Page 335 of Wicked Brutal

Xander’s face breaks. “Then mine can stay with her.” The room goes completely silent.

Tobias stares at him. “How?”

“There’s room beside my mom.” Penny’s hand flies over her mouth. X looks at Tobias. “Your mommy can sleep there. Next to mine. Because they’re friends.”

“Then Mommy won’t be alone? She’ll know somebody?”

“Yeah.”

“Will your mommy know if she’s scared?”

X’s jaw tightens. “I think she will.”

“Will she stay with her? Even if Mommy cries?”

X’s voice breaks. “Especially if she cries.”

Tobias looks at me. “Can she, Ally?”

I can’t answer. Not at first. Ryan’s arm is around me. His hand is over our baby. I look at Xander. At Penny crying behind him. At Alice with tears running down her face. At all these people who knew both of them. Adeena. Mom. Friends. And for the first time since yesterday, thinking about where they’re going to put my mother’s body doesn’t make me feel like I’m going to be sick. She would know someone. Someone who knew her before yesterday. Before the blood. Before Roman took everything he could from her.

“Yeah, bug.” My voice breaks. “I think Mommy would like that.”

Tobias starts crying again. X moves closer, and Tobias reaches for him. X doesn’t hesitate. Ryan helps shift him carefully off me, and X takes him — just takes him — and Tobias curls against his chest like he’s done it a hundred times, one hand still stretched toward me. I hold it. X wraps both arms around him.

“Do you go see your mommy?”

“Yeah.”

“Do you talk to her? But she can’t answer.”

“No.”

“Then why?”

X is quiet. “Because she’s still my mommy.”

Tobias’s face crumples. “Do you tell her stuff? Secrets? Sad stuff?”

“Everything. Yeah.”

“Do you cry? At her grave?”

“Sometimes.”

“Do you leave her stuff?”

“Flowers. Things she liked. Things that make me think about her.”

“Can I leave Mommy stuff? Frogs?”

“Especially frogs.”

“Real ones?”

X pauses. “Maybe we start with fake ones.”

Tobias nods seriously. “Okay.”