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“I already packed up our shit. This place is for the birds,” Titus grumbled. “You ready, Freddy?”
Annabelle looked up at him. “Only if you carry me. I’m exhausted.”
“You went on three slides,” he countered as he picked her up like she was a doll and tucked her underneath his arm.
Annabelle, obviously used to this, continued to watch her silent tablet.
My eyes went to Banner who started tucking his kid into the car seat.
Seconds later, we were heading out, not bothering to leave any of my family a note.
Maybe they’d think I was dead and not try to contact me.
Then again, that would be too easy.
My sister would try to resurrect me just to have someone to torture for the rest of her life.
“I’m riding with you, Uncle T,” Briley said as she walked to Titus’s free hand and caught her hand up in his. “Daddy said that I can have the front now that I’m tall enough not to be blown away by the airbag. And he has this rule that adults have to have the front if it’s me or them.”
“Right on, darlin’,” he said. “Later, losers.”
He veered off toward his truck that was parked a few rows over from where Slone had parked.
A few seconds later, Banner and Perry veered off with a promise to see Slone tonight, leaving Slone and I awkwardly alone.
“Um,” I said carefully. “Could I get a ride from you to the airport? It’s like ten minutes from the bus.”
“What about your things?” he asked.
“I’ll buy more,” I blurted.
I was really annoyed right now. To the point that leaving was better than staying back for World War III to happen.
If I saw any of my family, I might very well lose my shit.
His eyes came to me, and he said, “Who deals with your cats when you’re gone?”
I rubbed the back of my neck. “The cats don’t belong to any one of us more than the other, to be truthful. My act may be with them, and the majority of my time is spent with them, but all of them know how to take care of them and do. Zip is usually the one that takes care of all of that.”
“Ah.” He nodded. “That makes me feel a little better that you’re not leaving them totally high and dry.”
“I would never do that,” I admitted. “If I wasn’t certain that they’d be taken care of, and I hadn’t already planned on leaving today, I wouldn’t. But I have a plan in place with all of my sisters. Granted, it wasn’t supposed to be straight from the water park, but that’s fine. I’ll just look for a different destination.”
He opened the truck door and shoved all of their stuff in it before catching my door before I could reach for it.
I got in, feeling all of a sudden embarrassed, and started to swing my legs in when he stopped me.
“Whoa,” he said as he caught the inside of my knee with one big palm. “What’s…”
He trailed off as he got his first good look at my newly forming bruise.
I had the largest bruise on the backside of my leg that I’d ever had before, and it was going to be a doozy in the morning.
I’d hit it on the slide at some point and I couldn’t tell you how it’d happened, other than the blunt force trauma of me hitting the slide one of those multiple times.
I felt shivers dance up along my thighs as he rubbed the bruised area with a sweep of his thumb.
“That’s going to be really bad in the morning,” he murmured. “I have some cream that you can put on it. It doesn’t stop the bruise from forming, but it helps with the lifespan.”
