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Chapter 20: Daniel, Part 3
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Juked Chapter 21: Daniel, Part 4
I startle awake when someone slaps me across the face. My eyes are open, but nothing around me is registering.A bedroom. Not my bedroom, and not a hotel room. I get another smack, making me turn to look at my assailant. A toothless baby stares back at me, smiling and drooling.Last night comes back to me. We didn't have sex once. We didn't have it twice. No, we woke up two more times and ended up having sex three times. And it was all fucking fantastic. Even when we were half asleep.I shouldn't think about that kind of thing with a baby staring at me. That's kind of creepy, even for me."Hey, kid," I say. He really is a cute kid. "What are you doing in bed? Aren't you supposed to be in your crib?"He waves his naked arms and legs excitedly, like he's swimming. He's wearing nothing but a diaper."That exciting, huh?" He squeals. "Tell ya what, why don't we go find Quincy and see if I can't treat you guys to breakfast. What do you think of that?" He farts. I laugh. "I'll take that as
Juked Chapter 22: Quincy
It feels like there's a sledgehammer in my head, and it's trying to demolish something, although I'm not sure what. Peeling my eyes open, the single ray of sunlight coming through my blinds makes the pounding worse. But something feels off so I power through it.I vaguely remember falling asleep while snuggling with Daniel on the couch and then waking up in the middle of the night to throw up. But the memory is blurry. Could it have been a dream?I roll over and look at the clock: 2:37 p.m.Not only have I been asleep all day, I was asleep all night. That means Chance hasn't eaten in… maybe as long as eighteen hours. Oh no!I jump out of bed, which, feeling like I do means I drag my feet over the side, try desperately not to vomit, and shuffle my way to the door. He's not crying, which makes my heart pound even harder. Oh god. I hope he's okay. How did I sleep so long? What is wrong with me? Maybe that blurry memory wasn't a dream after all. It's hard to think with my head pounding lik
Juked Chapter 23: Daniel, Part 1
"Okay, buddy, give me one second, and I'll get you a new bottle." I shift him on my hip as I balance his diaper bag, my gym bag, and the key to unlock the door to Quincy's apartment. He squeals and gets hold of my nose. "Yes, I know it's big. But it's not a toy." He lets go when his attention is diverted somewhere else as the door opens. "Here," I say as I throw everything on the couch and get him situated in his ExerSaucer. "You need to get some energy out. How about you bounce up and down for a while?" Sure enough, as soon as his feet hit the floor, he starts moving them as fast as he can. It looks like he's running without actually going anywhere. One of my nephews used to do that. It cracks me up."Quincy?" I call. I check her bedroom. The shower is running so I assume she's feeling well enough to clean up. That's a good sign. I strip the sheets off the bed and throw them in the washer, making faces and farty noises at the baby when I walk by.We're guys. I know how to entertain h
Juked Chapter 24: Daniel, Part 2
Her question gives me pause. I know I should want Geni to come over and relieve me as soon as she can. I mean, I have to work again tomorrow. And we're just dating, not in an official relationship or anything. But strangely, I don't want to leave her like this. I want to stay and take care of her and the baby. It's a strange feeling. "Uh… I think we'll be okay for one more night. I have an out-of-town game this weekend, so I definitely can't stay past tomorrow.""I'll take over for you starting tomorrow night. Will that work?""Perfect." The thermometer beeps, and I pull it out of Quincy's mouth. She settles in on the couch again as I read it out loud. "One oh two point seven.""Damn," Geni says."I gotta go. I need to get some more medicine in our girl and feed the baby before my mom gets here with dinner.""Your mom is bringing you guys dinner?" Geni sounds overly excited by this tidbit of information."Her chicken noodle soup."Geni laughs. "Quincy is gonna kill you when she's coher
Juked Chapter 25: Quincy, Part 1
"I'm so glad I got my flu shot," Geni says over the sound of her clippers. "You looked terrible.""Uh-huh." I pretend to ignore her and sweep the hair from my last client into a pile on the floor. Geni's been making it a point to lecture me all week about how dumb it was not to get vaccinated. Never mind that it's the only time I've been sick the entire five years I've known and worked with her."I'm serious," she says. "I've never seen you look so bad. You're lucky Daniel was there to - "Her voice is drowned out when I start up the vacuum to get rid of the hair. The timing doesn't go unnoticed by her, and she glares at me. I glare right back. "I'm just saying," she says as soon as the noise dies down, making me huff in annoyance. She's not going to let this go. "It's a good thing Daniel was there to take care of you. I don't know how I would have been able to do it without him. Don't you think it was dumb for her not to get her flu shot?" she asks her client, Mike."I haven't had a
Juked Chapter 26: Quincy, Part 2
Houston's Latest Heartthrob: The Woman Who Keeps Daniel Zavaro Warm Between the CleatsI snatch the paper from her and scan the article, vaguely aware Geni is reading over my shoulder.Step back ladies. It appears Daniel Zavaro is off the market. Maybe even for good! Last week, the twenty-nine-year-old captain of the Texas Mutiny, and one of last year's most eligible bachelors, was spotted in the company of twenty-five-year-old Quincy Watson, a local hairdresser. Seeing Zavaro with a beautiful woman on his arm isn't anything new, but what is new is his relationship with the seven-month-old nephew Watson has full custody of. Sources tell us that last week, while Watson was apparently recuperating from the flu, Zavaro spent all his free time with the tiny tot, including dropping him off and picking him up from day care."He was a real sweetheart," our anonymous source said in a phone interview. "He doted on baby Chance like he was his own son." Who is this new woman in Zavaro's life
Juked Chapter 27: Daniel, Part 1
I feel really bad about the article in the newspaper. Quincy is taking it like a champ and doesn't seem all that fazed by it, even though I know she's annoyed that several of her new clients seem to be fans. One actually had the nerve to ask her for tickets to a game.Most times fans are great. But in general, people really suck.I was relieved to find out that most of the "source" information came from that Hailey girl at Chance's day care. Quincy said she called a meeting with the director of the facility, and Hailey ended up confessing to the whole thing. She was given a final written warning for her job.That was good enough for Quincy. She didn't want the girl to lose her job but needed to make sure the point about privacy was made. Frankly, I agree with her. And it makes me trust her friendship that much more. Not that I didn't trust her to begin with. It just drives the point home to me again.I can't help feeling partly responsible for the whole thing. I could have let Geni hel
Juked Chapter 28: Daniel, Part 2
"What chase are you talking about, Lalo?" I feel like I should be on alert but not really sure why."Quincy," he begins, "how do you know my brother?""Oh Jesus," I mutter, looking at Quincy. She has a stunned look on her face. "Don't answer that," I tell her. "Back off Eduardo," I say, turning. "I didn't bring her here to be interrogated by you. You're fucking psycho, you know that?""Boys!" Mama yells."I'm sorry. Am I missing something?" Quincy says with obvious confusion.I sigh. "My brother here is a paranoid freak," I say, and he narrows his eyes at me. "He seems to think our relationship is some sort of scam on your part because of my job.""What?" she asks. "Why…?" She looks at him. "Why would you think that about me?""He thinks it about everybody," I say, staring at him. "Somehow he got it in his mind I can't have any friends or ever date anyone without them having nefarious intentions.""He's only trying to protect you," my sister, Erika, says softly from across the room. "
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