Addicted After All (Addicted #3)(73)

She raises her hand to silence me. “If it’s not proximity, then it means you both favor Ryke and Daisy over us, and I’m giving you both the benefit of the doubt.”

I look to Connor like come on. He can’t agree with her.

“I don’t believe you’re playing favorites, but it’s frustrating, even for me, to receive information later than I like.”

I scan the room with my arms outstretched. “I don’t see Ryke and Daisy anywhere for this conversation.”

Rose sits straighter. “That’s because we’re on the second floor.”

Lily pipes in, “Do you want to switch rooms with us?”

“No,” Rose says.

Connor adds, “That solves nothing.”

I recognize now that we’re what bridges Ryke, Daisy, Connor, and Rose together. I feel Lily kneel behind me, her lips close to my ears. She whispers really quickly, “We’re the popular ones.” The surprise in her voice almost makes me smile uncontrollably.

I can’t ever remember being this in-demand.

“This is not amusing,” Rose says, crossing her arms in a huff. But she can’t really do the action with her baby bump, and she growls in frustration.

Connor rubs her ankles, and she calms down some.

I kind of feel badly. I mean, we’re not intentionally trying to shut anyone out of our lives. When we were at the height of our addictions, we did it purposefully, all the time. Now we’re actually trying to be inclusive. “You two usually just insert yourselves,” I tell them.

Rose folds her hands on her stomach. “It’s harder when you can go run to other people with your issues.”

“And just to remind you,” Connor says in his fluid tone, “Rose and I are certified geniuses. We can solve problems faster than the average human brain. If you’re smart, you would take advantage of that.”

“I don’t take advantage of people until the third date,” I banter.

His lips lift in a grin. “We’ve already kissed. I think we’re past that point.” The kiss in Mexico—it’s been blowing up on social media, and it’s causing more speculation for Connor and me than I thought it would.

“Are you okay…?” I trail off because I suddenly realize I’m asking Connor Cobalt if he’s doing alright. The self-confident expression he has is priceless.

“Of course I am,” he tells me.

I am glad, but I wonder if there will be a day where he’ll show me more of his cards. I wonder if I’ll always just be the “liability” in his game of chess.

“We’re going to move into one of the guest rooms,” Rose suddenly blurts out, returning the conversation to its focal point.

Lily’s jaw drops comically.

Rose has been body-snatched.

I ask, “You’re going to give up your giant ass walk-in closet?”

“I’ll still keep some of my clothes in that closet, but all of my essentials will be going in our permanent room on the second floor.”

Connor nods in agreement.

Wow. Rose loves Lily enough to sacrifice wardrobe space and a bathroom twice the size of the one she’ll now be using. It’s a huge statement, and Lily is stunned to silence behind me. And then she crawls off the bed and risks an attack from Sadie to hug her sister.

“What are you doing?” Rose says with wide eyes like Lily is about to burn her collection of heels.

“This is how I show my love,” Lily says with a squeeze.

Rose replies back with a stiff pat, and they both whisper something to each other that sounds like I love you.

Then Sadie hisses at the girls.

Lily shrieks and darts back onto the bed, the mattress bouncing beneath me.

“Easy, love,” I tell her, cautiously watching as she crawls behind me. At first my concern peaks since she’s really f*cking pregnant, but then she climbs onto my back in fright. And I shouldn’t be smiling at her fear…but Lily is pretty precious when she uses me as a safety net.

“Sadie hates hugs,” Rose says. “A woman after my own heart.” She pats her lap, and Sadie curls on top of Rose’s baby bump and purrs.

“Look at that, bitches congregate together,” I say, regretting it the moment it escapes.

Connor arches his eyebrow at me, a small defensive warning, one that Rose misses because she gives me a death-glare of ginormous proportions. I deserve that one.

“Lily,” Rose says. “I’m giving the floor to you since Loren abuses it.”

“Burn,” I say dryly.

Lily clears her throat and peeks behind my arm, reading off her notes. “After surfing the internet, it has come to my attention that cats and newborns do not get along.” That fact isn’t that surprising.

Rose stiffens more, and she protectively holds onto Sadie. Connor studies his wife with more intensity than before—it’s all really not making a lot of sense to me. I get that Rose has grown affectionate towards Sadie—well, as affectionate as Rose can be with anything.

But she had to have known about this cat and baby stuff. She probably did a ton of research about it.

Lily continues when no one interjects, “There’ve been instances where cats smother babies in their cribs. And they even suck the baby’s breath.”

“What?” I snap, turning to peer at the notes Lily took.