Finally, when I couldn’t take the silence anymore, I poked it with my finger to see if he’d let go of it. “When do you think we can take it away?”
Sitting up with zero effort at all, he reached for the box that he’d left on the bottom of the bed. “Says he can have it in for twenty minutes. I think he’s had it in for at least that by now.”
Hooking the tip of my finger in the little hoop, I tugged at it and grimaced when a thick line of drool followed it out of Toby’s mouth. “Gross. Can you get the burpy for me? It’s on the side table next to you.”
Passing it over, he pulled a face as I wrapped the gummy thing up in it and wiped Toby’s mouth and chin.
“Hopefully, it’ll help him sleep through the night,” I sighed, popping the muslin cloth on the table on my side this time. I didn’t manage to go too far, though, because Toby had a firm hold of my hair still and wasn’t letting go of it for anything.
Trying to look like nothing was wrong, I glanced at Remy and then looked away when I saw him staring at me. “Are y’all staying in here tonight? I can always go and sleep somewhere else if you’re comfortable and—”
“Don’t even think about it,” he growled. “The kid’s not letting go, so I think we’re both stuck where we are. Hope you don’t need to sleep on your other side.”
It kind of sucked that I did. I could only sleep on my left side, and seeing as how Bub was holding on tight to the hair on my right side…
“It’ll be fine.”
With a quick flick, I turned the light off, plunging the room into darkness and bringing the reprieve I needed badly from the intensity of Remy.
At least, that’s what I thought.
“By the way, I like the white spot on your cheek. Is it a new fashion thing or some sort of beauty treatment?”
I knew the big shit was making fun of me from the snicker that followed it. He also had a mother and a sister, so he likely knew exactly what I was doing.
So, being the mature—and very overwhelmed person I was—I did the first thing that came to mind and stuck my tongue out, blowing a fart at him.
I fell asleep with the rocking of the bed as he laughed, praying that I didn’t snore. I’d never thought about whether I did or not before, and no one had ever mentioned it, but tonight would be a bad night to start.
EIGHT
REMY
It’d been a couple of days since I’d moved Santana into my place, and the news on her house wasn’t good.
“You put her in a house that wasn’t safe?” Addy screeched, slapping me on the arm with each word. “She could have been crushed, and we’d have had to hire sniffer dogs to dig her out of the rubble.”
“Jesus, Addy, it wasn’t his fault,” Marcus said, pulling her back into his chest.
His fiancée had a hot Italian temper, and this wasn’t the first time I’d been on the receiving end of it. Fortunately for my arm, she was only half Italian because her mom’s family had originally come from Malaysia. Sometimes we had the sweet Malaysian side of Addy, but more often than not, the hot spitfire Italian side came out… like now.
“Oh, I know it’s not completely his fault, but I can’t go up to the guy who just checked it over and declared it not structurally sound and tear him a new one, can I?”
“He wasn’t the one who said it was when we bought the place, so that’d probably be unwise,” Marcus murmured, frowning over at Santana’s house. “Do you think the first guy even did a proper job?”
“Well, gee, do you think?” Addy snapped, looking at him like he was tapped. “Who certified it? Where does he live?”
To be honest, I was tempted to go and slap the asshole myself—with my fist.
Marcus looked at me out of the corner of his eye and discreetly shook his head, like I needed to be told not to give his other half that information. The eye squint that followed it assured me we’d be dealing with the guy ourselves.
“Hey, I thought you’d be happy that she’s living at Remy’s now?” he said as he pulled her into his chest. “You’ve wanted them to get together for a while, and now she’s living right next to us.”
“Pfffbt, like anything was going to happen with that guy acting like a dick the whole time.” She gestured at me with her thumb. I’d like to say I was offended by it, but I deserved what she’d just thrown at me. “Did Toby head butting you in the nose knock some sense into you? Nice eyes, by the way.”