Page 12 of Midnight (Lotus MC #4)

Midnight: Still got some shit to do. Be home as soon as I can.

I can’t help but frown when I read his message. Not because I mind hanging out with the girls, but because I want to know what the hell is going on. When Midnight called and asked me to pick up the girls, he sounded a little tense. I thought at first I was imagining it, but when the guy dropped off the car, he was a little twitchy and kept looking over his shoulder. Not like he was on drugs or anything, but like he was expecting someone to jump out and grab him.

“Are you ready, Lainey?” Selena yells out.

“I’ll be right there.”

My thumbs fly across the screen.

Me: Take your time. I got this.

I wait for a minute for him to respond, and when he doesn’t, I set my phone on the counter and push thoughts of him away. The girls deserve my attention right now. I pick up the bag of snacks the girls convinced me to buy before coming home and head into the living room.

“Are you guys ready for the movie?” I ask.

“Oh yeah. I’ve been wanting to see the Barbie movie for a while now,” Sienna tells me.

“What about you, Selena?” I ask as I set our treats down on the coffee table and take a seat on the couch.

Selena shrugs. “I think it looks all right, but I don’t need to see it, if that makes sense.”

“I get that.”

Sienna picks up the remote and hits play. I probably should have asked Midnight if we could rent a movie, but I figure if he has a problem with me spending five dollars, I can pay him back for it. Although I have a feeling he won’t care.

The movie starts, and while Sienna watches it intently, Selena gets squirmy. It’s clearly not holding her attention the way it is her sister’s.

“Selena, do you have a hair tie?” I ask quietly.

“Yeah, Dad keeps some for us in the hall closet. Why?”

“Why don’t you go grab a couple, and I’ll do your hair before bed?” I offer.

Her eyes light up. “Really?”

“Of course, and make sure you grab soft hair ties, nothing plastic. Oh, don’t forget the brush.”

“Okay.” She jumps off the couch and runs down the hall.

“Will you do mine too?” Sienna asks.

“If you want me to.”

“I do.”

“Sounds like a plan then,” I say right when Selena comes back.

I can’t help but smile when I see she has a little box of hair supplies. If there’s one thing I know without a shadow of a doubt, it’s that Midnight loves his girls and will do anything for them. Even if things have been slightly questionable lately. You can’t judge a man when his world is swirling down the drain and he’s trying to stop it.

Selena sits in front of me and hands me a brush.

“Do you want two braids that go from here all the way down?” I ask as I touch the top of her head.

“I’ve never had braids like that.”

“We can do something else if you want.”

She shakes her head. “No, I want to try the braids. I’ve seen them before, but we don’t know how to do it ourselves.”

I hum, biting my tongue. It’s understandable that Midnight doesn’t know how to braid, but their mom is a different story. Most women know how to do braids, and even if we don’t, it’s easy to look up when we have the internet in the palm of our hands.

I start running the brush through her hair, starting at the bottom and working my way up slowly. When Sienna starts watching me questioningly, I keep my mouth shut and wait her out. It’s clear she wants to ask something, but I won’t push. She can ask me when she’s ready.

“Can I ask you a question?” Sienna asks finally.

“What’s up?”

“Why do you start brushing your hair at the bottom instead of at the top of the head?”

“Ah, that’s a trick I learned when I was younger. If you start at the bottom and work all the tangles out slowly, you are less likely to break your hair. If you start at the top and just rip as you go, your hair will snap, and you’ll get all the broken flyaway pieces.”

“Really?” Selena asks.

“Really.”

“What else do you know about hair?” Sienna asks.

As I start to plait Selena’s hair, I think about the question. “Not much, honestly, but I do know that you aren’t supposed to put your hair up in a hair tie when it’s wet because it will break.”

“I don’t like it when my hair is pulled back too tight,” Sienna says.

“Me neither,” Selena adds.

I stop braiding and look down at Selena. “Is this braid too tight? I can start over and make it looser.”

“No, it feels okay.”

“All right, let me know if it changes.”

We fall silent, and Sienna goes back to the movie. When I finish braiding Selena’s hair, she gets up and goes and looks in the mirror in the bathroom before coming back.

“I love it. Thank you,” she says as she curls up next to me.

“You’re welcome. Let me know if you ever want me to do it again, and I will.”

Sienna takes her place on the floor in front of me, and I get to work on her hair.

“Have you heard from Dad?” Selena asks as the movie credits roll.

“I haven’t checked my phone in a while, but he texted me right after we got home and said he would be home as soon as he can.”

“Okay.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I watch Selena chew on the corner of her lip.

“You guys know your dad loves you right? And he would be here if he could.”

“We know. He warned us that there might be some growing pains while we get used to living with him full time,” Sienna tells me.

“It’s not like Mom gave him a warning before dropping us off. If she did, he could have had time to tie up loose ends,” Selena adds.

“Do you want to talk about your mom?” I ask, hesitantly. I know I’m probably overstepping, but I need to know where their heads are at with this situation.

“No, not really,” Selena says.

Sienna nods. “We know we should, but…”

“But you can’t feel a certain way just because people expect it of you. Your feelings are yours and yours alone,” I finish for them.

“Exactly.” Selena yawns.

I look at the clock and see it’s late, and they have school in the morning. “Okay, you two, I think it’s time for you to head to bed.”

I expect them to protest, but they don’t. Instead they get up and head to the bathroom and brush their teeth before crawling into bed.

“Do you guys need anything?” I ask as I linger outside their room.

“Will we see you in the morning?” Selena asks.

“I don’t know, you might.”

Both girls nod and say in unison, “Good night.”

I chuckle under my breath. “Night.”

