Fireball (Cheap Thrills #1)(21)

Olivia looked like a china doll, and no matter what, I’d make sure that nothing touched her for the rest of my career in Piersville. It was strange to feel that way over a tiny baby that came from a woman I’d only barely known, but her aunt was becoming more important to me with every minute I spent with her, which meant so were Jose and Olivia. Plus, I detested Larry White, freaking Larry White. Even his name was a joke.

“She’s a Harrison,” Tabby whispered, not taking her eyes off her niece. “It’s better for her to be one of those, and it’s better for her not to have the negative influences of her sperm donor in her life.”

Generally, a man needed to be in his kid’s life, but like with everything – there were exceptions to that rule, and Larry White was one of them. He drank to excess, and I’d suspected him of taking cocaine in the bathrooms at the bar in town but hadn’t been able to find any on him. That’s not the sort of things you wanted around a baby. And he was just an immature, selfish, irrational, pussy hungry, tiny dicked piece of shit. I hoped that he took an interest in his daughter for her sake, but it would have to be without him being under the influence of everything he was doing to his body, inside and out.

“But the shit he said to her,” Ellis persisted. “It’s disgusting.”

Sighing, Tabby shot a quick look at her sister to make sure she was still asleep, and then looked over at us. “What I’m about to tell you stays right here, do you understand?” When we both nodded, she laid it out for us. “Larry used to hit Jose. On the day we found him with Rita, he lashed out at her but I moved between them and he got me. When Rita started to attack her, he stood back laughing and goading her into doing stuff. When we called the police, he rang her mother and portrayed himself as a victim. Just so you know, she took his side and told Jose he was ‘adjusting’ to not being the center of her attention, and that she should give him the house and rent a place herself.” I chanced a glance at Ellis who was standing there looking like he was about to explode. “Throughout all of this, he stood watching his hookup attack his pregnant wife. It took me ripping her hair out, hitting her with a breast pump, and tying her up with a bra I’d had in my purse to stop her. Then he started up again, and I grabbed a lamp and hit him.”

I hadn’t had a chance to properly look over the details on the report that had been taken when we’d attended the incident – well, aside from Rita’s arrest and the charges against her, but that was so I could try to get her sentenced – so this was all news to me. And to say I was pissed was putting it lightly.

“What the fuck?” Ellis growled, getting my attention. I’d known him for long enough to see how tense he was, and I knew if I didn’t stop him, he’d hunt Larry down before I could get to him.

“No,” I told him firmly. When he looked at me, I shook my head slightly and then looked back at Tabby. “Where is he?”

“No one knows,” she replied, looking worried. “I don’t want to leave them. In fact, I even thought about just packing up what she needs and taking her to stay at mine. What if he comes back or sends her back? You didn’t see her, it was like she was possessed or something,” she said this almost like she was saying it to herself. I knew that look well, and if you asked me she was possessed. “Do you guys know her?”

A forced laugh came out of Ellis at that question. “You could say that. In fact, you could…”

“She’s well known in the area for a variety of reasons,” I interrupted, giving him a warning look. “I’ll help Jose get an order of protection, and we’ll take it from there. We know a guy who can increase the security and get cameras put in, so that’s not an issue either.”

“No one will get to her,” Ellis added firmly. “We’ll make sure of it.”

“He’s not coming back,” Jose mumbled, alerting us to the fact she’d woken up and heard all of it. “He doesn’t want anything to do with Olivia or me, and he’s free now to do what he wants, so that’s what he’ll do.”

“But what if he does?” Tabby asked her sister. “What if he hurts you or the baby? What if she does?”

This raised a question for me – did Jose know who Rita was to me? Granted, I didn’t associate with her or her mom, but it wasn’t really a secret as far as I was aware. People knew I didn’t like her and wanted nothing to do with her sure, but they still knew that my dad had married her mother. Taking her in, I realized that she was as oblivious as her sister was.

I needed to tell them both and soon, but I wasn’t going to do it today after everything they’d been through. I’d tell them tomorrow when I came back to check on them and bring them breakfast. That was my plan.

Tabby





The next morning…

Having a baby was hard. I hadn’t even given birth to her, and I was exhausted. Olivia had woken up every other hour through the night to be fed, and after we realized she wasn’t getting enough from Jose we’d moved onto the formula she’d cleverly bought just in case. This had involved sterilizing bottles after removing them from their packaging, reading the instructions on everything, looking it all up online when I couldn’t figure it out… it had been a nightmare, but I’d gotten there. In the end I’d sent Jose back to bed and taken over it when she’d almost fallen asleep with a scoop of formula in her hand. Olivia had gone back to sleep each time quickly, but it had left me unable to sleep until my anxiety from it all had calmed down. Just as I was falling asleep, it had started all over again. Doing all of this one handed wasn’t easy either, but I’m not going to lie, I felt like a champ that I’d done it all with no mishaps.