Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 80471 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 402(@200wpm)___ 322(@250wpm)___ 268(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80471 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 402(@200wpm)___ 322(@250wpm)___ 268(@300wpm)
“He has your phone,” Joel said, tone accusatory.
“I know,” I said, walking forward toward Lip, and taking it from his hands.
“You… oh,” Joel said, the wind leaving his sail.
“How’d you know?” Dav asked Joel.
“He called it earlier,” Lip explained. “I picked up. He told me where to bring it, so…”
“I appreciate it. It would have been a pain in the ass to get another new one,” I told him. “We were just going to order some food,” I told him. “Want to stay?”
“I…” Lip said, looking down at himself.
“We just cleaned up if you want to too,” I invited, waving toward the bathroom.
Joel looked at Lip, then me, then back again, sussing out the situation quickly. “I’ll loan you some clothes,” he said.
“I can’t—“
“Sure you can,” Dav interrupted him. “Trust me, you’re not gonna win against this one,” he said, wrapping an arm around my waist, and hauling me closer. “Better to save yourself the grief and just do what she wants.”
Lip’s cheeks went red, embarrassed for things that were out of his control, but nodded. “Okay. Thanks,” he said, walking toward the door Dav gestured to, and slipping inside.
It would probably be his first real shower in weeks. Months, even. I hope we left him enough hot water to really enjoy it.
“I’ll be back,” Joel said, looking a little fragile as he headed toward the hall to go back into his parents’ apartment for said clothes.
“You know,” Dav said when we were alone, heading toward the coffee pot, “I think you have two kids now,” he declared, making me shudder at the implication.
Yet, somehow, I found myself more intrigued than terrified by the prospect.
“It’s cool,” he said, shooting me that playboy grin of his. “I think I might have a thing for hot moms.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
EPILOGUE
Dav - 1 Day
I woke up early, wincing at the light streaming through Cinna’s windows thanks to some awfully placed cracks in her plastic blinds.
I stifled a grumble as I climbed out of bed, cursing her lumpy mattress as I ached in places I didn’t know could be sore.
Then again, some of that might have been from the whole going batshit crazy and bashing two guys’ skulls in thing.
The memories came back, and I tamped them down, not wanting those thoughts on my mind first thing in the morning.
It wasn’t that I regretted them. I didn’t. I would do it all again and more to save Cinna. I just didn’t want to focus on the dark shit when there was so much bright now.
Because while we hadn’t exactly made heartfelt declarations, Cinna and I had come to an agreement. We were doing this. To hell with the consequences.
Life-or-death situations, it seemed, really show you what’s fucking important in life.
Like whatever it was growing between us.
And waking up before Cinna, so I could make coffee that was halfway tolerable.
I made my way out to the common area, finding Joel out cold on the couch, his arm thrown over his face to block out the morning light coming through the open blinds.
Lip was on the floor using the couch’s back cushions as a bed. And, fuck, it struck me as I looked at him curled up tight in a ball like he was fighting off the cold of the streets, that this was likely the most comfortable bed he’d had in months. The safest sleep he’d had in longer.
I had a feeling that now that these kids were here, they were never going to leave. And as much as you would never look at Cinna and think she was the maternal sort, I thought they likely couldn’t ask for a better parental figure. She was loyal, fiercely protective, stable, and didn’t get too riled up about small shit.
“That doesn’t smell strong enough,” Cinna accused in a soft hush, even though Lip was used to sleeping on the noisy streets, and Joel had been sleeping over the sounds of his parents’ screaming matches for his whole life.
“I am looking forward to not having heartburn,” I told her, wrapping an arm around her waist, and pulling her in at my side as we waited for it to finish dripping.
“I can’t let him go back on the street,” Cinna said, gaze on Lip.
“No, you can’t,” I agreed.
“And I can’t make him go back to his shitty parents either,” she said, glancing over at Joel who was grumbling in his sleep.
“No,” I agreed.
“But I don’t have enough room here for kids. I don’t have the disposition for motherhood.”
“I’m pretty sure they don’t need to be sung to sleep and have you kiss their bruised knees, love,” I reminded her. “They just need an adult looking out for them. Think you’re more than capable of that.”
“I know you didn’t want—“ she started, getting cut off by a knock at the door.
She winced, looking over at the boys, but they were still out cold.