Chapter 11
Casey
Holy crap… if babysitting a two and a half-year-old didn’t work as birth control, I didn’t know what else would.
By the time I got Amelie down and asleep, it’d been an hour past her bedtime.
When the others left, she and I played with the bubbles while Lee busied himself in the kitchen, putting together the noodle cups and crackers for us to have.
While he and I ate, Amelie busied herself with the stickers, choosing instead to put them all over her face, and then decided both Lee and I needed to be “decorated” too.
For the better part of the night, he walked around with two unicorns on his cheeks and a rainbow on his forehead, while I was littered with an assortment of flowers, stars, and butterflies.
We settled her down a little by using the glitter pens I got for her, and I put my artistic skills to use when I showed her how to draw a house.
That distraction only lasted about ten minutes before she took the pink and purple pens and smeared some on my cheeks, giggling wildly in the process.
She had eaten some of the candy, and that set her off into a crazy sugar rush.
I spent a good half hour chasing her around, pretending she was a princess and I was a dragon trying to capture her and put her in my tower (which was the cushy armchair in the far corner).
Lee came swooping in as her brave knight in shining armour and literally picked me up and threw me onto the couch, sitting on my legs to keep me from moving.
Amelie, loving the game change, took the opportunity to jump on my stomach and giggle wildly as Lee tickled her.
We finished the night by brushing her teeth, getting her into her PJ’s, and because she insisted I wear the fake glasses with the glowing pumpkin nose, I wore them while I read her four books, rather than the two her mother had insisted upon.
But I mean, how could I not? She was too freaking cute and used that power against me with her big, puppy dog eyes.
So I gave in, but luckily, near the end of the last book, when I peeked down at her, she was sprawled out on her pillow with her mouth partly open and her hair messily strewn over her face.
I carefully brushed it off her face, tucked her into her little bed, then turned on the nightlight and tiptoed out of the room, leaving the door slightly ajar in case she called for me.
When I stepped back out into the living room where Lee was lying sprawled on the sofa, he took one look at me and chuckled before lifting his phone and taking a picture. I jumped back, shielding myself with my hand to prevent him from taking any more.
“Wha-?” I stopped, realizing that I hadn’t removed any of the stickers, glitter, or glowing nose glasses. “Delete that photo.”
“No,” he grinned, still holding it aloft.
“Lee, c’mon,” I grumbled, moving closer and throwing the glasses aside.
I should have thought of getting a picture of him with his unicorn and rainbow stickers earlier, but he’d already removed them.
“Last thing I need is blackmail material. Give it.” I reached out with my other hand, wiggling my fingers at him.
Lee smirked and rested his hands behind his head, phone now hidden behind his dreads. “Make me.” He gave me a flirty little wink before puckering his lips and blowing me a kiss.
“Funny. C’mon. Delete it, please.” I let my hands drop, narrowing my eyes at him.
I wasn’t in the mood to walk into school tomorrow to find this had been printed out and stuck on the walls all over the building with some kinky bullcrap written on it.
Lee once attached a bunch of star caps meant for toy guns and glued them under the seats of every toilet in school so that when the poor students or teachers sat down, well, you can imagine the freak out the faculty had over it.
He wasn’t caught for that one. Another time, he took a polaroid of Shaw in the middle of our Friday night sleepovers while he was in the middle of a dare, which was to act like a chicken until his next turn.
The photo was blown up and pasted over every hanging portrait in the library at school after he had stolen a teacher’s ID card and snuck into the lounge to use their copier.
While the staff had questioned Shaw, he never sold out his friend, but later, Lee did get punched in the gut for it.
So my nerves were a little rattled at the idea of him having my photo looking like I got puked on by kids’ craft supplies.
“Lee, please…” I was standing beside him, hands now on my hips while he was lying stretched out like a lazy king on the sofa, taking up every bit of space with his bulk.
His smirk was irritating the hell out of me, even though I was annoyed mostly with myself for finding him so freaking sexy at this moment.
His arms were bulging with muscles, his dark charcoal t-shirt was stretching over his broad chest. I could actually see the lines of his stomach as though the shirt was too small for him.
