Chapter 18
***Ada***
That night, the kids all joined me at the kitchen island for dinner.
We were all a little sunburned because, again, I was a shitty nanny.
David didn’t know what to do with all of us sitting in front of him but after a little while, he started acting like he was hosting a cooking show.
He was mid-slicing demonstration when a horrible groaning sound came from the hallway of offices. It was followed quickly by shouting.
David turned to me and pointed. “You didn’t!”
I shook my head. “I didn’t!”
Kendall smirked when I met her gaze. “She didn’t.”
My mouth dropped. “Really?”
She wagged her eyebrows at me at the same time Collin raged his way into the kitchen, holding his plate of dinner out in front of him like it was poisonous. Under the counter, Kendall held her fist out to me and I couldn’t stop myself from bumping it with my own.
“Who? Who did it?” Collin’s eyes were laser-focused on me but I didn’t even have to pretend to be innocent.
“Who did what?” I looked at his plate and frowned. “It looks completely fine.”
David stared at Kendall for a few more seconds and then took a deep breath and turned to Collin. “What happened?”
“There’s sour cream. Sour cream hidden under my salad. Sour cream!” He shoved the plate down on the counter and wiped his mouth. “Who did it?”
The boys and Kendall kept their eyes on their plates. Milo was busy making a mess of his own dinner. I just watched Collin with a blank expression. When it didn’t seem like he was going to break, though, I spoke up.
“What’s your deal with sour cream?”
His face turned red as a vein in his forehead pulsed. “My deal with sour cream is that it’s disgusting. It’s sour! You’re not supposed to eat food that sours!”
I tried to fight a smile but failed. He watched it happen, of course, and stepped closer. I held up my hands. “I didn’t know you felt so passionately about sour cream, Collin. If this was a game of Clue, you’d be losing.”
He opened his mouth to fire me, probably, but Milo let out a squeal that had us all reaching to cover our ears. “Da-da!”
I caught Milo as he leapt off of his chair and eased him to the ground while he shoved at my arms to get free.
His feet slid on the floor as he tried to run and it was a little like watching an episode of Scooby-Doo.
Finally, he got traction and ran with the most grace I’d ever seen him exhibit.
I followed his movement with my eyes as he ran into the arms of the last Carrington brother.
My eyes traveled up his long body until I got to his face.
My breath caught in my throat at the sight of him.
He looked rough, with bleary eyes and a full beard that needed to be trimmed.
His hair stood out roughly all over his head and he was just generally covered in what looked like paint.
The dark bags under his eyes told a tale of a man who hadn’t slept in days.
Despite how rough he looked and the face Milo made at the smell of his father, there was something utterly beautiful about him.
The almost turquoise color of his eyes and the thick, black lashes surrounding them made my heart race.
They were focused on me and I felt like he’d laid me bare with one look.
I felt a wave of nostalgia and familiarity that he hadn’t earned, but it was there.
I wanted to look away but I was frozen. Confusion and anxiety played at the edge of my mind.
There was something so familiar about his face.
“Hey, Uncle Jud!” Kendall and the twins all greeted their uncle and turned back to their dinner, unconcerned with his sudden appearance, but I was trapped in his gaze, sucked into his orbit like a fly to a bug zapper. It felt just as dangerous as that, too.
“Ada, this is Judson. Judson, Ada. She’s our new nanny.” Collin’s voice sucked me out of my trance and when I looked over at him, he looked more pissed than he’d been when he walked in. He stared at me as he spoke to his brother. “She’s been taking care of Milo while you vanished for a week.”
I forced a smile and moved to the other side of the island, positioning myself near David. I grabbed the dish he’d been washing from his hand and started blindly running it under the water, desperate for something to do with my hands.
Jud hugged Milo close and cleared his throat. Still, when he spoke, it sounded like he hadn’t used his voice at all since he’d locked himself away. It was rough and gravel-filled. “Thank you.”
I nodded a little too forcefully for it to ever appear natural. “Yep. Sure. It’s my job.”
As if the tension and oddness in the kitchen wasn’t already at a maximum, Joe chose that moment to walk in.
He stopped short and scowled at his brother before turning his attention on Kendall.
“I’d like to make everyone in this house aware of something.
There are cameras everywhere. I can easily figure out who’s messing with things around here. ”
“Ew, Dad! Everywhere?”
I turned on him, too. “Everywhere? Are you serious? I didn’t sign up for potty pervs!”
Joe’s face darkened. “Not everywhere, okay!”
Forgetting everything else, I put my hands on my hips and felt a sting a second after hearing glass shatter at my feet. I’d even forgotten the dish I was supposedly washing. It was ruined and a piece of the glass must’ve flew up to scratch me because my calf was bleeding.
David gasped and magically had a broom in his hands right away. “Don’t move, Ada. Let me sweep this up before you hurt yourself even more.”
“Dad! You made Ada hurt herself!” Kendall leaned on the counter to try to look at my leg. “Are you okay?”
I pressed my hand to my mouth and gagged. Turning to face the sink, I leaned over and vomited all over the dishes David had already washed. I held up my hands to try not to let anyone see but I wasn’t much use while still dry-heaving every few seconds. “Blo- Blood. Can’t...see...blood.”
The twins started dry-heaving where they were across from me. Milo started crying at his top volume. Kendall was chastising her dad for trying to kill me, her word, not mine. David had switched to Italian as he swept up glass and I was pretty sure he was swearing at me for ruining his life.
“Goddammit.” Joe growled out the swear like he wanted to strangle me but the moment the glass was out of the way, he was next to me, scooping me into his arms. “If you throw up on me, I’m firing you.”
I glanced down and saw the blood oozing down my leg and threw up all over Joe’s chest. I expected him to toss me on the ground but instead he just groaned and carried me out of the kitchen.
Just before the chaos in the kitchen faded, I heard Jud’s rough voice. “She’s definitely livened shit up around here.”