Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 68500 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 343(@200wpm)___ 274(@250wpm)___ 228(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68500 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 343(@200wpm)___ 274(@250wpm)___ 228(@300wpm)
“Who are you?” Nash asked, sounding surly.
Felix’s eyebrows rose at the silent demand.
It was more than obvious he didn’t like the closeness.
And Felix, being Felix, just had to push it.
“I’m Felix,” he said as if that was answer enough.
“Felix who?” Nash continued, eyebrows lowering and stance becoming stiffer.
So he really, really didn’t like Felix based solely on the fact that he was the one holding onto Zip.
And then there was Zip, absolutely clueless as she continued to lean on Felix.
“Felix is the doctor who saved my life,” Crimson said. “He helped keep me alive long enough that I was able to get to surgery where they did all these repairs,” she indicated her entire body with a sweep of her hand. “He’s pretty important to us.”
Winston, who’d been standing back by the door where Nash had once been, looked at his wife with adoration on his face.
“He’s also engaged, as of this morning, to Val,” Winston said, ruining our fun. “Come into my office and we’ll talk about what security precautions you want to make.”
Nash looked between Felix, Zip, and me, then turned on his heel and walked out the door to Crimson and Winston’s place.
The door didn’t slam behind them, instead it closed in an almost too controlled fashion.
“Wow,” Crimson waved her hand in front of her face. “He totally likes you.”
“He’s the devil,” Zip grumbled as she got up and went to the kitchen to start cleaning up. “And stop talking to me about him.”
There was a moment of silence and then Hades said, “They’re next.”
My brows rose. “Not Keene?”
Keene scoffed. “Absolutely not me.”
I looked at my big brother.
He’d been awfully quiet today.
“Why are you so quiet?” I wondered.
Keene’s eyes darted to me, then looked away.
So he had a secret.
I grinned evilly. “Keenie weenie, tell us.”
“Tell us what?” Hannibal asked.
“Keene Weenie has a secret,” I said. “He’s being quiet, and he knows why, and we don’t.”
“Whoa,” Zip dropped a dish into the sink and stormed back to the table. “What’s going on, Keene?”
Keene sighed. “Stop calling me Keenie Weenie, brat.” He glared hard at me, then turned to Zip. “And nothing’s going on.”
“Then why do you look so guilty?” Simi asked, leaning forward.
Coffey, who was holding one twin—who might I add had been extremely quiet today—pulled Simi back by her ponytail. Not hard, but not softly, either.
She rolled her eyes and went back, no longer squishing the kid in her arms with her forward movement.
I leaned forward and held out my hands to her, and Simi passed the baby—who hadn’t been affected in the least by her mother’s attempt at squishing her—to me. “Oh, you poor thing,” I said to the girl. “Some people just aren’t meant to be mothers.”
“Hey!” Simi cried out playfully. “She’s alive and kicking!”
“She’s alive, but she has this cute little smooshed face now.” I poked the baby’s chin. She still didn’t wake up. “What did y’all give them to keep them so quiet?”
“Boobs,” Simi said. “I fed them before we came. They’re milk drunk.”
“That’s interesting,” Zip paused. “Do you think it’d help me sleep?”
“To breastfeed?” Tony asked cheekily.
“No,” Zip flipped her off. “Breast milk. I know it’s kind of weird and all, but damn, I haven’t been sleeping a single wink lately. I think I was up for twenty hours yesterday. I got a total of four hours of sleep, and none of it was consecutive.”
I lost the attention of the man at my side who’d been staring at me with the baby. He focused on Zip.
“What’s changed lately that you can’t sleep?” he asked her.
“Other than learning that my father was a fucking roach? Not much. Just stomach issues. But not to the point where they affect my daily life. Just one of those if I eat cheese things then I have to immediately take a poop afterward. Then have to stay there while my stomach and intestines purge any signs of dairy from me for the next three hours.”
“Please,” Tony said dryly. “Make sure that you share every single thing that’s weird about you with the man Val is trying to impress.”
I snickered. “I don’t have to try to impress him anymore. He already bought me the ring, remember?”
Coffey stood up and handed the baby he was holding over to Hannibal, who took the baby as if he was made to cuddle them, and walked to the door. “Speaking of morning shits, I gotta take one. Bye.”
“He’ll be at least thirty minutes,” Simi rolled her eyes. “That shouldn’t affect Zip’s sleeping habits, though, right?”
That question was directed at Felix.
I grinned as I listened to them diagnose Zip, in the end deciding to get her on a sleep regimen of Magnesium glycinate, vitamin D, plenty of water throughout the day, and a few other things that she needed to try before they went further to the real medication side of it.