I turn my head and bug my eyes out at Alice. Is this okay? I mouth. This little lady can talk, and she’s already down some rabbit hole of princess facts I can’t follow. Meanwhile, she’s leading me into the apartment building like she’s been here a hundred times before.
Alice purses her lips and smiles so big her eyes crinkle shut. She nods and waves us off, and then sticks her head back in the truck, presumably to grab the booster seat.
“Help Alice,” I grunt to Leo as he passes me and my miniature chatterbox.
“Will do,” Leo says, not bothering to stifle his chuckling.
“Eyes up here,” I warn him as he heads toward Alice. “Remember our deal.”
I hope he remembers the part of our deal where if he looks at Alice too closely, or even thinks about touching her, I’ll turn his nuts into a tailpipe ornament.
“Do you know about Tiana?” Zoey asks. She doesn’t wait for a response. “So, she lives in New Orleans, which is kind of like Florida because it’s really hot, but it’s not the same.”
Zoey continues the explanation, but I’ve mentally started cataloguing the apartment and what I’ll need to make the ladies feel more comfortable.
Groceries, for starters. I doubt I have more than expired mustard in the fridge and, if I’m lucky, at least a couple beers and some bottled water.
I’ve got one bedroom and one bath, but I’m sure Alice can share with Zoey, or she can give Zoey the bed and she can sleep on the couch. It’s an L-shaped sectional that I can say from experience is sleep-worthy, given the many, many times I’ve passed out there, too drunk to even make it into bed.
As Zoey and I take the back steps, my education on princesses’ real names continuing, my phone rings.
“Goddamn, Tiny.” It slips out before I can stop myself. “Sorry, princess. Bad word.”
Zoey seems unfazed as she climbs with me up the stairs. I let her into the apartment, releasing her hand long enough to pick up the call.
“Tiny, for—” I lower my voice to a whisper so I can drop the bomb“—fuck’s sake! What?”
“Morris,” Tiny says, sounding as put out with me as I am with him. “Where you been, man? I been trying to reach you all day!”
“I’ve had some complications with the property,” I say. I point to the couch and watch as Zoey plunks down on the edge of a cushion. She sits primly and folds her hands, waiting for me. Probably waiting for me to finish my call so she can pick up the conversation where we left off. Which, if I’m not mistaken, was someplace in the middle of the plot of Brave. I’ve lost count of the princesses at this point.
“I’ve had fucking complications here too. That’s why I’ve been calling.” Tiny sounds off. Stressed.
“What is it? Club trouble?” I’d really love to deal with one goddamn thing at a time, but that’s not the nature of the brotherhood. This man is more my family than my family—what’s left of it—is.
“Nah, it’s more…personal.”
“All right. Can it wait? I’m in the middle of—”
“Yeah, I guess. But I need a favor. You using your apartment right now?”
That stops me in my tracks. “As a matter of fact, I am. Why? You need it?”
Tiny is one of the brothers who doesn’t have any place to hang his hat other than the compound. Tiny loves the compound and rarely talks about life outside the club. I think the guy was married once, or had an old lady long ago. But something like this, needing my place… This is a first.
“Maybe,” he says.
Fuck.
“All right. I’m here at my apartment now, and I’ve got company. I’ll get back to you as soon as I can. This can wait?”
“Yeah, yeah…” Tiny sounds far away, but right now, I’ve got a little girl kicking her shoes and fidgeting on my couch. She looks like she’s about to burst.
“Man, I gotta go. I’ll get back to you.” I end the call and walk over to Zoey just as Alice and Leo are coming up the stairs.
“You okay?” I ask the kid. “You need something?”
She looks at her mom and nods.
“What is it, honey?” Alice drops the booster chair on the floor by the door.
“I have to use the bathroom,” Zoey says loudly.
Leo starts to grin, and Alice takes her daughter by the hand.
I breathe a huge sigh of relief. That, I can do.
“One sec,” I say, holding up a finger. I wanna make sure there’s nothing in there that would traumatize a kid or Alice. I’m not here much, but it wouldn’t surprise me to find a used condom floating in the toilet…or worse.
I flip on the light and inspect the toilet for offensive material. Finding none, I scan the sink for soap—check. And the hand towel looks as clean as the ones in the closet. One last look to make sure there’s toilet paper, and I think we’re good to go. But then it hits me.
“Alice?” I say, sticking my head into the hallway.
She walks through the small apartment, hand in hand with Zoey.
“Does she need like one of those seats for the shitter—I mean, the toilet? Don’t kids need like potty boosters?”
Alice covers her mouth with a hand and giggles, while Zoey charges past me to the toilet.
“I haven’t needed one of those since I was four!” she declares. She shuts the door behind herself and calls, “Thanks!”
Alice pinches her eyebrows between two fingers and lets out a full-blown laugh. “Potty boosters… You’re not around kids much, are you?”
I shake my head. “Today might be a lifetime record.”
“Really?” she asks. “No little Morris babies running around out there? No wife?” She hesitates on that last question like she is embarrassed to ask it.
I take that opportunity to lean close to her. Her sunshine hair is spilling over her shoulders, and she’s pushed the sunglasses up onto her head so I can look right into those caramel-brown eyes.
“Now, why the sudden interest in my personal life?” I ask. I’m careful not to cage my beautiful bird in, but oh fuck, how I want to.
I want to pin her against the wall of my hallway and bury my face in her hair. Taste her neck, bite down on the sinews of her lean shoulders. Soon, maybe. But not now. Not yet.
She meets my eyes and, this time, doesn’t look away. “Who says it’s sudden?” she teases, her voice thick. “I’ve been curious about you since the hot dog stand.”
I nod and play along.
“You seemed, let’s just say, guarded. Not exactly what I would call interested,” I say, but I soften my words by picking up a bit of that sunshine hair. I rub the strands between my fingers. Fuck, she feels as soft as she looks.
Alice swallows, and I hear her breaths, in and out. Deep and shaky. But not with fear. Her pupils dilate, and she lifts her chin. A brazen move for my shaky little sparrow.
“Mom?” The door suddenly flies open, and Zoey is standing there with her hands on her hips.
“Yeah, Zo, what is it?”
“Can you fix my hair? It got all messy when I fell asleep.” Zoey’s scowling as if she just noticed she has a bad case of car-ride bed head.
“Yeah, of course.” Alice draws her lower lip into her mouth.