Chapter 33
Layla
June Bug points his index and middle finger at his eyes, then he points them at Seth. Seth just huffs and looks down at his phone.
With Jasmine still in June Bug’s arms, he sits on the floor in the corner amid a sea of dolls, stuffed animals, and an assortment of toys. Despite the seven-year age difference between us, he would play with me for hours. He didn’t care if we played with dolls or built a village made of Lego’s.
“Am I supposed to be scared of him?” Seth asks. “While he’s wearing that pink tiara on his head?” He rolls his eyes. “Yeah, he’s scary. Wait until Jasmine tries to get him to wear one of her tutus.”
As the words leave his mouth, one of her toys starts to sing. She bounces and June Bug, while still seated on the floor, dances along with her.
“Yeah. He’s so tough,” Seth whispers, and I giggle. When the doorbell rings, he goes to open it. A few seconds later, Colt Chastain comes inside with his son in his arms.
“He had a meltdown when Jasmine left,” is all he says. When he puts Johnny down, he runs to Jasmine but stops short when he sees June Bug.
“‘Sup, little dude?” June Bug offers him a fist bump, and he takes it. “I’m Uncle June Bug.” Johnny jumps into the sea of toys and picks up a stuffed animal. He throws it at June Bug’s head and starts to laugh. Jasmine copies him. June Bug falls to the floor and lets out a loud, exaggerated groan. The kids continue to pummel him with the stuffed toys before he gets up and grabs a pillow as a shield. He pretends to be unsteady on his feet as he steps away from their onslaught. They laugh and continue their attack until he tosses the pillow and runs away. They follow and each grabs one of his legs. He yells and dramatically falls to the floor. They climb on top of him and continue to beat him with the stuffed toys.
“Who the heck is that?” Colt asks.
“My cousin,” I say. He grins at me and looks from me to Seth. He pulls out his phone and types something. Then he slides the phone back into his pocket. I expect him to tell us he’ll be back later to get Johnny, but he leans on the counter and sticks around.
I assume it’s because there’s someone here who is a stranger to him and his son, and he might not feel comfortable leaving his child here. I offer him a drink, and he asks for water. The entire time, he’s smiling, but not saying anything. When there’s another knock on the door, Colt goes to open it himself. His wife comes storming in and walks directly to me. She looks me over and hugs me, which is surprising. We’re friendly. We’ve met before through Jeannie. She helped plan Jeannie’s bridal shower and bachelorette party, but Jeannie is the glue to our relationship.
“You,” she says to Seth. He finally puts his phone down and stands up straight. Seth looks at her and Colt, probably confused by Vickie’s authoritative tone.
“Me?” He points to himself.
“What have you done to Layla?”
Seth grins and says, “That’s spousal privilege.” He wiggles his brows and does a modified version of the Sethhead dance.
“And who is that making my son laugh so hard?” she asks, but her face softens when she looks at Johnny, who is now sitting on June Bug’s stomach while he touches the tattoos on his neck. Jasmine is on his head, but instead of hitting him with the stuffed animals, they are hitting each other and laughing like it’s the funniest thing.
“That’s my cousin,” I say. “June Bug, come here,” I yell in his direction. He manages to crawl from under the toddlers and joins us.
His steps falter when he sees our guests. He’s a big sports guy. Whether it’s football, basketball, or wrestling, he’s always watching something.
“Oh, shit,” he says. Colt offers him his hand. He takes it, but his eyes remain on Vickie. “She’s finer in person. Goddamn, you’re a lucky man,” he says to Colt.
“He is,” Vickie agrees. “I’m Vickie.” She offers him her hand, but he only stares at it.
“I can’t touch another man’s wife. Especially when she’s as fine as you. Not without his permission,” he says, and Seth laughs hysterically. Vickie’s smile slips, but Colt’s widens. “May I?” June Bug asks Colt.
“No,” Colt says. “Don’t ever touch my wife.”
June Bug takes a step away from Vickie and says to Colt, “Respect.”
“The only person’s permission you need to shake my hand is mine,” Vickie says to him. “And permission is denied.” She cuts her eyes at him and looks away.
“God, I love mean women,” June Bug says.
“Eyes off my wife,” Colt says. “Go find another mean woman to love. This one’s taken.”
“You guys want to stay for dinner? The food will be here soon. Johnny will probably want to stay and eat with Jasmine,” he says.
“My brother’s cooking,” Colt says. “But Johnny can stay.” There’s another knock on the door. It’s the food delivery, but Colt’s brother Charlie comes in after him. He’s holding the hand of Colt’s older son, Evan. Charlie is almost a replica of Colt with the same dark curly hair and dark eyes. I find myself blushing when I look up at his face.
“Evan wanted to come play with his brother,” he says, but Evan’s already run off to play with the kids. “I’m Charlie,” he says to me and June Bug. “We met at the adoption party and at the park a couple of weeks ago.” I can feel color creep up my face when he smiles and I notice his dimples.
