“He’s pretty,” she said. “A pretty lizard. Just like you!”
Laz grinned at her before taking her hand and dragging her away. We all watched as he led her upstairs, presumably to his room, to show her all his turtles.
“I knew they’d hit it off,” Cole said, standing and hugging Rosalie. She caught my eye and gave me a tentative smile. I scoffed and looked away from her, but I caught the frown on her face.
I had a lot to say to her because I was still pissed.
“Enzo in his office?” I asked.
“Yeah, man. He’s talking to Elijah. They’re putting together a security detail for the building that’s more in-depth than it usually is.”
I nodded. “OK. I’m going to head up and grab a shower.”
I didn’t wait for them to say anything else. The last person I wanted to see was Enzo.
I went upstairs and checked on the kids to see that Laz was indeed showing Ellis his turtles. I stood outside his door, listening to them.
“I like this one,” Ellis said. “Which one is your favorite?”
There was a silence.
“You don’t talk, Lizard?”
Silence.
“It’s OK if you’re scared,” Ellis said. “If you want, since you’re my best friend, I can talk for you. My dada Klaus says I’m good at talking, so I know I can say your words for you.”
Another beat of silence.
“My Aunt Weena doesn’t talk either, but she has a secret language I can teach you! She taught me with my unkies. Do you want to learn?”
More silence.
Ellis giggled. “OK. So if you want to sayyou like candy,use your hands like this.”
I smiled. She was going to teach him sign language. It was something I’d tried briefly, but he’d made no effort at all in the short amount of time. Because I didn’t want to waste his time if he wasn’t interested, I didn’t push it.
“That’s really good, Lizard! Now if you want a cookie from your daddy, you do this.”
Silence.
“That’s so good! I’m proud of you! Cookies need milk, so this is how you say that…”
I peeked into the room to see them sitting on the floor across from one another, Ellis showing him her hands as she signed. And Laz… he was doing what she told him to do.
Fuck, my damn heart.
She was getting through to him.
I left them alone and went to my room and pulled out the sign language book I’d picked up and thumbed through it. I wanted a refresher on common words and phrases, so I spent the next half hour doing that in case Laz wanted to talk later. Cole boasted about Ellis knowing three languages, but I doubt he knew she knew a fourth in sign language.
The little girl was really something. A real prodigy. Just like her dad.
I smiled at that, really fucking hoping shit didn’t fall apart now that Enzo had put his dick where it didn’t belong.
I wasn’t sure we could handle our world crumbling again.
61
