Page 9 of Brandishing Betrayals

Thebaby’scrywasthe first thing I heard when I walked into my sister’s house. My niece had a set of lungs on her to rival her mother’s. I would know, being ten years older than Kara, I had practically raised her as a baby.

The next thing I noticed was the pile of laundry stacked on the couch in the living room and mess of papers strewn across the dining room table. It wasn’t like the four of them to have a messy house.

I glanced around the house—there was no one to be found.

Lilah was still crying upstairs and she didn’t sound like she was getting any softer. I took the stairs two at a time, and headed down the hall toward her bedroom, wondering where the hell her parents were.

I got my answer when I walked into the infant’s bedroom and found all four parents sitting on the floor or in her rocking chair, heads leaned back and eyes closed—like they fell asleep sitting up and hadn’t heard the baby.

I ignored them and reached into the crib and picked up the fussing six-month-old. “Shh,” I murmured, smiling at my niece. “It’s okay, mamacita, shh,” I cooed softly.

Lilah soothed her tears once she was lifted from the crib. I settled her into the crook of my arm and started rocking her gently. God, I loved these moments with her. I rocked her a moment longer before I walked over to her changing table and got to work changing her diaper. I felt like it wasn’t that long ago that I was changing Kara’s diapers.

“What’s happening?” Kara mumbled, jerking awake.

I glanced over my shoulder at my sister. Her blond hair was in disarray, her makeup was smudged on her face, her clothes wrinkled. She was a hot mess. I glanced at her men and saw they weren’t much better. Johnny was leaning against the wall, next to the crib, missing a shirt, and had dried spit up on his sweatpants. Derrick’s long brown hair was stringy and greasy; there were dark circles under his eyes even as he slept in the rocking chair. And Kevin’s usually spikey hair was flat on his head, his shirt was inside out and he was in his boxer briefs.

Clearly the four of them were exhausted beyond belief.

“Marcos?” Kara asked, her voice groggy.

“Si, Lil Manita,” I murmured softly, not wanting to wake her guys.

“What are you doing here?”

I chuckled softly. “Just wanted to see my girl. Go to bed sister, I’ve got her tonight.”

“Whaa?” Kara asked, clearly not awake yet.

I finished up with Lilah’s diaper and zipped up her sleeper before I picked her up and turned to face my sister. She was still sitting on the floor half asleep, a dazed and confused expression on her face. I frowned slightly. “Necesitas dormir,”You need sleep.

“Si,” Kara responded. “Ella no ha dejado de llorar. NO sabemos que hacer.”She won’t stop crying. We don’t know what to do.

I nodded slowly; I had a feeling it was something along those lines. The four of them had been great parents and been especially great about switching off and taking turns. It was highly unusual for the four of them to be this fucking exhausted. “Go to bed, sister. I’ll take her tonight.”

Wood creaked to Marcos’s left as Derrick slowly got to his feet. “Shit man,” he grumbled.

I chuckled, seeing the big burly man so disorientated was a little bit funny. “Go, all of you,” I ordered them, as Johnny and Kevin slowly regained consciousness. “Get some sleep tonight. I’ve got her.”

“Seriously man?” Johnny grumbled, running a hand through his short blond hair.

“Yeah guys, go. Sleep all night, we’ll just be hanging out. Get a full night’s rest without interruption.”

“Thank you,” Kevin said, not even glancing back as he headed out the door.

I laughed and cooed at Lilah, ignoring them all as they filed out of her room. Kara padded over and pressed a kiss to my cheek, while rubbing Lilah’s head. “Thanks, big brother, I love you,” she murmured, before she left the room.

“Love you too, Lil Manita,” I replied softly to her retreating form. “Alright Lil Mamacita,” I cooed down at Lilah. “What do you say we head downstairs and make you a bottle. We’ll get you some of Tito Marc’s teething meds and get you some sleep too. It sounds like you’ve been a tiny terrorist.”

Lilah gave me a big smile like she knew exactly how much she’d been terrorizing her parents.

“Alright, good plan.” I nodded my head and walked out the door.

Marcos

Several hours and three diaper changes later, I finally got Lilah down for bed. She was passed out on my chest and I was not about to move her. Not at all. I had kicked off my boots hours ago and shrugged out of my cut as soon as I needed to burp the little girl. In my blue jeans and plain white T-shirt, I was as comfy as I was going to get for the night.

I snuggled down into the corner of the fluffy sectional couch and closed my eyes. I’d already shut off most of the lights, only leaving on the dimmed accents lights that were aimed at the fireplace. Just enough light to walk around, but not enough to bother me while I dozed off.

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