Chapter 22
Twenty-Two
It’s fine. It’s just my face.
—Dru’s secret thoughts
DRU
I was ecstatic.
Ecstatic. Happy. Over the moon.
I was head over heels, tits over ass, all-consuming, never going to let him go, in love with Finnian Reins.
I shook my head as the fourth Truth Teller came in carrying a box containing my things.
I looked at my man—my god, I couldn’t believe that I was saying that—and said, “When the ‘moving company’ called, I didn’t think that it was them.”
He flashed me a grin and went outside to go get another box.
They were all in similar outfits.
Jeans, boots, t-shirts, and some form of plaid shirt.
They all looked like lumberjacks, and I wanted to take a picture of them all and frame it.
For some reason, though, I didn’t think they’d be all gung-ho to pose for one.
“What’s for dinner?”
That was asked by Searcy, who was lying on her back on the sectional, her big belly sticking up straight in the air.
You couldn’t see her face from the angle in which she was lying.
“What sounds best?” I asked. “I can order anything.”
“Everything,” she sighed. “But I’ll only be able to eat small amounts, so really, get what everyone else wants.
I can’t eat enough at this point to make it count.
” She pressed down on her big belly so she could look me in the eyes.
“Just make sure you get me a cookie. That I’ll make sure I eat completely. ”
As she did that, the child she was carrying in her womb complained, and did this quite intense flip/kick thing in her belly, distorting it to go more sideways than straight up and down.’
She dropped back to her back and said, “I don’t understand why pregnant women can’t lie on their backs.”
“The inferior vena cava is located in your abdomen. The weight of the uterus can compress it and cause a lack of blood flow to your vital organs,” I answered medically.
She rolled over and sighed. “I can’t do anything. Can’t have sushi. Can’t have lunch meat. Can’t have tuna. I can’t have unpasteurized dairy products. I can’t have alcohol. I can’t lie flat on my back. I can’t do anything fun anymore except lie here and get bigger.”
“You’re such a Debbie Downer,” Doc teased as he leaned over the couch and stole a kiss. “I gave up all that stuff with you. And I’m not complaining.”
“That’s because you sleep like a baby next to me. Meanwhile, I’m up every five minutes peeing,” she grumbled. “Hey, why do you taste like chocolate? Where did you get chocolate from?”
He pulled a chocolate bar out of his pocket and placed it on her forehead.
“The truck. I knew you would get all cranky if you didn’t have something to hold you over until we ordered dinner.
” He looked to me. “She likes Mexican food, but won’t say it, because she doesn’t want everyone to cater to her.
But I’m catering to her, so let’s do Mexican food. ”
I gave him a thumbs-up. “Anything in particular? Or just a smorgasbord?”
“She’s partial to the fajita quesadillas with the white queso on top. Beans and rice,” he answered.
“Done,” I said as I got to my app and started ordering. “Who wants to go pick it up?”
I’d offer, but I knew that I couldn’t get out. I was blocked in by no less than ten trucks. Plus, these men were cavemen. Anytime one of us tried to grab a box, they told us to sit down and take a load off.
Which left Searcy, Aella, and Searcy’s sister, Calliope.
There were, however, no kids.
Silver was watching Aella’s kids at her place, and the rest of the Truth Teller women were at work, unable to come help move me because they had real jobs.
Who knew?
“I’ll go.” Calliope stood. “I just have to stop and get something on the way.”
“I’ll go,” Jasper disagreed with her almost instantaneously. “You can barely pick up a can of Dr Pepper right now.”
I looked at Calliope.
Jasper was right.
She looked pitiful with her broken arm and the boot on her foot.
She’d apparently had an accident not too long ago that’d totaled her car. It hadn’t been her fault, but she was still in a world of hurt after it.
It was also very interesting how Jasper watched her, almost as if he could protect her from coming to harm again.
“I’ll go with you then.” She lifted her brow. “You do know that you can’t fit enough food for twelve people on the back of your bike, right?”
They started to fight back and forth, but I pushed their skirmish to the side and called in a huge order to my favorite restaurant.
Once I was done, I told Jasper, “Forty-five minutes. It’s that food truck on Main by the hospital.”
“Perfect,” he said. “Not too far away.”
He gave Calliope a pointed look, but she ignored him and sat back down on the couch.
The rest of the night went great, and by the time we were stuffing ourselves with dessert—cookies that Calliope and Jasper had stopped for on the way—I was well on my way to euphoria.
For the first time in my life, I was well and truly happy.
It was a surreal feeling, and not something that I’d ever had before.
The only thing that could make this better was my brother being here.
Which happened to be the next topic of conversation.
“You’re going to break seven men out of prison,” Calliope said. “Why?”
“Because I don’t think they deserve to be there. Why should the president be the only one who gets the right to choose who does and doesn’t have to stay in prison?” he asked.
“Winning the presidency seems like it would suck. The one and only thing that I feel like wouldn’t suck was being able to pardon who I want,” Calliope admitted.
“Who are you breaking out?” Jasper asked, his gaze flicking toward Calliope as if he didn’t trust her to hear this conversation. “And how?”
I missed what he said next because my phone rang.
I groaned and excused myself to go and answer it.
As much as I wanted to ignore my mom and dad, I couldn’t.
They were my parents.
I loved them.
Even though they clearly had a favorite, and it wasn’t their actual children.
“Hey, Dad,” I said. “What’s up?”
“Your mom said that you kicked her and your sister out of your work yesterday,” he started.
I pinched the bridge of my nose. “I did.”
“Why?” he asked, sounding angry.
I leaned my hips against the counter in Finnian’s—now also my own—kitchen and said, “Well, for starters, I was working. Second, maybe if they’d accepted my ‘I’m working’ comment, security wouldn’t have had to be called.”
“That was embarrassing for your mother,” Dad grumbled.
“No, what’s embarrassing is being a nurse, and working at your job where you’re in charge of a lot of other nurses, and having your mother come up with your deadbeat sister and have them give you shit because you’re not answering their phone calls,” I said.
“You would be so upset if Mom came and berated you at your job. Why are you not upset with her doing that at mine?”
He paused. “Daniella told me she was bringing you lunch and you called security.”
I snorted. “She most certainly did not bring me lunch. She brought me shit. That’s all. And I didn’t call security.”
That wasn’t a lie.
My new man did.
“Shit.” He sighed. “That girl will be the death of me.”
Yeah, she would.
“Dad,” I said carefully. “I’m going no contact with her.
I already blocked her everywhere. I want you to know that y’all aren’t blocked yet, but if you don’t respect my boundaries, y’all will be next.
I can’t deal with her crap anymore.” I hesitated.
“And she’s a fuckin’ psycho, just like Aunt Jennifer.
You should really be careful how you help her, because she might be bringing you into her lies. ”
He sighed. “I’m sorry to hear that. But I understand. I’ll talk to your mother.”
He hung up after that, but what I did notice was that he wasn’t paying attention to what I was saying.
Like always, he didn’t see Daniella for what she was.
But I’m sure he would.