Choosing Us (Pierced Hearts Duet #1)(20)

“I don’t like it when my girl’s mad at me.”

“Curtis, I’m not your girl.”

“Right.” Thinking about it for a second, he looked up at me with a toothy grin. Adamantly responding, “You’re my woman.”

Trying to hide back a laugh, I choked on my coffee instead.

This kid…

“I’ll tell you what … you go to school all week without complaining about it, and I’ll take you out for your favorite ice cream this weekend.”

If there was one thing I learned about kids throughout the years, it was if all else failed…

Bribe them.

“Throw in a cream soda and a cookie, and you got yourself a deal,” he negotiated, stopping in front of his school bus.

“Alright, Little Man, you drive a hard bargain, but you got yourself a deal.” I extended out my fist. “Knuckles.”

“Knuckles,” he repeated, bumping his fist into mine.

“Be good in school, okay? And really try on your math test, don’t just fill in the questions with random answers.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” He smiled, stepping onto the bus.

I waited until his bus driver drove away before walking a couple streets over to my stop. I needed to make sure he didn’t play hooky once he couldn’t see me anymore.

“Hey, Camila,” Deborah, the driver announced as I stepped on. “Start that new job today?”

“I do.”

“You’ll do amazing, you’re great with kids. They’re lucky to have you.”

“Thanks for the reassurance.”

“How’s the daddy look?”

“Deborah,” I chuckled, shaking my head.

“What, girl? You can look, just don’t touch. And if you touch, don’t get caught.”

“Oh my God! You’re horrible. He’s my boss.”

“That’s how you get a raise.”

I laughed, shaking my head again. Parking it right in my usual seat up front, closest to the door. I’d taken the bus enough times to avoid getting stuck in the back, where people took their sweet ass time getting off.

Swinging my bag on my lap, I pulled out my headphones and listened to my bus playlist for the entire two-hour ride to the Pierce residence. Thanking God the bus stop was only a ten-minute walk to their home.

My feet were killing me from last night, but I had zero regrets about working late. On top of the two-hundred we agreed to, Danté tipped me out another three hundred bucks. I made five hundred dollars in the matter of a few hours.

Nothing paid like bartending did, and I was slowly realizing I might be okay after all. It wouldn’t be the first time I held two jobs down, sometimes I even held down three. I still helped my parents with some of their bills, even though I didn’t live there anymore. And there was always a sibling asking me for money, which I never said no to.

I was a sucker, and they knew it.

“See ya later, Deborah.” I waved goodbye and jumped off the bus, taking a deep breath as she drove away.

I wasn’t due at the Pierces until nine, but I always made it a point to arrive early anywhere I went. Skyler was meeting me at their home this morning and it made me a little less nervous about what I would be walking into.

A little.

The nerves were still very much alive and present as I knocked on their door.

“Come in!” Skyler shouted from inside.

I inhaled yet another deep breath, blowing it out slowly. Trying the best I could to gather my composure as I turned the knob and opened the door.

“You got here just in time,” Skyler stressed, looking as exhausted as I felt with a fidgety Journey in her arms.

Reassuring me of one thing and one thing only, this wasn’t going to be easy. The boys must have put her through the ringer for hiring me in the first place. That also meant….

War.

With me.

To both of our surprise, Little Miss reached for me. And I’m not talking about a reflex move, where she just wanted out of the arms of the woman who was obviously frazzled, but truly went for me. Recognizing me immediately.

Arms.

Body.

Legs.

She pretty much catapulted herself into my arms, where I had no choice or say but to hold her. Like a stage five clinger.

“Wow!” Skyler marveled with the same stunned expression as me. “She’s never done that before, with anyone. Even me. And I’m around her all the time.”

I shrugged it off, not wanting to make a big deal out of it and hurt Skyler’s feelings. It was evident she loved Journey and was caught off guard by her choosing me over her.

“Babies don’t know what they want,” I reasoned while Journey made herself at home in my arms.

As if she understood Skyler and wanted to prove her right, she laid her head on my shoulder, smiled, and then stuck her thumb in her mouth. Glaring at her like she was the enemy who had been keeping her away from me these last few days.

I nervously chuckled, this wasn’t starting off how I’d hoped.

Please don’t fire me because the baby wants me more than you…

People were funny like that, thinking they wanted a nanny until they realized they could be replaced. I didn’t know Skyler well enough to know how she’d react.

However, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t shocked when she smiled lovingly at us and breathed out a huge sigh of relief.