Hangman clenches his teeth. “She comes. Stays in the truck or the lobby or whatever.”
“Not fair,” Max says. “I never get to come.”
Hangman narrows his eyes at Max. “Shut it. We got talkin’ to do later.” He turns to me. “How long do you have this daughter of Satan?”
“He has me three days!” Henri answers for me.
“Enough,” I snap at her. I say to Hangman, “Her mother’s gonna freak out if I do this.”
“She’s a fuckin’ woman. Deal with it.”
The silence behind me is deafening. The guys with ol’ ladies treat them like they’re princesses. If they didn’t, it would be game over for them.
Verity pipes up. “Where’s she staying?”
“With Eight,” Henri says. “Remember. Three days. Can’t leave me.”
Verity looks from me to Hangman to King. We all have blank expressions. She says to me. “You cannot be alone in your house overnight with a teenage girl that isn’t your daughter.”
“She’s only 12,” Max snorts. “Not a teenager.”
“Whatever,” Henri says.
“Why not?” Hangman asks.
Verity rolls her eyes. “I can’t believe I have to explain this shit to you.”
She doesn’t. I get it. Why the hell didn’t Selkie think about it? Why the hell didn’t I? “Then what?” I ask Verity.
“Well, she can’t stay here,” Coyote states the obvious with all the wisdom of a new stepfather. “This is not the place for kids after 9 o’clock.”
“Of course, she can’t,” I reply with a scowl.
Hangman thinks he has the solution. “She can stay at Verity’s with the rest of the kids.”
“No way, no way, no way,” Max says, panic in his voice.
Henri shakes her head. “Not unless Eight is with me.”
Verity looks at me and smirks. “Then I guess you get to stay too.”
There’s no fucking way I’m sharing domestic space with Verity. “That’s not an option.”
Brielle looks at Henri and shyly says, “I could go with her. Then she wouldn’t be alone at Oscar’s dad’s house.”
Fuckin’ hell. I look at Hangman. “It’s bad enough I’m takin’ Henri?—”
“Seven,” Henri says.
“Seven with me to the meeting but takin’ Brielle too. That’s over the top. Henri… Seven can look after herself. Who’s gonna look after Brielle?”
That gets Hangman’s back up and without realizing it, he’s just agreed that Brielle can come along. “I’m gonna be there, asshole. I look after my kid, you look after yours.”
Henri crosses her arms. “First, not his kid and second, I can look after myself and Brielle. You guys have your boring meeting and we’ll wait in the lobby or wherever.”
Verity isn’t bothered by the solution. “Well, that’s settled. Brielle, get your backpack. I have some laundry in the back. There’ll be a few things you can take.”
“Yay!” Brielle yells.
