Page 92 of Their Little Helper

Buy him an oversized bed with a down comforter because I was a rich asshole…sure he’d put up with a lot from weird people.

Buy him groceries and pay his electricity bill…fuck no and I’d hear about it for a month.

Damn it.

I was going to have to move both of them in just to make sure I could take care of them well enough.

“Yes, please.” Harley’s smile got wider as his grown-up side retreated. “I got lots done today and I didn’t let myself get called into work.”

Judging by the week he had so far, that seemed to happen on a regular basis considering he was supposed to be only a part-time employee.

“Did you want to go into work?” I couldn’t predict the answer to that question, so I made sure my face was curious but neutral as I stole the ice cream from a still grumbling Dally.

“No.” Rocking back and forth, Harley’s eyes were glued to the ice cream. “I needed to get homework done and…”

Still sliding toward little as I opened the chocolate-covered ice cream bar for him, Harley peeked around me to give his Daddy a questioning look before he finished his answer. I pretended it was perfectly normal and waited because I had a feeling he thought he was being subtle.

When Dally shrugged and gave him a keep going wave, I knew they’d discussed something privately…something about work? His homework?

“And I have enough hours to pay my bills this month, so I don’t need to work extra.” Harley looked relieved to have gotten that out as he took his dessert. “I’m supposed to make sure you don’t worry. I don’t have to work too much. Honest. I just do it because I didn’t have anything else to do before. Now I have you to do.”

He was little enough by that point he had no idea why Dally was trying so hard not to snicker as he sat down beside Harley and took his treat. “Thank you, Pokey.”

Brat.

The couch wouldn’t hold three, so I sat down on one of the kitchen chairs and opened mine. “Thank you for making sure I didn’t worry about that, but you need to promise me that you’ll tell me if that changes.”

“Told you.” Dally snorted and kissed Harley’s cheek as our boy giggled. “I should’ve made it a better bet.”

Yep.

My request shouldn’t have been a surprise to anyone.

“I’m not sure if this counts as being naughty or not.” My teasing frown had Dally rolling his eyes but little Harley giggled. “Making bets behind my back? I’m going to end up sad and then you’re going to have to make me feel better.”

Dally’s ideas for that were wonderfully wicked based on the devilish gleam in his eyes, but Harley’s went wide and he looked like we were going to have chicken nuggets for dinner. “I can make you happy, Papa. I know. I know. We’ll go sleep at your house. You like that.”

And evidently so did he.

Even Dally nodded, conceding to that idea too easily considering we were at his house. “He does…and it’s only polite to go because he’s right, we might’ve made him sad.”

“We don’t want to make Papa sad.” Harley seemed pleased with the plan and not worried about actually making me sad in the slightest. “And…and if we get clothes from my house, I won’t be confused in the morning.”

“I should probably bring some clothes too.” Dally looked around at his apartment and frowned. “Just to make sure heading to work tomorrow isn’t a pain in the ass…maybe that book I was going to read too…”

The invasion had begun.

And judging by the ammunition Dally currently possessed, I was going to need a few more bookcases.

25

DALLY

“I don’t know…is it really worth risking death over?” Sometimes that was hard to tell.

“Um, she’s called three times already this morning, Daddy.” Harley was frowning, already trained not to upset my mother. “She’s started texting Papa and I don’t even know how she got his number. Does she even know his last name?”

Did I know his last name?

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