4. Ink #2
“Taz loves to poke at people, and because he has such a great relationship with the twins, he likes to poke at Rogue the most,” Ink explained.
“Rogue’s going to tell him he can’t come, Taz is going to insist, and it’ll turn into a whole thing.
Especially since Rogue will give in when the twins insist.”
“Is he always so … loud and crazy?” she finally asked.
“Pretty much. Just like Rogue is always going to be grumpy and borderline rude.” He gave her a reassuring smile. “Don’t take anything he says to you personally. He tells it like it is, but he’s not cruel or mean. Well, unless you’re Taz, then all bets are off.”
“I don’t mind it. I like to know where I stand.” She looked at Asher. “Are you sure you don’t want me to take him? I know he’s heavy.”
The kid hardly weighed anything, so he said, “He’s good. I don’t have to head to work for a couple more hours.”
She nodded. “Ah, what do you do?”
Her attempt at polite small talk made him want to grin, but he restrained himself.
“I’m a tattoo artist and run a small shop in town.
Though I have to head in earlier than I normally do today to deal with the dreaded paperwork.
” He gave a mock shudder, making Asher giggle and pat his arm.
“Thanks, dude. You’ll understand one day that paperwork is just the devil in disguise. ”
“I thought you were going to hire someone to do that?” Ice said, coming over to stand with him.
Naomi stiffened, edging closer to Asher.
Ice noticed but said nothing and didn’t bat an eye when Asher tried to do his flying maneuver to get out of Ink’s arms and into his.
Naomi gasped, but Ice took him and lifted him into his arms like it was the normal thing to do.
“I’m planning on it, but I haven’t gotten around to it yet.” Naomi stared up at Ice, not even bothering to hide her distress. Asher poked at Ice’s face, moving along a scar on his jaw. Ice didn’t even flinch, used to it from the other kids.
“Better get on it,” Ice warned. “I’m not doing that shit for you again after you screwed it up the last time.” He looked at Naomi. “He’s an idiot with no business sense, but he can do damn good ink.”
“Damn!” Asher giggled.
Ice looked at him, then sent Naomi an apologetic look. “Don’t repeat after me, bud. Your mama is going to have my hide.”
“Hide! Hide! Hide! Hide!” Asher cried, wiggling to be let go.
Naomi grabbed him, setting him on his feet, but held his hand in hers so he couldn’t run off. Her eyes looked haunted.
Ink frowned. “What’s wrong?”
“We … Hide-and-seek was the game I made him play when … when Diego would … I had to make him stay quiet and …” Her eyes are bright, pained, and wet.
Ink shared a look with Ice. Ice’s eyes were hard, and Ink was pissed she had to use the game like that in the first place.
“Mama, hide! Mama, I hide!” Asher squeaked, shoving to get her to let him go.
Making a split-second decision, Ink said, “Okay, Asher, you go hide, and I’ll try to find you.” He looked at Naomi and said, “This place is baby-proofed, so he can’t get into anything, and he won’t get up the stairs without anyone noticing. Let’s make it fun for him.”
“You … you want to play hide-and-seek with him?” Her eyes widened slightly, and her lips parted.
“Sure. I play with the kids all the time.”
He had never done this before, mostly playing sports outside of some kind, but what the hell. If it made her trust them, he would do whatever it took.
Not to mention, if it puts off doing that damn paperwork, then why not?
She stared at him, uncertain, but she must have realized she had no other option unless she wanted a very pissed-off toddler on her hands.
Slowly, she let Asher go but stopped him with a firm command.
Asher met her gaze with a pout, and Ink had to cover his mouth to hide his smile.
Ice quickly turned away, his own lips twitching.
He was going to fit right in here.
“Asher, you don’t leave this room, do you understand?” she asked, getting down to his level.
“Yes, Mama. I plays.” Then he looked up at Ink and smiled a toothy grin. “I hide!” Then he was off.
Ink grinned and started counting as the little boy went to the couch, grabbed the blanket, and took it to hide in the corner. Code walked out of his office in time to see it and give them a confused look. Ink counted a little louder, and Code grinned, catching on.
When he stopped counting, he made a big production of checking everywhere around the room until he finally got to the couch.
When he yanked the blanket away, Asher looked up at him with wide eyes, and Ink thought he was going to cry, but it quickly turned to laughter as he climbed to his feet. “Again!”
He was off, finding a new spot to hide.
Ink looked back at Naomi as he started counting again, only to find her assessing him. It wasn’t hostile, but it wasn’t trusting either. She clearly didn’t believe his nice-guy routine. Or that he was just trying to entertain her son.
Eventually, she would trust him. Until then, he would spend some time being a kid himself again.