And God help me, but the way his dark eyes roamed over me, looking as though he enjoyed what he was seeing with the glitter, stickers, and all, had my heart hammering against my chest.
“I like that,” he said, his playful smile still in place.
“Like what?”
“You saying, ‘Lee, please’...” He bit his lip, and I rolled my eyes at him. “It’s sexy as hell,” he added, unfazed by my attitude.
“I was being polite, which you are not.”
“I never said I was polite.”
“No, but I’d appreciate you not screwing with me on this. I don’t need to give anyone at school more ammo,” I said softly.
At that, his smirk dropped, his expression morphing to one of clarity. “No one is going to fuck with you at school anymore, Casey,” he said seriously.
I scoffed and went to sit down, but the bastard was so freaking huge, there was no space for me. “Move over, would you?”
“Only if you say, Lee, please! ” He grinned.
“Oh, for the love of…” I turned, about to head to the easy chair, when his hand whipped out, wrapping around my wrist, and he tugged me down, so I was sitting on his thighs. “I can sit over there-”
“Just relax, babe. We used to cuddle all the time, remember?”
I did, but I wasn’t going to get into that.
Besides, things are different now. We were older, and with the flirtatious way he was interacting with me, I knew what he was doing.
But I still wasn’t sure where I stood with these guys.
Vail had said, we’re your family now, but I had no idea what that meant.
And the others hadn’t heard him, so whatever was on his mind, it wasn’t knowledge to his crew.
Lee, however, didn’t seem to care one way or another.
So when I remained silent, he gently tugged at my wrist, urging me closer.
“Okay, I’ll delete the photo if you cuddle with me like we used to,” he said, his expression utterly void of humour.
“Seriously?” I raised a brow skeptically at him, and he just nodded. “Fine. Delete the photo first so that I can see.”
He brought his phone around, unlocked it, and opened his photo gallery.
With me watching, he deliberately deleted the picture from his phone, and thank God he did because, on top of the ridiculous glasses, stickers, and glitter, I resembled a deer in headlights in the shot.
But it was gone now, and I appreciated his honesty.
“Now, you need to fulfill your end of the bargain.” Lee’s lips curled up, and he patted his chest.
I wanted to roll my eyes again at his confident yet obvious flirtation, but instead, I laid on top of him as he spread his legs so I could rest between them.
I angled my head to the side and rested it over his heart, facing the television, playing some tv show about superheroes.
I felt his arms come up around me, holding me against himself in that old familiar way, except now, he was built like the Terminator.
But it was still comfortable, lying this way with him.
His warmth radiating from him like he was a furnace or something.
His hold was gentle, and occasionally, I felt his fingers combing through my hair, an old habit now coming back to life.
“How’d it go?” Lee’s voice stirred me out of my slumber. I was awake, but I kept my eyes closed. I was too comfy right now. I was lying on my side with him spooning me from behind on the couch, our positions having shifted in sleep. After all the chaos of yesterday and then babysitting, I was beat.
“Fucking shit… thought we had the schedule right, but someone must have tipped them off,” Vail said.
“Maverick’s informant?” Shaw rasped. Maverick? Who the hell was Maverick?
“We don’t know that,” Meredith’s calm voice whispered, “We’re lucky we all got out of there in one piece. Just wish I could have made it into the basement to confirm-”
“I know, Mer.” Haldon? I think. “But I didn’t want you sneaking down there alone.”
“I can handle myself,” she insisted, in true Meredith fashion.
“I know, mon chaton , but I would never forgive myself if we were wrong and it was one of the Beasts traps, or worse… the Faceless.”
Meredith mumbled something but quieted down at her boyfriend’s words. Finally, she said in a hushed voice. “How was babysitting?”
“It was great,” Lee murmured back, keeping his voice low. “Amelie was a sweetheart, but holy God, I don’t know how you two do this…”
Meredith chuckled as Haldon said, “I’m gonna go check on her real quick. You guys are free to sleep here tonight. I’ll get out some blankets.” And his light footsteps disappeared down the hall.
“Looks like my baby isn’t the only one who got tired out,” she added, sounding amused. “Casey looks wiped. I can see Amelie had her way with her.” She chuckled a little, obviously noticing the stickers and glitter still on my cheeks.