Page 33 of Justice

And see. This was where being a booty-wiper came in handy.

“Hey. Look at me. Breathe.” I was already digging in my tote, cool, calm and collected.

“I got you. I have pads and tampons. There’s a spare outfit in the trunk and you can tie this hoodie around your waist until you get to the restroom to change.”

She stood there gripping those clothes, chest still heaving, looking at me like she couldn’t understand why I’d help her after the way she’d done me in that car.

My God, I thought, keeping my face soft and easy. I just saved this little bitch’s life and she still can’t stand me.

Because I watched the gratitude try to come up in her, and I watched her shove it right back down, and watched a harder look click into its place instead.

“You went in my room.” Low. Shaking. “To get these. You went in my room.”

“Little girl. I grabbed you a backup outfit off your desk chair, that’s all. Same as I did for Dream.”

“Don’t.” Her jaw was tight, her eyes wet and furious at the same time. “Don’t ever go in my room again. Ever.”

Then she spun and stormed off toward the castle like I’d done her wrong instead of helping her.

This job is temporary, Skye.

I stood there a second with my heart going, trying to understand what I’d actually stepped on. Because it wasn’t the blood. That child was drowning in embarrassment and I threw her a rope, and instead of grabbing it she came up swinging at me. It wasn’t the clothes either. Nobody flips like that over a spare outfit.

It was the room. There was something in that room she did not want me anywhere near. I filed it away with everything else.

Justice came striding across the lot toward me. He caught the tail end of Storie stomping into the building, and his eyes came back to me with a question in them

“What’s that all about?” he asked.

“Aunt Flo,” I responded as I shook my head.

“Ahh.” He cleared his throat. “Say no more. She good? She need anything, you⁠—”

“She’s fine. Embarrassed. But fine. Don’t worry about her. Get your other princess. She’s about to bust out that car window waiting on you.”

His hard face went soft at the mention of his baby girl. And for just a second, standing there in that parking lot, I forgot every reason I’d listed in the car for why I couldn’t want him.

Every last one.

18

JUSTICE

It was the first time since her interview that I’d seen Skye dressed up. She was adorned in a yellow sundress that highlighted her curves and her pretty dark skin. And her hair was pulled up off her neck in a tight bun, a little gloss on her lips. All this time she’d been moving through my house in scrubs. Her thickness showed even in something as minimal as that. But seeing her in a dress did shit to my chest.

I wanted to untie that little knot at her waist with my teeth, and that was a thought I had no business having at my daughter’s birthday party.

“DADDY!”

Dream’s voice snatched me back to reality.

“Alright, baby girl.” I opened the car door and my princess exploded out of it in a cloud of pink tulle, and I scooped her up before her little shoes hit the ground. “You ready for your surprise?”

“YES!”

I carried her around the side of the castle to the front, where I had it waiting.

A white horse and a carriage with gold trim, the driver in a tall hat. It was storybook perfect. The second Dream saw it, she gasped so hard I felt it. “Is that for me? Daddy, is that for ME?”