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“Talkin’ about what?” Charlie screws his face into a frown, and when I see her start to stumble on her words I decide to help her out.
“I was askin’ your mom here if you’d like to stay here a while. I think Dylan likes havin’ a big boy his age around, and your house needs to have some work done to it. Does that sound okay to you?”
“I’m gonna need some of my toys.” He thinks hard before looking back at me like he’s negotiating some kinda deal.
“I can make that happen.”
“And pizza on a Friday. We always do pizza on a Friday, don’t we, Mom?”
“We do,” Addison confirms, starting to relax a little.
“Sounds like my kinda Friday,” I agree.
“Okay, deal.” He holds out his hand for me to shake and I laugh to myself as I take it and seal the deal.
“Deal,” I agree, catching the smile on Addison’s face as he clambers over her and races out the door.
“Where are you going?” She reaches out and grabs his hand.
“To the bathroom, don’t worry, Mama, the nasty man can’t get us here.” His sweet voice makes the smile fade from her face, and when she releases him and he leaves the room, she hides her face in her hands.
“Hey, what’s wrong?” I reach across to her.
“I should be protecting him from all this, he shouldn’t know we’re in danger.”
“Youareprotectin’ him, it's why you're here.”
“Yeah, but he shouldn’t know. The way you just handled that was amazing. Him coming in here and finding us like that… How you made the fact we have to stay here seem like it was his decision, it was incredible.”
“Trust me, I’ve had my fair share of dealin’ with difficult people, kids are a walk in the park.”
“Helloooo.” I freeze when I hear Rogue’s voice call out from the other side of the door.
“Speaking of which,” I manage to utter before she pokes her head round it. The shock of seeing us both in bed together must catch her off-guard because she pauses, but then that twisted little smile picks up on her lips and I know there's no way she’s gonna let this slide.
“Well, do excuse me.” She tilts her head quite hauntingly as she surveys the scene in front of her.
“It ain’t what ya think, Rogue.” I get outta bed and pull on a tee.
“And what, exactly, do you think I’m thinking?” She raises her eyebrow mischievously.
“I don’t even wanna go there.” I sigh. “Addison, I don’t think you’ve been properly introduced. This is Rogue, Rogue, Addison.” I get the introduction outta the way, reminding myself to give Addison the Rogue warning once she’s left. I should have done it before now.
“You work together at the garage, right?” Addison says cheerily, smoothing her hand through her hair again and tugging down hard on the tee she’s wearing so it covers her thighs.
“Oh, we’rewaymore than that, aren’t we, Skid?” Rogue has that playful tone in her voice as she stalks toward me like a cat playing with a mouse.
“Skid’s more like…” She glances upwards while her brain searches for the words. “…my guardian.”
“A guardian?” Addison looks confused and impressed.
“Yeah, he looks out for me, has done since I was a little girl, and nowIlook out forhim.”
Oh shit, here it comes.
“I should warn you that if—”
“Okay, that’s the introductions over, I’ll be down at the garage in half an hour.” I grab Rogue by her shoulders and march her back out the door.
