Addicted After All (Addicted #3)(104)

The mother looks disinterested in that story. It pisses me off, and I realize my hands are vibrating. Goddammit. I don’t want to drink. Even if somewhere deep, I do.

Ryke and Connor make the short trek up the lawn. I’d join but the babies—and Lily looks fine. She wavers beside her sisters with beady eyes, like a deer caught in headlights. I can tell she’d like to run away from this argument.

I shake my hands out and then cup them to my mouth. “Lily!” I try to shout in a whisper.

She whips around and relaxes at the sight of me.

“You both just had babies,” the mother suddenly snarls. No. Lily freezes cold, and Rose’s eyes flash murderously. Of course these people know about our kids. It’s everywhere.

“Don’t you dare,” Rose starts.

“You shouldn’t be here, vandalizing our property,” the woman continues. “It’s irresponsible. If you cared at all about your newborns, you’d be at home with them.”

Rose steps forward, fire in her gaze. “Who are you to say that to us—”

Connor wraps his arms around Rose’s waist, pulling her a safe distance away from the woman.

“Richard!” Rose screams, tears pricking her eyes.

“It’s okay, Rose,” Connor says in a soothing voice.

I shake out my hand for the second time and lick my lips. “Lily Calloway!” I call.

She spins around again like I startled her. This time she slowly retreats from the fight, aiming for me.

“It’s not okay,” Rose snaps. “Her son has been harassing us but she wants to file a report about toilet paper.” She sets her glassy, heated gaze on the woman. “Toilet. Paper.”

The husband interjects, “If that’s what you want to tell the police...” He still has the phone to his ear, avoiding Connor, who stands a good five or six inches taller than him.

I want to yell something. My throat aches to intervene—but from past experience, I know I’d just make the whole thing worse. I stay glued to the curb. I recognize what keeps me here, more than anything. My eyes flicker into the dark backseat, where Maximoff sleeps, his lips parted as he breathes.

I whisper, “Thanks, little guy.” You’re saving me from myself tonight.

“It won’t happen again,” Connor says, using his fake damage-control voice. “We’re sorry for waking you. If you could not press charges, we’d be extremely grateful.”

Rose is fuming. But this is what has to happen. They’re not going to jail over this. It’s dumb. Ryke is whispering to Daisy a few feet away from the woman. And Daisy suddenly spins out of his arms and says to them, “I’ll clean it up tomorrow. Just let my sisters off the hook for this.”

“That’s ridiculous,” Rose tells Daisy. “They should clean it up for be—”

Connor covers Rose’s mouth with his hand and whispers in her ear.

“Are they here? Are they okay? Lo…” Lily practically catapults over me to peer inside the car. I grab her tightly by the hips.

“They’re fine, Lil.” I hold her face between my two hands. And her big, round green eyes meet mine.

Fear spikes her voice. “I worried about him this whole time. I didn’t forget—”

“You don’t have to convince me, love,” I breathe. “You’re a good mom.” She’s not f*cking negligent. “That woman can go to hell. She doesn’t know you or me or your sisters.”

Lily lets out a deep breath.

“Okay?” I ask her.

She nods and peeks past my bicep. After a short moment, she says, “He’s so cute.”

I roll my eyes, but my shoulders drop. Glad she’s not scratching her arms, biting her nails or crossing her ankles. I’d like a drink though.

Great.

“What’s that?” Lily breathes.

I follow her gaze to a second-floor lit window. Two teenagers are peeking out of the blinds. They must see us because one drops his pants and sticks his bare ass against the glass.

I grit my teeth. Classic.

“Do you remember when you peed on the side of Todd Border’s house?” Lily says with the tilt of her head in remembrance. Her words strangely ease the tension in my muscles.

I wrap my arm around her. “He was a dick,” I say. “And I drank way too much rum that night. I had to piss somewhere.” We were fifteen.

It’s weird. Revisiting bad memories doesn’t have the same impact on me that it did a year ago. I can touch them without splintering.

As I gauge Lily’s mental state, I realize the same can be said for her. While Connor tries to calm down the parents, I pull Lily even closer to me. She rests her cheek on my chest. “Hey, little criminal,” I murmur.

“So much for my getaway car, huh?”

“Sorry about that.” I tug at the red sleeve of her Marvel PJs. “You should’ve worn black, you know.”

She smiles. “All my favorite superheroes were supposed to protect me tonight, but I suppose I forgot the best one.”

“If you say a DC character like Green Lantern, we’re no longer boyfriend-girlfriend,” I tease.

She lifts her chin up at me. “I forgot you.”

I try hard not to laugh. “That…is the most rom-com thing you’ve ever f*cking said to me. Take it back.”