Page 66 of Nightmare For Hire
It’s just Nox and me on the sidewalk. My stomach rumbles.
“Time for waffles, then sex.” Nox grabs my hand and power walks to Portal Place Diner. There’s nothing else I’d rather do than follow him anywhere.
Chapter 30
Nox—Seven Months Later
Cyrus rocks Leia in his arms. She’s admittedly a cute baby with her bright brown eyes, chubby cheeks, and fluffy white blonde hair that sticks out every which way. At only a few hours old, she still looks like a potato to me.
Cyrus looks good with a baby in his arms. Not that I’d say that out loud. He gets his fill of babies at work, he says, and I believe him. The look in his eyes tells me he’s going to adore this baby, and she deserves every bit of love she’ll get.
Devon and Norris watch on as Cyrus coos over their baby. They obviously love Cy.MyCy. What’snotto love? He’s kind and thoughtful. What more does anyone need?
He turns to me. “Want to hold her?” His pretty blue eyes meet mine.
“I’ve never held a baby before.”
“That’s not a no,” Devon says. “New experience for the ancient Nightmare.”
“When you put it that way.” I side-eye the new mother and she laughs.
“Remember to support her head,” Norris says as Cy walks towards me with the tiny bundle.
My nonexistent heart pounds and I hold out my arms. Cy gently places Leia in my hold.
“Oh! She’s so light, like a kitten.” I can’t help but make little mew mew sounds at her and she coos back. “This isn’t so bad.” But I’m glad I’m sitting because I’m not sure I can hold her with the way my legs shake. It’s so strange looking into a new human. One so fresh she’s without nightmares.
“If you ever have scary dreams, you holler for me, okay? Nox’ll take those nightmares away in a heartbeat.” I hum as I rock. “If anyone tries to hurt you, I’ll make them go mad, just like I did that mean ol’ merman.”
Cyrus settles next to me and leans his head on my shoulder. “I don’t think you hate babies nearly as much as you think you do.”
“Well, I didn’t realize they were like kittens.”
Cyrus snorts into my shoulder and whispers into my ear, “I’m so damn proud of you.”
I nuzzle into him. Leia makes happy little sounds and I wrap a bit of my shadow behind her ear. Just to make sure there aren’t nightmares that sneak up on her.
“You’ll be my little mew mew,” I tell her.
“Better than kitten,” Norris mumbles.
“I’ll get you the cutest clothes. Whatever you want. You, me, and Dani are gonna be the best dressed in all of Rivenfield.” I nod and rock as she babbles at me. “And we’ll have dance parties with Dani. Sometimes Cyrus and Maddox join us, but they don’tgetit. I’ll feed you all the candy—”
“Hey now,” Devon says. “Candy isn’t good for babies and when you babysit, I’d rather you not hype my child up on sugar, then send her back to me.” She glares playfully at Cyrus.
“Don’t worry.” Cyrus snorts. “I’ll keep an eye on him.”
“Peoplesiton babies?” I look down at Leia. “I don’t think—”
Cyrus kisses my cheek. “Babysitting has nothing to do with sitting on babies. It means we’ll watch little mew mew while Devon and Norris go out and play.”
“Okay, good, because babies are fragile. She can’t even hold her head up.”
Norris pushes to his feet. “And she can choke if you feed her candy before she’s old enough.”
“Oh. Okay. No candy until—” I look to Cyrus.
“Until Devon and Norris say it’s okay. You can’t spoil her all the time.”
