“Think we have time for a shower?” Jericho asked.
Atticus’s phone began to vibrate beside Jericho’s head on the bedside table. Jericho looked at the screen and sighed. Adam. He handed it over so Atticus could answer.
“What’s up?” he said by way of greeting. Jericho could only listen to one side of the conversation. “What do you mean? What do you mean?” he said again, growing more agitated by the minute. “No, you will not tell us when you get here. What did you do to my children?” Atticus snarled into the phone.
Christ.
He snatched the phone back from him. “What the fuck is happening? Are you just trying to piss off my husband because if my children aren’t returned to me in the same condition as when they left I will literally dismember you, Adam.”
“Not Adam. Noah. It’s nothing bad,” Noah said, sounding like he was a million miles away. “The kids are fine.”
“Am I on speaker phone?”
“No,” Noah promised. “I have my headphones in. I swear your children are all in one piece. They’re fed and bathed and ready for bed. There was just…an incident but I don’t really want to talk about it in front of them, you know?”
Jericho grunted, his frustration building. “What’s your ETA?”
“Five minutes.”
“Fine. See you then.”
They both were dressed and waiting in record time. As soon as the doorbell camera alerted them of their presence, Jericho whipped the door open then dropped to his knees looking over each of his children, breathing a literal sigh of relief when he saw they were seemingly perfect.
“Daddy,” Jett said. “We got burgers and pizza and to play Pac-Man. Oh and two different ice creams.”
Jericho arched a brow at Noah who flushed, then shrugged. “What? We’re the fun uncles.”
“Why don’t you boys go brush your teeth and then get into bed. We’ll come read to you in just a few minutes. Okay?”
They nodded. “Okay, Daddy,” Jett said.
They raced off to the bathroom.
Jericho turned on them then. “What was this incident?”
“So…” Noah hedged.
“So…” Atticus prompted, irritated.
“Did you know that Jagger likes to…lick things?”
Jericho closed his eyes, taking a deep breath and letting it out. “What exactly did he lick?”
Adam scoffed. “Bro, what didn’t he lick? His tongue has now been on our light switches, our door knob, the refrigerator, his brother and…our dog.”
“What?” Atticus said, lip curling in disgust.
“Yeah, it’s gross,” Adam agreed. “Your kid licked my dog’s head. It’s fucking weird.”
“Adam…” Noah said, his name a gentle warning.
“What? Do kids lick things? Is that normal? It doesn’t feel normal.”
“It’s a…relatively new development,” Atticus said. “But we’ll handle it.”
Adam blinked at him. “You’ll handle it? That’s it?”
Atticus gave his brother a dirty look. “What were you hoping for? Financial compensation? You want a new light switch? A new dog? Honestly, as gross as your dog is, I should sue you. Who knows what he could have given Jagger.”
