldn’t have been happening either. What was going on with me tonight? It wasn’t like me to get angry about certain words or to get jealous of my ex-girlfriend working at a bar.
“It’s just something to pass the time,” she said, and suddenly I remembered the way she had said that after I’d walked her and the twins to school.
I came up behind her, locking eyes with her in the mirror, getting a better look at the smoky eyeshadow, the heavy mascara, the dark eyeliner. “Now that’s something I don’t remember.”
“What?”
“You lying about stuff.”
We shared a look of surprise, and given the circumstances, yeah, it was ridiculously confusing. Because there was no way for me to know she was lying about anything. And anyway, why would I care if she was lying? It wasn’t like she belonged to me.
Desire drove me to trace her shoulder.Yet.
“I’ll be late,” she whimpered as she drifted away. “Sorry, I don’t mean to cut it short, I just have to—”
I smirked. “I get it. Don’t sweat a thing, Mama Wolf. I’ll hold down the fort.”
“Don’t let them stay up too late, okay? They get rowdy when they don’t get the right amount of sleep.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
