When I peeked my head inside the door that lead to Big Mama’s office, it was like I was transported back to the past.There she was again, albeit she looked older, had a few graying hairs, and looked bigger than she did a few years ago. She had a cigar in her mouth again, her eyes down on the folders and papers on her table. There were wads of cash still, but even from afar, I could tell that it was fewer than the wads of cash that she had before. There was also a crumpled piece of accounting paper right next to her.Immediately, she flinched from her seat, covering the papers on her table with her arms. That surprised me. That was the first time she had ever been secretive to others when it came with money. She glanced at me, and I did a small wave. Oddly, she waved back.But then Big Mama did a double-take.&

I don’t know what’s more infuriating. Maria and Maverick, who were trying to keep cool but failing horribly, while they were taking food out of paper bags. They kept glancing my way ever since I got back into Ash’s room. Or maybe it was my siblings that were more annoying. I could feel their stares on me even when they weren’t facing my direction. It was that bad. Red, Jade, and Gray were standing by Ash’s, who thankfully was knocked out cold and not blabbering crazy stuff anymore, bed. Gray was blatantly staring, whispering something to Red, while tipping his head in my direction. Red was glancing at me from the corner of his eye, and I met his gaze. When he noticed that I caught him, he placed his hand on top of Gray’s head and swiveled his face to avert his gaze.Th

“You brought a titty club?”“Red!” I hissed, covering his mouth immediately before either of the kids hear. “It’s not a titty club! I’ve never seen an uncovered breast at Ardere. Can you keep your mouth shut?” Red and Clementine got home a few hours after we prepared dinner. And Markus was yet again, working late today. He had been working late for quite a few days now that I’m starting to both get worried and annoyed. Granted, I wasn’t alone at home and he could leave me without me getting bored, it still wasn’t what I expected. Especially now that we knew what the other had felt. I thought for sure that our feelings were mutual, everything would feel different.

“Give that back to the kind gentleman, Gray.” Gray scrunched his nose up in annoyance, “No!”“Gray,” I say again, forcing a smile so that none of the other people could tell I was close to slapping the back of his head for being a brat. “Return the paper bag to the man.” “Helen said only one per person!”“We bought lots, didn’t we?” I counter, “Just give it back.” Gray mutters something under his breath once more but, he returned the paper bag to the homeless man who for sure was hiding five more bags inside of his coat. He walked by more than a few times already, I just didn’t make a comment. Hey, if we were in t

A miniature demon was inches away from my face.“Markus,” Gray whispered softly. “I have to ask you something.”It was like he was trying not to wake me up more than he already did. Groaning, I rub the back of my head. When he had woken me up by blowing warm air in my ear, I woke up flinching. My head hit my headboard, and I was afraid I might have broken it, and I wasn’t really in the mood to spend any more than I already did the past few days. “What is it?” I asked, lifting him up and placing him on my lap. The past few months have been amazing, he’d taken in a lot more weight and even though he hated it, he also started taking more showers. All we needed was changing the shampoo to the green ones that he liked. “What’s wrong, bud?”