Page 104 of Their Little Helper

He was really good at that.

“And if you could sneak Harley out through the garage, that would be even better.” Santos frowned, looking around the bathroom. “I’m not going to fit through the windows, so we’ll have to do our best to get to the front door safely.”

Smart men were really sexy.

“If you wait another minute, I’ll have Sara Beth announce her pregnancy and that’ll give you a distraction.” Dad’s idea of help had me rolling my eyes. “She was going to behave and not take the spotlight from you because your mother kind of threatened to kill her, but it’ll be for a good cause.”

Better her than me.

“Deal.” Dad was smart and left before Santos could start lecturing again or I forgot I was supposed to be being polite.

We both waited in silence for a while before Santos sighed. “I don’t know how I’m going to make it up to Harley for losing him. I just turned around and he was gone.”

He needed one of those kid leashes, but I wasn’t sure they made them in his size. “He’s fine. He’s hiding and my dad is going to get him out.”

“You sound like this is a hostage situation.” Santos’s grumbling was cut off as the noise from out back started to get louder. “I think that’s our cue.”

“Keep going. Don’t let anyone sidetrack you with a baby or a story.” He was definitely regretting making me promise to be nice. “Keep eye contact to a minimum.”

He had no survival skills whatsoever and kept getting waylaid by every woman with wide eyes who needed attention.

Sucker.

“We’re going to talk about you not preparing us enough.” Santos thought his glare looked scary but I’d just dodged three different angry pregnant ladies to find him, so I could handle anything. “But I’ll forget it if you get us out of here in one piece.”

“I can do it.” I wanted to ride my boy and nothing was going to stand in my way.

Not crazy pregnant ladies.

Not weird neighbors I’d never met.

Not cake I wasn’t going to get to taste.

I needed a fucking burger.

“Done. Go. Go. Go.” I heard someone call our names in a high-pitched voice but we pretended not to notice as we broke free of the front door. “Find Harley. We need to go because I don’t know who that was.”

If it was one of the pregnant one’s we’d never escape.

Santos was going to turn out to be the biggest sucker in the entire family.

“I found you.” Harley looked like we’d rescued him from jail as he peeked out from the side of the house by the garage, but he was smart and didn’t stop. “I did it. I got out. Your dad put me in a closet. He’s nice. I got to finish more of my flashcards. My app is great.”

“Lord.” Santos wanted to stop and bark at me again but he held himself back as we made it to the sidewalk. “Dally. That was…”

Harley seemed like he was trying not to giggle, but he was smart and held it back. “Papa. I made notes. I talked to people. I even frowned at them.”

I wasn’t sure it was the safest distraction but it got us to Santos’s oversized town car without him going bananas.

“Dally!!”

“Fuck.” It was the pincher. “In the car. Hit the locks. Hurry.”

Next time we were going to park closer even if we had to park on the lawn.

Safe.

Santos started driving as soon as the doors were closed but we managed to get buckled before we got too far down the road. That seemed to be his cue to start grumbling again, though. “Dally, I don’t even know where to start.”

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