Page 21

Twenty-One

Sometimes she just needs to be bent over the couch and asked ‘what’s the attitude about?’

— Secrets to a happy relationship

AELLA

My sister had just thrown me under the proverbial bus.

What the fuck?

Silver knew damn well what she’d done, too.

I was still stewing on this as we arrived at the only place I was willing to eat at that was still open this late.

Whataburger.

Getting off at two in the morning was shitty on the best of days, but to be hungry when you get off and to have to find a place to eat that was semi-decent? There was only one option.

Silver walked up to us from her car, which was just as shitty as mine, and smiled when Chevy caught the door for the both of us and guided us inside.

His smooth hand touched the small of my back, and I felt renewed wetness start to gather between my thighs that wasn’t from our earlier encounter.

Speaking of messy things…

“Hey, will you grab me the number two meal?” I asked. “Large fries. Medium drink, because those cups are massive, and they’re too hard to hold with my tiny hands.”

Chevy’s eyes shone with amusement, and I suddenly had a thought. “Silver, do you want to go?”

Silver’s Cheshire Cat grin filled her face, and I knew she wouldn’t be joining me.

Meaning, I’d have to leave her alone with Chevy, and she would for sure embarrass the shit out of me.

But I was leaking like a bitch, and if I didn’t go get it cleaned up soon, my ass would be stained with the wetness.

Chevy winked at me and said, “Go, baby.”

Baby.

God.

Earlier, he’d called me ‘pretty baby’ multiple times, and I’d been just as enraptured with the words coming from his mouth as I was now.

Trying not to squeal in delight at the excitement coursing through me—because, Jesus, was it exciting to hear him call me “baby”—I hurried off to the bathroom.

I cleaned up as best as I could, then washed my hands in a rush before heading back out to the main part of the restaurant.

I found Chevy sitting in a booth on one side, and Silver sitting on the opposite side.

I studied the booth space as I walked up to them, wondering where I was supposed to sit.

With my sister, there would be a ton more room, because we were both smaller in stature.

But my feet carried me to Chevy, who immediately moved his arm around my shoulders and pulled me in close.

Silver took in everything, causing her grin to widen.

That was the thing about Silver, though.

She always smiled.

She had this sunny personality that was just impossible to ignore.

“Your new beau was just telling me about the day.” She lost her smile when she got serious. “I’m sorry you had to deal with that all day. I saw that accident from the other side of traffic. It was horrific.”

Chevy stiffened, and I smoothed my hand down the length of his thigh.

His very hard, very muscular thigh.

“Chevy lost a couple of his family today in that wreck,” I murmured quietly.

“He told me while you were in the bathroom when I asked how your day went,” she explained. “That’s the most awful thing ever.”

Our order number was called, and before either of us could react, Chevy slid out the opposite side of the booth and walked up to the counter for the food.

Silver cleared her throat and said, “What the fuck, Aella? You totally had sex with him already. And you didn’t tell me the moment that it happened? I’ve been praying for this to happen for months!”

I didn’t respond because Chevy was back, but I did kick her under the table and give her big eyes to get her to shut the hell up.

I loved my sister, but sometimes it was impossible to get her to control her mouth.

Her filter had always been broken, and that was my mom’s fault.

I’d had to protect her more than once from my mom’s verbal and physical blows.

Luckily, she had a dad that, though not all that great to me, was great to her.

He lost his shit on my mother multiple times when Silver would tell him what had happened, and my mom had to control herself or else.

“Not to ruin our appetite, but I’m curious.”

I unwrapped my burger and immediately took a huge bite.

Though Silver and I wouldn’t say it, this was a delicacy to us.

Silver and I both struggled to find jobs thanks to our mother’s issues.

It was often that she’d show up at our place of employment and beg for money or make us look bad.

Luckily, she hadn’t found me at the hospital yet.

But she always focused more on Silver because she was always doing better than I was, thanks to her father.

Needless to say, she struggled just as much as I did.

“About what?” I asked once I could speak.

“So, where’s our egg donor at?” Silver asked, her gaze going from me to Chevy and back again.

“I don’t know, and I didn’t ask.” Chevy shrugged. “All I know is that Cakes is dealing with her, and I’m going to leave him to it.”

I’d filled Silver in by text message after I’d been missing in action thanks to the flu. She’d actually cheered in joy in a voice note.

Silver nodded as if that made complete sense to her.

“Solid.” Silver took a bite of her burger. “Wonder if your computer guru could fix our credit for us, too.”

I was already shaking my head. “That computer guru just lost his son today. There’s no way I’d ever ask him to do that for us. Especially not any time soon.”

“Now might be a perfect time and I should have thought of that earlier,” Chevy admitted. “It’ll get his mind off of the grief that’s gripping his insides.”

And, as if he could hear us talking about him, Apollo walked through the door.

He clocked Chevy immediately and jerked his chin at him, and he stood. “Be right back.”

CHEVY

When I’d left earlier, it was with Apollo following me out into the parking lot.

They’d taken Tavi back to surgery to harvest his organs, and together we’d watched several ambulances and helicopters take off holding pieces of Tavi.

He’d asked for some space, and I’d given it to him, not following when he took off.

