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He raised his eyes to mine before shrugging. “Ezra’s mom’s cooking fucking sucks, and you know it. Fuck yeah, I’m hungry.”
Ezra and I chuckled as I took my seat beside Lillian. Mabel walked up, putting a mug of coffee in front of me. “Thank fuck,” I muttered, reaching for it. I looked up at her. “Can I get what Solomon’s got?”
“Sure thing, hun,” she told me. She looked at Ezra. “You want anything yet?”
He shook his head. “Nah, but thanks.”
I looked at Lillian. “You want anything, little blondie?”
She shook her head. “Nope.” She smiled at Mabel. “Thank you.”
Mabel nodded and walked off, leaving us be. Ezra pulled out his tablet and handed it over to me. I began flipping through the spreadsheets, using the calculator on my phone to work some numbers while I waited on my food to be brought to the table. Solomon ignored us, too busy stuffing his face, and Lillian leaned her head against the wall, her eyes shutting. I let her be. She needed rest.
“What are we looking at?” Ezra asked a few minutes later when I looked up from the math I’d been doing.
“Think we can get a hotel room for a couple of nights. Nothing expensive. I know we’ve still got a cash flow coming in, but things will be tight until our savings account recovers from the hit it’s about to take.”
Ezra grunted. “You know you’re not alone in this, right?” he asked me. “We’re family, Amadeus. You’re my brother, even if it’s not by blood. You two don’t have to prepare for this baby by yourselves. I’m here to help.”
I stared at him, my jaw tightening. He just evenly met my gaze. Why the fuck did he always have to do shit like that? I hated that he read me so fucking easily. Sometimes, it wasn’t fucking fair.
“I didn’t say anything about the baby,” I finally said.
Ezra shrugged at me. “You don’t need to, Amadeus. I know you like the back of my hand. This kid you two are going to have is going to be my niece or nephew. I’m here to help. I care, too, Amadeus.”
“I can work, too—” Lillian softly spoke up, surprising me. I thought she’d been sleeping.
I shut that shit down fast. Like hell was she working right now. She needed to rest and figure out what she wanted to do with her life. She needed to figure out if she wanted to go to college, be a stay-at-home-mom, or if she had other dreams.
She’d never had that opportunity before, but she did now. I would tie her down in all the ways that mattered, but I would still let her spread her wings and explore. Just as long as she continued allowing me to keep her safe. I didn’t want to smother her—only blanket her.
“No,” I growled at her. She frowned at me. “This isn’t up for discussion, Lillian. You’ve been through a lot of shit, and you need to heal, first of all. And I don’t mean just from your physical injuries,” I added when she opened her mouth. I narrowed my eyes at her and gripped her chin, yanking her toward me. She sighed softly, her shoulders relaxing despite my harsh touch. “Remember your place with me, little blondie,” I growled down at her. “You’re mine.”
She licked her lips. “Yours,” she agreed. “But I don’t want to be a burden, Amadeus.”
I rubbed the pad of my thumb over her bottom lip, and she trembled, her blue eyes darkening. “Not a burden. Don’t let me hear those words again.”
I released her just as Mabel walked up with my pancakes. “Don’t be harsh with her, Amadeus.”
“He wasn’t,” Lillian spoke up before I could open my mouth. She smiled at Mabel. “I actually like how mean he can be sometimes.”
She shook her head at Lillian before looking at me. “You hurt her, and you answer to me.”
“He hurts her, he’ll answer to all of us,” Ezra assured her. “She’s safe.”
“Jesus Christ,” I swore under my breath as I cut into my pancakes. It felt like I was suddenly getting the third degree. Lillian slid her hand over my thigh and rested her head on my shoulder. I sighed and turned my head to softly kiss her before focusing back on my food. Mabel walked off.
“We need to start looking at apartments near work,” I told Ezra. I looked at Solomon. “And we need to get him a car so he can finish school. Only a few more weeks left—no sense in moving him to a different school when he’s about to graduate soon.”
Solomon looked up at me. “And if Dad tries to get me out of school?”
“Won’t happen,” Ezra assured him before I could open my mouth. “I filed for a restraining order for you to protect you as soon as everything went down Sunday.”
Solomon stared at my best friend, something flickering in his gaze I couldn’t quite catch. I cocked my head slightly as I stared at him, trying to figure out what it was. It wasn’t a secret to me that Ezra was in love with him, but as far as I knew, Solomon was straight.
He finally ripped his gaze from Ezra, mumbling a thank you under his breath as he focused back on his food. Ezra sighed and scratched at the stubble along his jaw, his gaze flickering with longing before he smothered it, looking back at me like he hadn’t just been yearning for my little brother. “Let’s get a hotel room first, and then we’ll get my laptop out and search for potential apartments.”
Lillian sagged next to me, and I quickly looked over to find her eyes shut, her lips softly parted. Her head was leaning heavily on my shoulder, and her arms were now crossed over her belly.
