Alcohol You Later (15)

“Anything.”

“It’s just one, really.”

“Name it.”

“No groupies.”

I’ve never agreed to anything quicker. Doesn’t she know when she’s around, she’s the only one I see? “Done.”

“Just like that?” she asks, climbing to her feet and reaching out to help me up.

I nod, taking her offered hand and sealing our deal with a kiss before peeling my big ass off the floor. It’s adorable how she thought her little buck-twenty self could do anything to assist. “What now?”

“Now?” She dusts her hands off on the ass of her skintight pants. “Now you introduce me to your children, Nicholas Potter.”

Great. Looks like we’ll be meeting them together.

“All right then…let’s get this over with.”

Raven rolls her eyes before motioning with her hand for me to lead the way.

I guide her to the back of the penthouse.

“Whose room is this?” she asks when we step into absolute chaos. It looks like Babies R Us and Hot Topic went to war in here.

“Lyle’s.”

He waves from his position on the floor, where he’s playing blocks with the babies. “S’up?”

“No offense, Lyle,” she says, waving back, “but why the hell are your kids sleeping in his room?”

“First of all, we didn’t know until a few minutes ago that they were mine,” I say, ignoring her scoff. “And secondly, he has younger siblings and was the only one of us who knew what to do with them.”

“And now that you know?” she asks.

“I’ll start paying him for his services.”

Lyle gives me a thumbs-up.

Her mouth falls open.

I don’t understand what the big damn deal is. He likes them.

“Is that your answer to everything?” she asks, aghast. “Throw money at it?”

I shrug. “Just the things I don’t want to deal with myself.”

“You’ll have to come to grips with this sooner or later,” she snips, plopping herself in the middle of the action.

“It’s just for six weeks, Ray,” I say, refusing to entertain the idea of making these toddlers a permanent fixture in my life. “That’s what I agreed to.”

She gawks at me.

“You can wipe that disappointment right off your pretty little face. This isn’t up for discussion. I’m not selfish enough to subject these innocent children to a life with me when they have a far better option waiting for them on the other end of this experiment.”

“You’ll change your mind,” she says with a shake of her head, pulling Alex into her lap and patting the floor for me to take the seat beside her.

Reluctantly, I sit. The smile she rewards me with eases some of the tension between us. That alone makes this torturous experience worth it. I lean back on my elbows and watch with mild interest as she gets to know her charges.

I believe it goes without saying that I have no interest in doing the same.

The three seem to be hitting it off well. She’s good with them—I knew she would be. Her patience is infinite. She’s kind and loving. Just the type of person I wish I’d have had taking care of me when I was growing up.

I may not have plans of keeping these kids, but it doesn’t mean I want anything less than the best for them.

The babies seem extremely well adjusted, considering they’ve just been given away to complete strangers.

They’re very into Raven’s baby songs—clapping and even humming along to a few. I’m starting to think six weeks of this kid thing won’t be so bad. Hell, if I keep myself busy enough, it’ll be like they aren’t even here. Then all hell breaks loose, and any thoughts that this arrangement isn’t about to completely upend my life fly right out the window.

“No, mine!” Ava screams, whacking her brother over the head with a toy dump truck.

“No ma’am!” Raven wags a finger at the little bully. “No hitting.”

Next thing I know, Alex has Ava by the hair, and Raven and Lyle are physically pulling the two apart.

“She can talk?” I don’t know whether I’m more shocked at their little royal rumble or that I just heard actual intelligible words come out of her mouth.

Both Lyle and Raven look at me like I’m a total idiot.

“Where have you been the past few days?” she asks me.

Lyle answers before I can. “As far away from these babies as possible.”

Yeah, thanks asshole.

Just when I think she’s about to berate me, Raven scoops up my son—cringe—and drops him into my lap. My very first urge is to toss him across the room; not that I would ever do that, but my body tenses as if a venomous snake’s just fallen from the sky. It’s unexpected and unwelcome and I can’t remember a time I’ve ever felt more uncomfortable.

Alex stares up at me, his eyes still wet with tears from the beating he just took at the hand of his sister. My chest squeezes with some unnamed emotion. Then he reaches up, pinching my nose in his pudgy little hand. “Bomp!” he shouts, before cracking up at himself.

There are actual tears pricking the backs of my eyes, a realization that pisses me off to the point that I’m ready to smash something.