But he must’ve not made it too far if he was here.

“You want to join us?” I asked.

Apollo looked at the table, then at me, and shrugged.

“Go take a seat. I’ll order for you.”

Apollo did, and I ordered him his meal, remembering to hold all the sauces and cheese when I did.

Apollo didn’t sit directly at the booth with us, but he did choose to sit at the table that was directly beside the booth we were in.

“Here you go,” the guy I ordered from said as he handed me the orange triangle with our order number.

I placed the triangle in front of Apollo and found my seat.

I watched Apollo out of the corner of my eye as I ate, listening to Aella and Silver talk.

The door opened again for a third time, and I watched as the charge nurse, Dru, came in looking ragged.

She walked to the counter and ordered, her body dragging.

I jerked my chin up at her and said, “Have a seat with us.”

She smiled, took the seat across from Apollo but didn’t otherwise say anything more.

Aella and I weren’t the only ones that had had a terrible day. It showed on Dru’s face just how tired she was.

The food was called out for the two of them at the same time, and Silver popped the last of her fries into her mouth before she said, “I got it.”

Dru gave Silver an appreciative smile as she moved to get the food.

Apollo gave her nothing, his gaze far away and blank.

Silver was back in a flash with the food and set it on the table between them.

They both unwrapped their meals, and I inwardly laughed as I saw the stark difference between Apollo’s food and Dru’s.

Dru had so much sauce on her burger that it was pouring out the sides, and three slices of cheese at that. Absolutely zero veggies. She’d also gotten a small onion ring and two cookies.

Meanwhile, Apollo had every single vegetable that Whataburger offered, as well as a salad as his side.

Weirdo.

My eating style leaned much more toward Dru’s preferences than Apollo’s.

Hell, before I’d met the man, I hadn’t even realized that Whataburger had salads.

The door opened for a third time since we’d gotten there, and Cakes made his way inside, his gaze fastening on our table almost immediately.

He walked toward us, and I saw Aella straighten out of the corner of my eye.

I grinned and held out my hand as he took the seat next to Silver. He shook it firmly before turning his eyes to his daughter.

“Cakes,” I greeted. “What are you doing up?”

“Came to the hospital to check on that one,” he jerked his head toward Apollo. “But didn’t find him.”

Cakes and Apollo lived on the same land, sharing a duplex.

“Cakes.” Aella cleared her throat. “This is my sister, Silver.”

Silver turned from Cakes to Aella and back, her mouth forming an O.

“I definitely see the resemblance.” She practically bounced in her seat in excitement. “Holy crap!”

Apollo looked up from his salad, curious.

Dru continued to eat, her head lost in the clouds.

“It’s nice to meet you, Silver.” He grinned and held out his hand to her.

Silver took it, shaking it quickly and exuberantly.

Cakes’s smile widened.

Yeah, I’d only known Silver for a short time, but it was impossible not to like her.

Apollo went back to his food, and I sat back and watched as the left side of me conversed and the right side of me ate in complete silence.

By the time everyone was done, it was decided all at once to leave at the same time.

Cakes pulled me to the side and said, “I’m following him home. Gonna stay with him tonight.”

I nodded, grateful that someone would be with him and he wouldn’t be alone after today. “Who has Detroit?”

Cakes looked back at the hospital that you could still see in the distance. “The baby being too early means she had to stay in the NICU for a bit. They expect her to be able to go home within the next week or so, but from what Webber said, Detroit isn’t leaving today.” Cakes cleared his throat. “He also asked us not to call him Detroit anymore.”

Fuck.

“Shit, I didn’t even think about that,” I said.

Detroit’s—Audric’s—wife had given him that nickname, and it’d stuck.

“Yeah,” Cakes grunted when Apollo got on his bike and started to take off. “See ya. Bye, girls.”

Silver and Aella waved him goodbye as he raced to his bike and took off.

Dru started to back out of her parking spot as well, leaving with a wave.

That left me with two very wide awake women on my hands.

“Not that I’m not happy to meet you, but it’s two in the morning, Silver, what are you doing up?” I asked. “Just worry for your sister?”

“That, and I work the night shift,” she said. “I go into work at three and get off at three in the afternoon.”

“Where do you work?” I asked, thinking that had to possibly be the shittiest shift I’d ever heard.

“The hospital, like y’all,” she said. “But I work in IT.”

“Ahhh,” I said. “But can’t they give you normal hours for that?”

“They could, but working those shitty hours gives me an extra four dollars an hour,” she pointed out. “And speaking of, I have to go or I’ll be late. Love you, Aella. Call me when you’re taking your shower tomorrow.”

Aella waved her off, and I caught Aella around the waist and pulled her to me as Silver took off down the road at a sprint.

“Your sister is a character,” I said as I watched her go. “I feel like maybe we should make sure she gets there.”

“She’s going to get there,” Aella said. “She’s too fast not to.”

“She’s really fast,” I agreed. “Does she run?”

“She did in high school, but something happened with her coach when she was qualifying for state, and she quit.” She paused. “She’s never told me what happened, though.”

“That only makes me want to know all the more,” I admitted. “Come on, let’s go home.”