Page 123 of Bring You Back

Right on cue, Banks’s drawn out, “Oh, yeah, that’s what’s up right there,” reaches our ears, punctuated with his drawn out moan.

Tommy releases a groan of disgust. “Told you.”

“Sounds more likeshe’sdoing all the work,” I say.

Reyna’s silence draws our stares back to her, and she’s eyeing us with a serious expression, lost in conversations past. “Art isn’t easy, you know.”

“Butheis,” I say with a point toward Banks’s incessant moaning. The girl finally joins in a second later. He gives no fucks while giving a fuck.

“We know,” Tommy says to Reyna, giving her an apologetic smile that she accepts before dropping the script onto the counter and rounding to the sink to wash her hands.

I retrieve my phone from my pocket as she comes back around and questions, “What are you doing?”

“Recording him,” I say with a smug smile. “Maybe I’ll let Naomi hear it so she can throw his ass out.”

“Well, if it was just him, okay,” she says, giving me a pointed look. “But what about the girl?”

“What about the girl?”

“Maybe she doesn’t want to be recorded.”

I roll my eyes, tired of Reyna’s underhanded judgment. “Not my problem. She’s stupid enough to be in there with him.”

Tommy catches my eyes with a raise of his brows, and I raise the white flag. “Fine,” I say. “I’ll back off. For the girl,” I add in mocking for Reyna’s benefit.

She smiles, proud. “Thank you.”

Her smile fades as she exchanges a grim look with Tommy. What the hell is wrong with these two today?

“If you’re trying to shift this conversation to me, with those looks, I’ll pass, too.”

Their stares shift to me, then Reyna eyes Grumbles, still in her box. My jaw clenches. I suddenly know why they’re here.

“All right, Mr. Keeping Tabs, spit it out,” I say to Tommy, warning, “Just be careful how you say it.” He sighs, but says nothing. Reyna’s the mouth for this. And she’s less than careful.

“Grumbles isn’t yours.”

I turn away, my cup clutched in a tight hand, and pour more coffee. “She is now.”

Tommy tries to get me to turn back around by saying my name, but it’s Reyna’s cut in with a different name that does the trick. “Noel—”

“Don’t say his name,” I snap, my stare hard on hers. She slumps back some, pity in her eyes. “And don’t look at me like that.” I stir the creamer in my coffee and swallow a long pull, letting the heat soothe my throat. I take my place back at the island, setting the cup down with a sharpthud. “So, is that really what the box is for?” I say to Tommy, my voice dripping with sarcasm. “Pack her up and ship her back to Ohio?”

“Grumbles isn’t going anywhere,” Tommy assures me, but Reyna’s face doesn’t seem so sure.

“Thenwhat?” I fire at them, the reminder of Caleb’s belated birthday fruit and my breakdown invading my mind. Now, I’m being cornered about my cat. A cat I earned. “Haven’t you guys done enough?”

“Why didn’t you tell me when I asked?” Tommy questions, the judging curiosity in his voice, his stare. Then the resentment. “You could’ve.”

There’s a lot of things Icould’ve. I’m not going into that again, the reasons why I had to keep Ohio close to my own heart. But part of me almost wishes I had said something to Tommy when he asked me if Grumbles was mine. Tommy always has been like a second brother to me. I’ve told him more than I’ve told most people. Even more than I’ve told Julian.

“You could’ve talked to me before going to Reyna,” I throw at him.

“You didn’t talk tome,” he throws back.

I hold his stare, and just sigh. We both make valid points, and it’s not him who’s against me on this. I eye Reyna whose eyes are now drilling a hole into Tommy’s head.

“You didn’t even wanna bring it up,” she accuses him.

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