“Down girl,” Seth says as he watches me. “You’re a married woman now. Stop batting your eyes at Charlie.”
Everyone in the room chuckles, including Charlie who grins so wide I can barely move from my spot. Vickie takes notice and pulls me to the other side of the room.
“Why did you marry Seth?” she whispers. “He’s a nice guy, but he has a bit of a reputation.” She looks over at him, and he’s craning his neck to watch us. I know there’s no way he can hear us from here. I decide not to tell Vickie about our arrangement.
It started off as a transaction, but the world doesn’t need to know that. I look at him again and he’s still watching us. He’s had such a shitty hand in life, and there’s a part of me that yearns to make it better. Despite his first horrible eighteen years, he managed to get out. During all that time, he always had a plan to leave. Whether it was through basketball or an academic scholarship, he knew there was a better life waiting for him.
But his past will never let him go completely. Not as long as his father is alive. Yes, he was a whore, but like he said, he was only with people who wanted to be with him. I have no reason to believe that he lied or manipulated anyone. He’s not the type who would do that.
He’s been good to me since I agreed to form this family. He made my first time memorable, and every other time after that has been amazing. He’s fantastic when it comes to dealing with my grandmother, and he’s financing her care from here on out.
“He’s not that bad,” I say to Vickie. “He promised the whoring is over.” When she gives me a disbelieving glare, I feel compelled to defend Seth. “Yeah, he slept around, but he never lied or led anyone on. He assures me that’s behind him, and I believe it. My mom already threatened to cut it off if he fucks around on me.”“He’s been good to you?” she whispers, and I nod. “Good. If not, I’ll hold him down while your mom snips.” She makes the cutting gesture with her fingers. I look past her, and Seth is still staring at us. He twists his lips and rolls his eyes, so I assume he knows what we’re talking about. He finally looks away and starts to pull takeout containers out of the bag.
The kids go running past us and into the kitchen.
“Hungee,” Johnny and Jasmine say at once. “Eat!”
“Cookie!” Jasmine jumps up and points at June Bug, who runs to his backpack. I’m sure he’s going to look for a sugary snack.
“No cookies until after dinner, June Bug,” I warn, and he stops.
“But Uncle June Bug doesn’t have the constraints parents do. I’m the fun uncle.”
“You’ll be the uncle with a black eye if you get these kids all riled up before they eat,” I warn again. “Back away from that backpack.”
“Whatever,” he says. He still rummages through his backpack, but instead of pulling out junk food, he takes out a paperback book. It’s Vickie’s most recent novel.
He brings it over to her and asks her to sign it. She happily agrees.
“We’re reading this in my book club next,” he says. “It was my pick since you and Layla are friends. I hope it’s better than Pride and Prejudice. That book has me ready to scream,” he mutters. “Elizabeth Bennet has me ready to DNF this bitch.”
“What? You don’t like Elizabeth Bennet?” Vickie asks, clearly outraged by the thought.
“Nah. I didn’t like her from the beginning. I like my women jaded and from the city, not some country mouse with her uppity nose in the air.”
“Really?” Vickie asks. “That’s how you see her.”
“Everyone thinks Mr. Darcy’s the snob but—”
I walk away from them and return to the kitchen. I get the dishes and set four place settings before pulling the two highchairs to the table.
“Did you tell Vickie the reason you’re here is transactional?” Seth asks. His voice sounds almost accusatory.
“I didn’t,” I say. “That’s our business. I told her that we’re together, and you’ve been good to me.” I leave off the ‘so far’ even though it was on the tip of my tongue.
“What did she say about me though?” He almost sounds a little hurt. “I don’t get why she judged me since she’s always going on and on about how people should—”
“She didn’t say anything about you. Even if she did, it wouldn’t matter. I can take care of myself, and we’re already married.” Once I have the table set, I put my hands on his wrists. “This is our relationship. I don’t care what anyone else thinks.”
He stares into my eyes but doesn’t say anything. I feel as if he’s studying me to make sure I’m telling the truth. I hold his stare and look into his clear green eyes. I never noticed how soulful they were before today. He has brown flecks around them. Finally, he nods at me and taps the tip of my nose with his finger.
If anyone else had done that to me, I would have found the gesture annoying, but not him. I like the feel of his finger on me.
There is a heaviness to Seth sometimes, and after knowing about how he grew up, I understand it now, but when he smiles, it disappears and is replaced by boyish good looks with a dash of insecurity.
“If you keep smiling at me like that, I’m going to kick everyone out and throw you on the couch.”
I gasp in faux shock and swat at his chest while pretending to be outraged by his words, but all that does is make him smile wider. He surprises me when he takes my wrist, pulls me to him, and traps me against his body in his big strong arms. He leans down and kisses me. It’s not a passionate kiss, but it still awakens my body. It’s a kiss that lovers who are comfortable with each other share. He bends down and growls against the side of my neck. I giggle at the sound and he gently bites my neck.
“Oh,” I say. “Maybe you should kick everyone out and throw me on the couch.” But there’s another knock on the door, and I go to answer it.