Addicted After All (Addicted #3)(74)

“I saw video clips,” Lily whispers. “They like to smell the baby’s milk and suck it out of their mouths.” I’m not okay with this. I feel my face start to sharpen.

“I speak on behalf of the accused,” Rose chimes in. “And these allegations are all urban legends.”

I gape at her. “You’re seriously going to allow that cat around your baby? Lily has…” I count her post-its. “Seven notes—”

“Eight!” Lily says, waving around another pink post-it. “I was sitting on one.” Her skin splotches with red patches.

I hug her to my side. “Eight notes. That’s evidence enough.” I wait for Connor to jump in and speak up for Rose and his pet, but he stays quiet, like the judge.

I have a suspicion he’s going to make the final verdict anyway.

“We’ll keep Sadie out of the nursery,” Rose says. “And I’ll acclimate her to the newborns before they arrive.”

“How?” I question.

She types something on her cellphone and then holds it out to the tabby cat. The sounds of a crying infant blare through the speakers. Sadie arches her spine and swats the damn phone out of Rose’s hand, hissing at it.

Lily clings tighter to me, and my mouth falls, imagining that as my son and not a phone. “No way,” I force.

Rose tries to calm Sadie with a pat on the head. “I know. Those are horrific noises.”

Connor suddenly rises and snatches Sadie by the torso. “She can’t stay in this house with little children, Rose. She’s a jealous cat, and if she senses a change in our affections, she’ll take it out on them.”

“I’m not abandoning Sadie because she’s territorial.” Rose stands to her feet and defiantly plants her hands on her hips.

“I’m not asking you to abandon anyone,” Connor says. “We’ll give Sadie to Frederick for a few years, and then she can come back and stay with us.”

This sounds like a good plan to me. “Would your therapist take her?”

Connor nods. “He’s single and could use the companionship.”

Rose doesn’t break Connor’s gaze. “This is why I don’t like children, Richard. We’re already sacrificing things that we love and the baby isn’t even born yet. In fifteen years, I don’t want to look back and see how much I lost…” It’s a little late for that. She must be thinking this because she stops herself short and inhales a strained, panicked breath.

My fears don’t align with Rose’s. Maybe because I’ve never been ambitious, had larger than life aspirations. I can’t see things that my kid may take from me because there is nothing for Maximoff to take.

Connor lets Sadie down, and she sprints out the doorway. I watch him clasp Rose’s hand in his. “You will not lose anything that you can’t gain,” he says. “You make sacrifices every day for your sisters. You just made one today, darling.” He’s talking about giving up the bedroom. “And in the end, those sacrifices are worth the love you’ll receive.”

“Says the man who used to scorn love,” she retorts.

His mouth curves in a grin. “And I never wanted a child because of love, not until I fell in love with you.”

What? I cut in, “Why the hell would you want a kid then?”

Rose sighs like she’s expelling her fears. “Because he’s completely egotistical and likes the idea of procreating for power.”

Connor’s grin overtakes his face. He kisses her forehead and adds, “We’re already one-eighth Cobalt empire, darling. Seven more to go.”

She punctures him with her stare. “That is yet to be determined. Don’t finish the book before it’s written, Richard.”

Loud noises suddenly emanate from across the hallway. I frown. “What was that?” We all go quiet, listening harder.

Muffled screaming…and shouting.

Lily springs off the mattress. “They’re fighting,” she says in alarm, rushing out into the hallway. Rose is quick behind, more curious than scared like my girlfriend.

Lily is way too invested in Ryke and Daisy’s relationship, and I’m partly praying they stay together just to dodge the emotional fallout that’ll happen from Lily.

Connor and I follow the girls by walking instead of hysterically sprinting and bouncing down the hallway. By the time we reach Ryke and Daisy’s room, Rose and Lily already have their ears pressed against the wooden door.

“They’re nosy as hell,” I mutter, and both the girls shush me. It’s not like we can’t hear them just by standing here.

“Stop being so pushy about it!” Daisy yells.

Her raised voice actually cuts me up in ways that I can’t process. I’ve never heard her shout like that. I grit my teeth, a weird part of me wanting to throttle my own brother. The larger part trusts him fully, and I rely on that to keep me grounded here.

Connor casually leans his shoulder against the wall. “We knew this was going to happen,” he reminds me.

Still, it feels worse than I imagined.

“It’s a simple f*cking fact, Dais,” Ryke retorts. “You don’t want to go, so you don’t f*cking go. Done.”

“Great theory,” she says heatedly. “So if I don’t want to go get my bike checked tomorrow, it’s fine. I don’t have to f*cking go.”