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My panties dampen. Maybe arguing wouldn’t be so bad.
“No.”
“No?”
“You heard me,” he says calmly, picking his fork back up.
And just like that, the conversation is over.
Muffled shouting interrupts our morning. All three men stand at once.
“The fuck is that?” Kaleb asks.
Michael shrugs. “Dad’s just gone to the door. Give him a second.”
Turning in my seat, I try to get a look outside but can only see as far as the living room.
“Where’s Mom?” Daniel asks, his concern clear.
Michael leans to the left, getting a better look into the other room. “By the front door. Which means Dad’s outside.”
“Take the baby upstairs and stay there with her,” Daniel orders Charlie. His voice is growly and rough like the last few times I’ve heard it. But this time, it’s also sharp and forceful.
Charlie pales, her eyes dashing to the front door. The man is a human mountain, but as he cradles his wife’s face to run his nose against hers, you’d think he was nothing more than a marshmallow. Definitely not the same man who cleaned my crime scene of a bedroom to within an inch of its life and disposed of a dead body.
I melt.
“Go with her,” Michael tells me, getting my attention with a tug of my hair. I shake my head.
“Now, Charlotte,” Daniel urges his wife.
Charlie reacts right away, gathering Belle close and hurrying upstairs.
“You ever going to listen to me like that?” Michael quips.
I shake my head again. But he doesn’t get mad, and the corner of his lips lifts just slightly.
The sound of raised voices grows, Christopher the one now shouting, but I can’t make out his words.
“You don’t have to go upstairs, but stay in here,” Michael orders, staying behind as his brothers leave. His finger nudges my gaze up to his. “You stay in here.”
I nod, but I don’t mean it.
I’m not staying in here.
I wait a few seconds before rushing after him.
Outside, Cooper rants and raves in the front yard. He’s beyond irate.
Peering around the men, I spot Helen leaning on the porch, her worry palpable while her husband tries to calm the other man.
“Your boy killed my Darrell!”
“Who the fuck is Darrell?” Kaleb mumbles out of the corner of his mouth.
“Now, can we kill him?” Daniel asks instead of answering.
I sneak up closer behind the brothers but stay unnoticed.
