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“Oh, I’m sorry. Who are you then?” Steele asked in a serious voice.
“I’s Belle. I tame monsters.”
“You certainly do,” Steele told her, staring at her like he’d never seen her before. “The monster-tamer.”
Grady knew that Steele often saw himself that way. He’d been called the Beast when he was cage fighting. And with what he did for a living, sometimes he thought himself a monster.
And if he was, then Grady was too. And perhaps that wasn’t a bad thing. Because to keep yourself safe sometimes you needed to be a monster.
Besides, if it meant keeping Effie safe, he’d be whatever he needed to be.
“Come on. Let’s get you home.” Steele stood before taking her back into his arms.
He held her cradled against his chest like a baby with his arm under her ass.
“I puked,” she said miserably.
“I know, baby,” Steele soothed. “We’ll get you some water, all right?”
“It’s gross.”
“I know. Shh, don’t worry about that. Nobody cares that you were vomiting.”
“What’s wrong with me? Why do I feel so funny? I don’ts like it. My pills have never made everything go so weird.”
“I don’t know. But we’ll find out. That I promise you.”
They managed to get a few sips of water into her before she snuggled her face into Steele’s neck. He rocked her back and forth as Grady gathered her stuff up and a blanket to wrap around her.
Grady gave him a surprised look. “You rocking her to sleep?”
“It’s working, isn’t it? She’s fallen asleep.”
Grady gave him a small smile. “The two of you look good together.”
Maybe they didn’t need him.
“Three of us would look fucking better,” Steele told him gruffly.
Grady felt his doubt leave him. The three of them. It had always been the two of them. But perhaps it had never felt completely right because something had been missing.
And now . . . it was the three of them.
Grady moved toward them. Taking care of someone still didn’t come naturally. He wasn’t sure it ever would.
Although it had come naturally before. When he’d cradled her close.
So maybe things came more easily when it was Effie.
He pressed his chest to her back and breathed in her scent. Bubblegum.
So Effie.
“She’s gorgeous, isn’t she?” Steele said.
“Precious,” he murmured.
“I want to keep her, Grady.”
