Gulping down the caffeine, I prayed it would ease some of the pounding in my head. I was out of my migraine meds, and my doctor had warned the last time I’d called for a refill that I would need to come for an in-person visit before he would write me another prescription. Apparently the asshole didn’t understand that I was busy with work.
Making a note to ask one of the Underground doctors to write me a script for my meds, I added more coffee to the mug and walked over to where Josie had returned to help clean up.
“What’s your daddy doing today, Josie?”
Her little huff made me smile. She reminded me so much of Lyla, it hurt a little. My sister would be home soon, though, and I’d find a way to keep her where she belonged. Maybe my idiotic best friend would pull his head out of his gigantic ass and wife her. I knew it was the only way I could truly keep her close, but Howler would have to prove himself worthy of her first. I wanted her where I could watch over her, but I also wanted her to be happy.
And Howler and Josie were the keys.
“He had to work.”
I took a sip of my coffee to keep from laughing when she rolled her pretty eyes. “Well, I’m glad you’re here. You can help me sort through some files later.”
“Sorry, Uncle Judge. I have plans.” She bounced from one foot to the other in excitement. “After the cookies cool, Elli and I are gonna watch How to Train Your Dragon. But you can watch it with us if you want.”
“That’s a hard offer to turn down, princess. But I have some work to get caught up on.”
“Okay.”
“How about we have dinner with your dad?” I suggested.
“Daddy is taking me and Elli to hibachi.”
My body tensed, and I glared at Ellianna, who was still cleaning up. She kept her head down, refusing to look at me. “Like a date?” I gritted out.
Her light-blue eyes lifted to me then, and when Josie wasn’t watching, she flipped me off. “No, not like a date. We’re going to catch up because we haven’t seen each other in three years.”
“And whose fault is that?” I snapped.
Her nostrils flared as she looked up at me. “No one is at fault. I’ve been busy with school, and he was always working when I did get the chance to come home. Friendships don’t just evaporate if they’re true friends.”
“Howler isn’t your friend,” I told her coldly.
She crossed her arms over her chest and popped a hip against the island. Did she even know how beautiful she was when she got feisty like that? A delicate little angel who had fire in her. There was nothing sexier to me.
“No,” she agreed.
I almost relaxed.
Fucking almost.
But then she tacked on, “He’s family.”
I could hear my heartbeat pounding away in my ears.
She wanted to see how far she could push me. That was the only reason she did shit like that.
But if she knew how close to the edge I was, how tempted I was to give in and just take what I craved—what only she could fulfill inside me—then she would have been running away instead of running that beautiful, sassy mouth.
“Do you wanna come with us tonight, Uncle Judge?” Josie asked, not seeming disturbed by the new tension in the room. “We can eat flying shrimp together!”
Ellianna opened her mouth, already shaking her head to shoot down the offer. I also should have already been making an excuse to get out of it. Spending time with her, even with other people there to keep me in check, was dangerous. It only fed the sick addiction I had to her. Made me want to toss out what little sanity I still held on to where she was concerned and take what I needed.
Instead, I found myself nodding, because apparently I was a fucking masochist. “I would love to, Jo.”
Chapter 6
Ellianna
I wasn’t surprised that Josie had her own room at the mansion, or that she had an entire closet full of fun clothes. I had zero doubt that Lyla had bought every outfit in there, along with all the adorable hair bows and ribbons. Given how much Josie talked about my childhood best friend, it was easy to see the love they both had for each other.
After Howler called the landline to let me know he would be leaving soon to pick us up for dinner, I decided to change my clothes, and Josie wanted to dress up too. She chose a light pink dress with white sandals. While I put white and pink ribbons in her hair, she insisted we needed to be twinsies.
Knowing I didn’t have anything even remotely close to matching, we ventured into Lyla’s bedroom to raid her closet. Lyla was considerably taller and more athletic than I was, so I doubted anything she had would fit me, but I figured Josie needed to see rather than be told.
“How about this?”
I tried not to stiffen at the sight of the old dress shirt she was tugging on. Lyla and I had seen it in a store window at the mall and giggled all the way home about her brother wearing it to a breast cancer research fundraiser the three of us were attending that night. The shirt was bright pink, and neither of us had actually thought he would wear it, but he had.
Seeing him in that shirt, I’d been so starstruck, I couldn’t form coherent sentences all night whenever I looked his way. When he’d walked through that ballroom with such confidence, making every other man in the room pale in comparison, I’d gone from crushing on him to something far, far stronger.
Apparently it had been a one-and-done wear, however. Especially if it was in Lyla’s closet.
Pulling it off the hanger, I held it to my front. It was missing the very top button, but that didn’t matter. As short as I was, it would fall about midthigh, so it could pass for a dress on me. “I guess it will work,” I murmured. “I’d need a belt, though.”
“Lyla has a whole bunch of belts,” Josie said enthusiastically.
Giving her a smile, I nodded. “Okay. Let’s be twinsies.”
Twenty minutes later, we walked into the family room, where Zachary was sitting on a couch, reading through a file. As soon as he heard us, his head snapped up. The moment his eyes landed on me, I felt like a bug under a microscope. His gaze scanned over me critically, his jaw tightening in a way that told me he wasn’t happy with what he saw.
I wouldn’t allow myself to consider why his reaction disappointed me. I’d given up on questioning my reactions to him years ago. Pushing away the unwelcome feeling, I took Josie’s hand and twirled her.
“Are we pretty, Uncle Judge?” she asked with a giggle.
He closed his file and tossed it on the coffee table in front of him. “Beautiful,” he gushed appropriately. “Are you hungry?”
“I’m gonna eat all the shrimp!” she squealed, dancing over to him. Standing, he scooped her into his arms as soon as she reached him. “Will Daddy be here soon?”
He tilted his head, pretending to listen, but there was no way he could have heard a vehicle outside. “I think he just got here. Let’s go see.”
Squishing his cheeks together in both hands, she kissed him on the nose. “Let’s go!”
Without sparing me another glance, he walked out of the room. Gritting my teeth, I followed them. A voice in the back of my mind was shouting at me not to go, but I didn’t want to let Josie down.