Chapter Thirteen
Grizz
I wait outside the door the entire twenty-six minutes she’s in the bathroom. It’s not so much thinking she isn’t safe, as it is showing her that I’m here and I’m not going anywhere—that I’ll be here whenever she needs me. Always. No matter what.
Even if I should be at the club right now.
I could be, and she wouldn’t say anything about me leaving, but I don’t want to be.
She gives me a knowing smile as she walks into the bedroom, the navy blue towel wrapped around her head. The grey T-shirt has a few wet spots on it, and her sweatpants look a size too big, meaning they must be comfortable as hell.
“You look beautiful,” I tell her.
She rolls her eyes and laughs.
I stand outside the bedroom, not wanting to hover. I mean, I do want to hover, but I don’t want to overwhelm her.
“Breakfast is done when you’re ready to eat.”
“I’m so ready,” she says, dropping her dirty clothes into the hamper. “I’m starving.”
She follows me into the kitchen, where I pull two plates from the warmer and put them on the small table.
“You haven’t eaten yet?” she asks, taking a seat.
“I wanted to wait for you. I did have coffee and a banana though. Oh, and I stole a piece of toast from Tommy, which he slapped me for.”
Laughing, she takes the fork I hand her.
“Well deserved. Don’t mess with people’s food,” she says seriously.
“Hopefully it tastes okay,” I say.
“I’m sure it’ll be fine.”
“What do you want to drink? Coffee, tea, juice?”
“Coffee would be great.”
“Of course. How do you like it?” I open the fridge. “We have half and half—”
“Is it decaf?”
I glance at her over my shoulder. “Decaf?”
“The coffee,” she says softly, seeming almost shy or embarrassed. “I’m not supposed to have a lot of caffeine, so I’d rather have none. If that’s okay—”
“Anything you want is okay, Angel. I’ll make you all the decaf coffee you want.” Her smile is so bright my knees almost give out. Then I turn back to the fridge and continue where I left off. “We have that flavored creamer stuff. There’s French vanilla and chocolate caramel something.” I chuckle.
“Chocolate caramel something,” she says.
I pull it out of the fridge and make her a cup of coffee. When I bring it to her, she’s already mostly done, which is a good sign.
“Your food must be cold by now,” she says.
“I don’t mind. I’m not picky.” I take a seat, pick up my fork and start to eat. It’s not exactly cold, but not quite warm.
When she finishes, she moves to stand, but I jump up.
“No, no, I can—” And then I start coughing on my food because I was mid-swallow. After coughing to the point I am seeing spots, she comes back into view and is watching me with an I told you so look.
“You know, I have two hands and two legs. I am capable of cleaning a plate.”
“I know that, but I want to do it for you.”
With a sigh, she gets to her feet. “You don’t have to do everything for me, Grizz. I promise, I don’t mind doing things. Especially since you’re letting me stay here for nothing.”
“Oh no,” I say firmly. “No, we are not doing that.”
She looks at me with a frown, putting her plate into the sink.
“You are not going to try to pay me back by cleaning this house or who knows what else. This isn’t an exchange. You aren’t a slave. You aren’t earning your keep. You are here because I want you to be here, that’s it.”
Her eyes widen, and I swear her pupils blow wide.
Is she… no. There’s no way she finds this attractive. Did I scare her? Fuck!
“I’m sorry,” I quickly say as I get to my feet. “That was out of line. I shouldn’t have been so aggressive.”
She bites down on her bottom lip to hide her smile, then turns back to wash her plate. She says nothing, which confuses me, but I let it go. I said what I had to say. I apologized. If she was upset, she’d tell me, right?
She said she would. I have to believe her.
“So, when will I get to meet Tommy and Kelsey?” she asks, coming back to sit at the table to finish her coffee.
“They’ll be back soon. Just ran to the store.”
When I finish my food, she gets up and holds my gaze as she reaches for my plate, challenging me to fight her on it. I hold my hands up, letting her go. When she’s finished washing it, she gives me a smug smile.
I pull out my phone, and type into the search engine: why can’t pregnant women take baths?
“So, I have some interesting information on why pregnant women can’t take baths.”
“Interesting, hm?”
“According to this, it says the hot water can raise your body temp and dilate your blood vessels, which can reduce blood flow to the baby, and it can increase the chances of getting an infection because the hot water reduces your natural defenses. It also says that the heat can make you dizzy and increase the risk of falls.”
She sighs. “Well, I guess no baths then.”
“Not until after the baby.”
She leans back, putting her hand on her belly.
“Feels like that’s forever from now.”
“I’m sure they’ll be here before you know it.”
She’s going to have the most beautiful baby, I just know it.
“Honey, we’re home!” my brother calls out from the foyer, the front door closing.
Anastacia turns her head toward the door, smiling curiously.
“We’re in here!” I call back.
A moment later, Tommy and Kelsey walk into the kitchen.
My brother is a rough- looking guy. He looks like an older version of me, so much of what our dad looked like.
Our hair is the same dark shade, our eyes are also the same color, but he has our father’s bigger nose, while mine is more like my mother’s.
“Wow, and I thought you were tall,” Anastacia says to me.
Tommy chuckles, while Kelsey steps around us with a big smile. “I swear he’s part giant, but he denies it.”
“Our father was only six-two,” I argue.
Kelsey waves me off and stops in front of Anastacia. “It’s so nice to finally meet you. I’ve heard so much about you.”
“Kels,” I say in warning, but Anastacia smiles.
“All good things, of course. I’m so glad you’re here,” Kelsey adds. She’s practically vibrating with excitement, and I can’t help but smile over it.
“I’m glad to be here,” Anastacia says.
Kelsey turns to Tommy. “How about you go show Grizz what we bought?”
“Uh-oh,” I mutter.
“I swear, this girl is going to keep us busy until the end of time,” Tommy says with an eye roll.
“I’m just excited to be out here with all this nature. I’m not used to it,” Kelsey argues, putting her fists on her hips.
I get up from my chair, and she quickly takes it.
“You better not do anything weird,” I tell her.
“What in the world?” she says with a laugh.
“I don’t know with you.”
Tommy chuckles, and I follow him out the front door and to the side of the house.
“Jesus fuck,” I say. “Are you serious?”
“I don’t know, man. She said she wants to feed the birds.”
“She trying to feed every single one of them? There’s twenty houses here.”
“At least,” Tommy says. “We have some for the trees that are for nesting, and others that are feeders.”
“I can see that,” I say. “Fuck.”
“It’ll be our Sunday project. Maybe the girls will want to paint them before then.”
I scratch the back of my neck, looking at the pile of wooden bird houses and feeders and the large bags of bird seed.
“I don’t think paint fumes are good for Anastacia.”
“Well, we’ll look into it. Buy her a mask, if we need.”
“Yeah, okay.”
“Let’s put all this in the shed for now. In case it rains.”
It takes us no time to get everything into the shed, and then we go back inside. I walk toward the kitchen, but Tommy grabs my arm and shakes his head.
“What?”
“Just let them talk,” he says quietly.
“I just wanted to let her know I’m here.”
“I’m sure she heard the door.”
I narrow my eyes.
He adds, “Aren’t you supposed to be at the club?”
Fuck my life. Yes, I am.