Heading back to the living room, I pick up the leftover hair supplies and put them away. Then I clean the dishes we used for our snacks before heading back to the living room. I check my phone, and there’s not another message from him.

I grab one of the pillows and tuck it under my head and lay down on the couch.

As I start to fall asleep to an old sitcom, I can’t help but wonder…

Where the hell are you, Midnight?

Quietly, I let myself into the house. I stop in my tracks when I see Lainey passed out on my couch with a ratty pillow tucked under her head. Two things hit me all at once.

One, I love the way she looks in my home.

Two, I need to buy a better fucking pillow and maybe a blanket for nights like this.

Who says there will be more nights like this?

Shaking my head, I walk down the hall and peek in on the girls. Selena and Sienna are passed out cold in their beds, making me smile. For being twins, they sure as hell sleep differently. Sienna is curled up in a ball on her side with her fist tucked under her chin. Meanwhile, Selena is lying on her stomach, her arms and legs spread out like a starfish with the covers kicked off. I step inside and carefully place the blanket back on top of her.

I shut the door as I step into the hall and lean against the wall as exhaustion hits me. I know I should go to bed, but I’m not quite ready. Heading down the hall and through the kitchen, I step outside on to the back porch. As soon as my ass hits the step that leads to the yard, I sigh, wishing I had grabbed a beer on the way out here.

Fuck me.

I don’t know how much more of this I can take. Between the girls, the shop, and the club, I’m fucking stretched thin. I’ve always prided myself on being present when the girls are with me, and since Miranda bounced, I feel like I’m failing. On top of that, I’ve had to have Lainey cancel my appointments more times than I can count, and that’s bad for business and my paycheck. Something needs to change, I just don’t know what.

It’s not like I can walk away from the club. Not now when shit is hitting the fan.

Leaning forward, I rest my elbows on my knees and drop my head into my hands. The sound of the door sliding open makes me tense for a moment.

“You’re home,” Lainey says softly.

I clear my throat and sit up straight. “Yeah, I got in a little while ago. I didn’t want to wake you.”

Lainey looks back into the house and shifts her weight from one leg to the other. “Well, I should probably head out before it gets any later.”

“Or you could stay…”

A little crease forms between her eyebrows. “Stay?”

“Take a load off.” I nod toward the chair next to me.

After a few beats, Lainey does as I said, turning her body toward me.

“I know you slept at the shop last night.” Lainey flinches like I hit her and opens her mouth to deny it, but I stop her. “I’m not mad. I’m glad you knew the shop was a safe place to go, but I want to know why when I just gave you rent money not that long ago.”

Lainey cringes. “It’s really embarrassing.”

I raise a brow. “More embarrassing than your baby mama dropping your kids off with a complete stranger with zero hesitation?”

“Touché.” She sighs. “When I got home yesterday, I found an eviction notice on the door. I couldn’t believe it, you know? Especially with the way Candy demanded money for rent. Anyway, I let myself in and found that she emptied the apartment. The only things she left behind were my clothes, and even some of them were missing.”

I clench my jaw, trying to keep my anger in check. That fucking cunt.

“Are you serious?” I grind out.

Lainey nods. “As a heart attack. I should have known better than to rent a room from a chick I found on a bulletin board. Lesson learned, I guess.”

“Shit, I’m sorry, Lainey. I wasn’t expecting that.”

“Neither was I. So after I had a good cry, I packed up what little I had left there and headed to the shop. I had plans today to ask you if I could stay there for a few days until I find somewhere else to live. I just need to save up a little more first.”

An idea starts to take shape in the back of my mind. I know it’s a horrible idea, but it just might work.

“What if you move in here?” Lainey tenses, and I push forward. “Wait, before you say no, hear me out.” When she nods, I continue. “I think it’s evident that I need help with the girls. I wasn’t expecting them to be dropped off and to stay here for a long period of time. Don’t get me wrong, I’m fucking thrilled to come home to them every night, but I need help. What if you move in and help take care of them when I can’t?”

“I don’t know, Midnight. Is it smart to work together on two fronts and live together?” she asks as she chews on that damn lip of hers.

“It will be fine, and if you don’t like it or the girls become too much, then we can reevaluate.”

“What about their mom?”

I run a hand over my mouth. “She claims she isn’t coming back, but I don’t know if that’s true or not. I can only believe a third of the shit that woman says. If that, even.”

Lainey sighs and looks out over the yard.

“You don’t have to say yes tonight. You can take your time and think about it, but it is an option. A safe option. I won’t just kick you out, and you have nothing to worry about when it comes to the bills being covered and paid on time.”

Lainey starts shaking her head before I even finish my sentence.

“I don’t need to think about it,” she says, making my heart drop. “I’ll do it.”

“Wait, what?”

She raises a brow and speaks slowly. “I’ll do it. I’ll stay here and help you with the girls. I’m only staying here temporarily, though.”

“Are you sure?”

“Are you trying to talk me out of it now?” She laughs softly.

“No, I just want to make sure you don’t feel pressured into saying yes.”

“I don’t, I promise.”

“Good.”

“Good,” she repeats.

We stare at each other for a minute until it becomes slightly awkward, and she stands.

“Well, I’m going to head inside and go to bed. Are you coming?” She cringes. “Inside, I mean, not to bed with me.”

I chuckle. I want to tell her that I’ll join her in bed if she wants me to, but I won’t. I can’t.

“I’ll be inside soon. Sleep tight, Flower.”

“Night,” she says softly.

Longing fills me as I watch her walk inside. I don’t know what I did to deserve someone as good as Lainey to fall into my lap, but I can’t help but be a little thankful.