Page 30 of Damian & Jun, Episodes 9-12
Howser glowered. “I ain't a f****t. And I ain’t got to listen to one.”
Jun laughed. “Take advice from small men, you’ll be a small man.”
Howser’s nostrils flared. His fist balled up at his sides. Cedric cleared his throat. Howser shot him a look that resembled acid. Cedric was immune.
Jun tapped his finger on the page. “Betti is not doing your homework. It’s yours now. Dinner is soon, so get started.”
Howser grabbed the paper and crumpled it into a ball. He threw it on the floor.
“Sir.” Cedric cleared his throat.
“All yours.” Jun walked away.
He shut the door between the two rooms. Whatever Cedric wanted to do, it was going to be more effective coming from a three-hundred-pound bodyguard type than some slender foreigner.
Not a foreigner.
Jun closed his eyes and rubbed the spot between his eyes. It was going to take a while for that to become the default setting in his head.
Rue whimpered on the bed in her sleep and kicked out. Kimbo threw himself down beside her and curled up. She woke up by degrees and grabbed on to her brother.
Jun’s phone rang. Damian showed up on the caller ID. Jun answered, keeping one eye on the two kids and his hand on Habibi. Rue was wrapping herself around Kimbo, and he was soothing her.
Damian started talking right away. “We got Betti. She’s upset but not hurt. Has Armada left yet? Betti wants her.”
“She left over an hour ago.”
Damian sighed. “All right. We’ll just…have to ride it out.”
“If Betti is asking for Armada, you should tell her.”
“We need to give Armada space.”
“From the little kids, maybe. Betti’s fourteen. Armada won’t forgive you if you keep this from her.”
Damian gave a long sigh. “I hate this.”
“Same.”
It sounded like Damian punched something. “I’ll call Hypatia.”
“What about your dad?”
“They let him off with a warning since Betti came out of the house on her own. He wasn’t going to let her, but when the police threatened to break in, she ran out the back to spare him. So no arrest.”
Jun closed his eyes. To spare him. Of course she’d done that. Thaddeus Kramer was all she knew. She wouldn’t just turn on a man who’d sheltered her for her entire life. Just like Howser just wanted to go home. Kimbo and Rue were easier. They saw Armada as their home. They were more easily distracted by food, the hotel pool, and new people to talk to, just as long as their pseudo mother told them it was good. They had a lot more attachment to Armada than they did Dalia or Thaddeus. That, if nothing else, showed who had been taking care of them.
“Betti needs to know about the paternity,” Jun whispered. “She’s not going to just go along with everything.”
“Thaddeus has until Thursday to comply with the DNA collection. And then we have a month to wait unless they let me expedite it. They’re not giving me a yes or no on that.”
Jun groaned. They couldn’t do another month of this. The kids couldn’t do another month of this. “Émeric is almost here with dinner. Tell me if I should send him over to Hypatia with Betti’s things.”
Émeric arrived with food and stepped in with all the kids except Habibi, who stayed glued to Jun’s shoulder. The dark Frenchman was a hit with Rue. Howser gave him a wide berth but ate the food all the same. It was lasagna, which was a crowd-pleaser but made a mess. Fortunately, Émeric had thought of that. He brought large napkins for protective wear and a sheet for the floor so the youngest ones could sit on the floor and eat without wrecking the hotel room. Kimbo ate himself into a coma.
Kimbo and Rue were easy to get into bed after that. Howser retreated again. Émeric picked up Betti’s bag to take it to her. Jun paced the hall with Habibi. The little boy was getting fussy. He probably wanted Armada. Jun resigned himself to a sleepless night.
Damian arrived at nine. He looked like Jun felt, tired, pulled in too many directions, and trapped. He slumped against Jun, wrapping his arms around him and putting his head down on the shoulder Habibi wasn’t using.
