I shook my head but smiled. “One video.” I looked over at Zoe. “A short one. And one story.”
I lifted two fingers to let her know that I’d allow two stories if Jaycee did manage to manipulate her.
Jaycee followed Zoe up the stairs, singing as she went.
I turned to Hayden. “You need to shower, as well.”
“Yes, Ma’am.” Hayden slid off the chair and looked over at Connor. “Can we still play our video game later?”
Connor nodded. “Of course. I need to kick your… behind. If it's okay with your mom, we can continue after your shower.”
“Only until bedtime, okay.” I smiled as Hayden followed Theo up the stairs.
The food had calmed my nerves. The comfort of having my children around, helped as well. But mostly, having Theo take the lead so I could freak out internally, meant the world. Hayden kept giving me strange looks all through dinner, but he never asked questions. Zoe was concerned as well. She never said anything, but I could tell by the way she handled everything with Jaycee.
What was I going to do about Fred? I needed to pop in on the weekend staff at The Reverse Cowgirl. Make sure everyone knew what was going on, sort out any lingering problems.
I also needed to warn the staff that none of the Rippers were welcome. Not that I thought that would stick but I needed to take a stand.
What about my parents? I still hadn’t let them know what was happening. Harry, my foster father, was a former Marine and hated being kept out of the loop.
My thoughts were still spiralling from one thing to another when Hayden came downstairs. My sweet boy kissed me on the cheek. “I’m going to Connor’s room. Uncle Theo said we can talk about making a model earthquake tomorrow. He said he had some ideas. Isn’t that cool?”
My gaze moved to the man leaning against the staircase railing. “He has his moments.”
Hayden kissed me once more then left in search of Connor. Theo walked over and made himself comfortable next to me.
I wanted to address what had happened earlier. The kiss, the undeniable tension that was about more than just protectiveness. It felt possessive. Not in a bad way, but still, it was there.
At least, I thought it was. Maybe it was all in my imagination. Maybe I didn’t know what protectiveness looked like since I’d never felt it. Well, not from anyone other than Harry and Tess. I should make time to visit them.
Theo shifted next to me. “Maggie?—”
“Not tonight.” I shook my head and stood. “It pisses me off that both things happened on the same day. That was the best kiss of my life and it got ruined by Fred. So no, I will talk about Fred all you want. But I will not be tainting that kiss with anything else that happened today. Tomorrow. We can talk about it tomorrow.”
“Okay. But then you need to doomscroll or play games on your phone or something to calm your mind.” Theo frowned but never left my side. We sat in silence, the hum of the fridge down the hall, and a ticking clock, the only soundtrack to our thoughts. I was aware of each breath he took. We never spoke, each of us content to absorb the silence. Those quiet moments with him meant so much. No words, no actions, just us dealing with the best and worst thing that could’ve happened.
Between saying goodnight and my night time routine, I allowed my mind to wonder once more. But I wasn’t thinking about Fred or any of the aftermath of his stunt. Instead, I took a long hard look in the mirror and remembered that kiss. I meant what I said, I didn’t want to taint our kiss with how the day ended, but I couldn’t help thinking about it. It was ssoooooo good. Those lips were firm but so fucking soft at the same time. And, of course, Theo Snow knew how to use his tongue. The idea made me smile thinking about all the ways he could use that tongue. Then there was that piercing. There had to be a story there. And I wanted to know all of it.
Surprisingly, I didn’t take long to fall asleep. The knowledge that Fred could not get to me did wonders to my state ofmind. What wasn’t a surprise was my phone ringing just after midnight.
Tiff’s name on the caller ID had a surge of protectiveness flow through me. “Hey.”
She took a moment then spoke. “Hi. Did I wake you?”
“Yeah, but it’s fine.” I knew I didn’t need to whisper but I always did. “Same dream?”
Her voice was softer than usual, then I remembered Hunter was in the house with her. Her nightmares were a secret, not even Theo knew about them. “But instead of Cat in that cage, it was you.”
I expected the call from Tiffany. Trauma manifested in bad dreams for her. Something not even her brother knew. According to her she’d always been prone to bad dreams especially since high school, but it got worse when she found out how evil her dad actually was.
“Where’s Hunter?”
Another long pause. “He’s sleeping in Grace’s room. He said the whole point was to be close to me in case something happened. So, he took the one directly across the hall.”
“Do you think he heard you?” I pulled the phone away to check the time. “Sometimes you call out.”
I’d shared a house with Tiffany long enough to know how bad the dreams could get. There were times when I needed to wake her up and found her drenched in sweat. Then there were times when the only reason I knew about the dreams was because I found her in my bed the next morning.
