Play Softly (The Devil's Share Book 4) (6 page)

Jacks looked over at me, eyes wide. I shrugged. I wouldn’t put it past them. He pulled out his wallet. “They pay you weekly?” He handed her twenty bucks. “Will that buy some silence about my fake stomachache?”

I added, “And me almost scalding Halen?”

Landry put the twenty in her book and snapped it shut. “Yeah, y’all are good. For today.”

Chapter Ten

Lexi

I’d had a two-week check with Dr. Solomon today, which was good because I’d had a nightmare that she had sewn my vag completely shut. I begged Dylan to look for me the next morning, but she wasn’t having it. Some friend she was. Apparently, everything was fine and I would be able to have sex again. One day.

“Hey, babe.” I dropped my purse on the bar and headed into the living room. Dash and Jacks were posted up watching some kind of sand volleyball tournament with Bryan. I reached out and ran my hand over Halen’s head; she was asleep in her bassinet. Then I placed my hand on her stomach to verify that she was still breathing. I wasn’t crazy. No matter what Dash said.

“Well, what did she say? Will Dash ever be happy again? Or will it be like throwing a hot dog down a hallway?” Jacks took a sip from his beer bottle.

I shot him a look. “Beer? What happened to that terrible stomachache?”

“Beer settles your stomach.”

I sat down next to Dash, letting him pull me into his side. “Jacks, don’t talk about my fiancée’s hallway.”

Bryan punched him in the arm. “I second that. And Lexi’s right, if your stomach is upset then you don’t need that beer.” She took it from him and he stuck his tongue out at me.

I kicked my shoes off. “I got a voice mail from the builder’s secretary, and everyone’s house is done. The landscape crews are finishing up and all the furniture we’ve been having delivered can go in next week.”

Bryan took a pull of the stolen beer. “So it’s time to move?”

I nodded. “Dash, Halen, and I won’t go for another four weeks. I have to have a six-week check and I don’t want to have to find a new ob/gyn. But y’all can head out in about a week if you want.”

Jacks and Bryan looked at each other. He winked and she said, “Nah. We’ll wait and all go together.”

I smiled. “Like one big chaotic family.”

Dash laughed. “Yeah, the movers are going to love us.”

Luke and Landry came up from the studio, both smiling big. Landry was a little drum prodigy and Luke was more than happy to be the one teaching her. Jacks held his arms out, letting her climb into his lap. “How’d you do?”

She looked to Luke. It didn’t matter how many times he told her she was great; she still needed his approval. “She did amazing. Just like she did yesterday, and the day before that, and the day before that, and the day before that…” Her face lit up. Luke lay down on the floor and stretched out. “What were you saying about the movers?”

I stood when Halen started to fuss; it was time for her to eat again. “Our houses are about ready. You could move as soon as next week if you wanted to.” I settled back on the couch next to Dash and used her light blanket to cover us as I fed her. Breast-feeding still wasn’t my favorite, so we usually gave her bottles that I pumped. But right now I was feeling too lazy to go make one.

Luke tightened his core, bringing his head off the ground to look at me. “When are y’all heading out?”

“I have another follow-up in four weeks, so we’ll go after that.”

Jacks tickled Landry’s ribs. “Us too. We thought we’d just wait and all go together.”

Luke nodded. “Yeah. I can wait another few weeks too.” He pulled his phone out. “Is that what that email was about? Are all those attachments pictures of the house?”

My eyes got big. “Uh, yeah. But you know your furniture isn’t in yet so you should just probably wait to—”

“Lexi! What the hell?” Luke sat up and started swiping furiously. “This isn’t my house, is it? I mean, none of this is what I picked out.”

“Um, well, you see what I did was—”

He got to his feet. “Are you mother fu—”

Jacks cleared his throat and gestured to Landry.

“…dging kidding me?” He held his phone out.

Halen had fallen back asleep so I passed her to Dash and put my boob away so I could get to my feet and properly argue with my best friend. “Luke, everything you picked was dark and moody and leather. It looked like a typical bachelor pad.”

He threw his hands in the air. “Oh really? My bachelor pad looked like an actual fu…dging bachelor pad? Shocking.” He pointed a finger in my direction. “You had no right to do that.”

I rolled my eyes. “I had every right to do that.” I counted off on my fingers. “Number one, I spent hours working on your house. Number two, you made bad choices because you were spiraling down a whore hole.” I shot an apologetic look to Jacks and Bryan for using the word “whore” in front of their nine-year-old. “And number three, no woman would want to move into that house the way you wanted it.”

Luke looked like he wanted to murder me. “What woman? There is no woman. There may never be a woman. And furthermore, you made this house all light and fluffy and airy, that isn’t even your taste.”

“Of course it isn’t my taste. Your person isn’t anything like me.”

That really set him off. He turned red and opened and closed his mouth like five times. Then he took a deep breath. “You overstepped, Lex.”

“I’m not sorry, and you’ll thank me later.” I knew he would. He wasn’t a dark, sad person. He was kind and full of light. Living in that house the way he wanted it would only have brought him down.

He looked at his phone again, swiping a few more times. He looked closer at the image, then looked at me. “You. Suck.” He slammed his phone on the coffee table and stormed off.

We all stared at it. I knew what picture he had seen, so I didn’t need to look. But curiosity won over Jacks, and he reached out and grabbed it. “Lexi. That’s wrong. It’s funny as hell, but it’s wrong.”

Dash held his hand out. “What is it?”

I shrugged. “I had some custom artwork made for his entryway.”

When Dash saw the large canvas with the words
Whores and Ex’s need not apply
scrawled in black cursive, he just hung his head.

