Page 80 of Unveiled Wounds

Grizz was right, but I’d never admit to it. It was a good thing we were creative.

***

Pumpkin cried from her bouncer as I ran around the kitchen, getting her bottle ready. She was having a morning. “I know. I know. You’re hungry.”

“She’s vocal… like you.” My aunt was sitting at the kitchen island, watching the madness. I wanted to be snarky and ask her if there was trouble in paradise, but I refrained.

Instead, I shot her a look over my shoulder. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” If you wanted respect around here, you had to earn it. At some point, I’d relaxed, not worrying if I said the wrong thing. The club was going to accept me or not, and there wasn’t anything further I could do.

“Proud of…you.” My aunt made a hand gesture at my outfit. The prospects had brought a few of the clothing boxes to the bedroom, but I hadn’t been strong enough to open them. Today, I went digging for my favorite outfit: a pink graphic t-shirt and apair of jean shorts. It was strange, but the old me was colliding with the new me, meeting somewhere in the middle.

“We’re related. You kind of have to be,” I replied, brushing off the compliment before it could settle. I hated praise. It made me feel like I owed something in return—some performance to keep the approval coming. Childhood trauma, party of one?

I twisted the cap onto the bottle, mixing the formula with the water. Pumpkin was still not happy. “I’m coming.”

Aunt Elizabeth stood up from the barstool, and when I looked back, something flickered in her eyes. Was that regret? She looked lost in her own world, and it wasn’t sunshine and rainbows. “I wish I had…been strong…like you.”

Pumpkin was crying, but I didn’t move from my spot in the kitchen.

“Your mom…would be…proud...you’re not running.” She nodded towards the baby. “You won’t…fail her… like I did.” She hesitated before walking out, pausing just long enough to look at the baby. “Don’t be…me, Mer. Don’t spend…your life wishing…for better.”

“Why you gotta do that to me and then walk away?” I muttered as she headed into the main room.

I turned around to grab Pumpkin’s bib and a towel, not knowing Grizz was in the kitchen until I heard him talk to the baby.

“Hey, there’s no need for all that noise. You’re going to raise the dead with that racket.”

“She’s hungry, and I’m not moving fast enough,” I said, watching as he picked her up from the bouncer, soothing her.

“You’re supposed to give her hell when you’re a teenager, but I got to warn you, she’s pretty damn smart, kid.”

My heart melted, my ovaries exploded, and if Grizz said he wanted three more right now, I would say nothing as we headed back upstairs.

He tucked her into the crease of his arm, waiting for me. My brain tried to send a message to my feet to move, but I was stunned senseless. I knew how good his dick game was, and I was seriously considering skipping breakfast and eating him instead.

He smirked at me, crooking his finger, until I shifted my right foot forward. Grizz met me in the middle of the kitchen, wrapping his arm underneath my ass, pulling me against his other side. “When she takes a nap, I want to work on the next one. It’s been a few days, and I’m a starved man.”

Yes, please. Who needs breakfast?

***

“What are you doing this afternoon?” I asked Grizz, feeding Pumpkin the last of her bottle. Breakfast was almost over, but the club was still sitting around the tables, bullshitting. I had meant it as an innocent question, but clips of dirty sex with Grizz clouded my vision.

“Keep those thoughts.” He took a bite of sausage, and I imagined him taking a bite of my ass.

I took a deep breath, completely aware of my surroundings. I didn’t need someone picking up on this conversation. They’d never let us live it down. Grizz wouldn’t care, feeding into the ribbing, but it was only funny for so long. One day, I’d have to explain the laws of attraction to Pumpkin, and it sobered my thoughts quickly.

“Remember when I showed you the crib I ordered? It’s getting delivered today.” I wasn’t sure why I was nervous, but my stomach had butterflies.

“Sounds like fun, but depending on when, it may have to wait until later. I have a few things I need to take care of first.”

“I thought it might be a family project, and then Pumpkin can get out of the Pack ’n Play.”

“Where are you going to put it, Mer?” Grace asked, being nosy. It was the distraction I needed to stop staring at Grizz’s forearm flexing as he ate.

“We measured, and it should fit underneath the window.” Pumpkin’s bottle was empty, and I slid forward, placing it on the table in front of me. It was enough to regroup my thoughts. “You like sunshine,” I said, laying her against my shoulder and patting her back for a burp.

“You did…when you…were little,” Aunt E said, watching me from across the table. “You would lay…on the floor…in the light. Do you…have a name?”

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