It was late, or more like it was early. Halen had been fussy all night and there was no point in both Dash and I losing sleep. If I couldn’t get her to calm down, he wouldn’t be able to either. He always ended up getting tense when she was like this, which only tended to upset her more. I was pacing the living room, bouncing my baby, and binge watching
Banshee
on Cinemax. Violent, I know. But she couldn’t even see the TV.

“We’ve got to stop meeting like this.”

I turned as Luke walked in. “Are you becoming an insomniac?”

He chuckled and took Halen from my arms, putting her on his shoulder and bouncing in place. The whole family had developed the mom bounce. “I’ve just had trouble sleeping lately. No big deal.”

He was lying, but I was content to let him keep lying. Halen had finally stopped crying. It seemed that Luke calmed her as well. Like mother, like daughter. “Wanna hang with the kiddo and me for a while?”

He kissed her baby cheek. “I’d love to.” He looked over at the large flat-screen mounted on the wall. “You watch
Banshee
?”

I scoffed, “Do I watch
Banshee
? Are you kidding? Every episode has sex
and
violence. Of course I watch
Banshee
.” I climbed on the couch and covered myself with a blanket. “I’m sorry about the house and the artwork.”

“No you aren’t. You still think you are right and I am wrong. And you think the art is hilarious.” Luke bounced for another few minutes and then joined me once Halen was in a deep sleep. “But I forgive you anyways.”

I’d woken up on the couch next to him yesterday morning, and it seemed like I was going to do it again. Dash probably didn’t love it. But there was something about Luke lately, something that made me want to hold on tighter than normal because he was about to float away.

Chapter Eleven

Dash

Halen was four weeks old and I couldn’t believe how the time was flying by. Our baby didn’t sleep much, but luckily Luke and Lexi had decided to become nocturnal. I didn’t mention that I knew they hung out after everyone was asleep. I just let it go. I knew once we moved things would be different between them, and more than that, I knew Luke was going to run away soon. I didn’t know where he’d go, or how long he’d be gone, but he looked like a man ready for an escape. We’d started packing today, although there wasn’t much to pack. The house we were living in had been rented fully furnished.

We were all gathered around the table, eating dinner as a family. It was taco night, Bryan and Landry’s favorite.

Jacks cleared his throat. “Luke. I wanted to apologize for laughing at your expense when Lexi made changes to your house without your knowledge or consent.”

Luke looked around the table. Like the rest of us, he was confused and waiting for the punch line. “Huh?”

Jacks wiped his mouth with his napkin then placed it neatly into his lap. “I now too know the hurt and confusion you must have felt.”

Bryan rolled her eyes and took a large gulp of her wine. “Jacks. Stop it.”

Luke wrinkled his nose. “What are you talking about?”

“You aren’t the only one who got screwed over by the girl designing your house.” Jacks glared across the table at his girlfriend.

Bryan’s pretty blue eyes darkened. “
The girl designing your house
? We weren’t even dating when I started doing you that favor.”

“You shanghaied me.”

Bryan threw her hands in the air. “I did not shanghai you. I vetoed your Hugh Heffner wannabe pool grotto.” She pointed her finger at him. “And I used the money to put in an outdoor bar and a water slide for Landry.”

Jacks crossed his arms over his chest, his lip pouty. “Band-Aids don’t fix bullet holes, Bryan.”

Dylan cocked her head to the side, studying my friend. “Did you just quote a Taylor Swift song?”

He shrugged. “Landry loves Taylor Swift.”

Landry raised her hand. “Who is Taylor Swift?”

I started to chuckle, and my fiancée started to cry. I leaned over in my seat and pulled her against my chest. “Kitten, it’s okay, don’t be sad.” She’d been doing this a lot lately, especially in moments like this when we were all together as a family.

“I…can’t…help-p-p…it-t.” She wiped her nose on my t-shirt. “Everyone is moving and we won’t get to have times like this anymore.” She put her head back down and cried harder.

“Aw, Kitten, of course we will.” I rubbed her head. “Shhhh, don’t cry.”

“Yeah, Aunt Lexi, I’ll come see you all the time. I promise.” Landry put her small hand on Lexi’s back, comforting her.

Smith snorted. “Nothing is going to change, Lex. It’s us against the world, remember? Couldn’t keep us apart if you tried.”

Later that night, Lexi and I were cuddled up on the couch, catching up on our DVR, which was filled to the max because we had been so busy with the new baby and the impending move. Halen was sleeping soundly on my chest and Lexi’s head was on my shoulder. It was heaven. “Kitten?”

“Hmm?”

“You feeling better?” She’d cried for a solid ten minutes at the dinner table. Dylan assured me it was just hormones leaving her body.

She sighed. “I do… It’s just… I don’t know. I can’t really explain it.”

“Give it a try.” I kissed the top of her head. It’d been four weeks and I felt like I had kissed her cheek, her temple, her forehead, and the top of her head a thousand times. I was more than ready to start kissing things farther south.

“I just feel like everything is changing so fast. Like everything is at warp speed all of a sudden. We got engaged, we had Halen, our house is ready, we’re moving. It’s just all happening.”

If this was a lot for her to take in, what kind of shit was going to hit the fan if I was right about Luke needing a break? “I know it’s a lot. But it’s a lot of really amazing things. Right? Change is scary, but change is good.”

She tilted her head back, giving me her genuine smile. “Of course it is, babe.”

“And you do want to move in together, and marry me?” I didn’t think she’d changed her mind, but her hormones were so off the charts I couldn’t be too sure.