“Yeah, it’s good,” Tabitha whispered as she fought the bile rising in the back of his throat. “Is he gone?”
“You okay?” Wyatt leaned in and studied her. “You look like you’re gonna be sick.”
Tabitha swallowed hard. “I ain’t all that fond of him either.”
“Yeah, I bet not.” Wyatt put an arm over her shoulder and pulled her close to him. “Come on, Tabby Cat. Take a deep breath. I got ya.”
Tabitha did as she was told, taking one more deep breath as she whispered, “I know.”
“Let’s get out of here.” He closed the sample book. “We’ll grab a bite at Hal’s.”
“I can cook.”
“I can buy my girl a meal.” Wyatt rubbed her arm and gave her a smile. “You’re always cooking.”
“I’d rather go home. I like seeing Hal, but Clay’s girlfriend works there and—”
“You don’t like Melody?” Wyatt asked in surprise. “Everyone likes her.”
“She’s very sweet,” Tabitha agreed, still feeling dazed. “But I know Clay’s bitter over the drug overdose. I know he has issues with stuff like that. He hasn’t said more than two words to me since I got back and—”
“Hey.” Wyatt cut her off, his eyes wide in shock because Tabitha had accidently opened one of their demon closets while she tried to work on recovering from the horror of hearing Vaughn’s voice again. “Anyone could take extra medication on accident. No one’s holding that against you.”
Tabitha turned to him in surprise, still completely caught up with the horrible anxiety attack. “Is that what she told you that night?”
“Who? The doctor?” Wyatt scowled. “Yeah. Why? Was she lying?”
“You think Clay bought that?” A manic laugh burst out of her. She understood Wyatt was in some sort of massive denial over that night. He would never believe she was capable of taking illegal drugs, but Clay knew her mother wouldn’t have called 911 unless Tabitha was almost dead. “You honestly believe he’s been avoiding me like the plague because he thinks I took too many over-the-counter pills?”
“I actually think he’s avoiding you because he’s watched me hurt for so long over our breakup. Sometimes he’s too loyal for his own good.”
“We should go.” Tabitha pulled out of his arms before Wyatt could argue.
“Tab—”
“I’ll cook,” Tabitha announced as she kept walking to the door, hoping to God Vaughn had already peeled out of the parking lot.
Wyatt stretched out on the bed his sister shared with Romeo Wellings—a man who had been one of Wyatt’s least favorite people for a long time. Earlier that year Jules and Romeo had run off and gotten married in secret. Who said God didn’t have a sense of humor?
Wyatt folded his arms over his chest and looked away from the television to dart a glance at Jules. She was propped up next to him, surrounded by pillows, books, and electronics. Romeo had spent a small fortune to keep Jules entertained when the doctors put her on bed rest a month ago.
There were days when Romeo still grated on Wyatt’s last nerve, but he didn’t envy the man for putting up with Jules when she was cranky, bedridden, and uncomfortably huge in the last few weeks of pregnancy. Romeo had to love Jules, because she had been unbearable for a while now, and he hadn’t complained once.
“Tabitha and me have been talking ’bout finally changing Dad’s room,” Wyatt started cautiously.
Jules’s eyes narrowed, but she didn’t look away from the Bruce Lee movie. “I’ve been asking you to update that house for years, but Tabitha comes along and—”
“We’re not updating. We’re restoring,” he countered, keeping his voice even rather than upset his sister. “I ain’t gonna do it if you don’t want me to. I was just asking what you thought. Your opinion on it matters, Ju Ju.”
“Are you gonna move into Daddy’s old room with her?” Jules still hadn’t looked away from the television.
“No,” Wyatt said defensively. “I ain’t ready for that. I just thought we could get the demons out.”
Yeah, the demons were slowly starting to drive Wyatt crazy. He couldn’t tackle the ones with Tabitha, so he started taking down other ones, and the agony over his father’s death was a big one.
“Have you asked her why she left yet?”
Wyatt closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He hated that Jules could read him so easily. “No.”
“Wyatt—”
“This is gonna start a fight.” He cut her off. “And Romeo threatened to hurt me if we got into it again. Just forget I asked.”
“You can’t keep on pretending she didn’t hurt you like she did,” Jules went on as if she hadn’t heard him. “You know I’m telling the truth. Why can’t you—”
Jules stopped talking when the heavy footfalls of someone stomping up the stairs echoed into her room.
“For the big mama!” Tino burst in, full of energy as usual as he held up two pints of ice cream triumphantly. “I got chocolate fudge and caramel swirl. Mama gets first choice.” He looked to Wyatt with a grimace. “I don’t buy ice cream for cops. Sorry, Sheriff, you’re shit outta luck.”
Wyatt flipped off Jules’s brother-in-law.
“Chocolate.” Jules took the ice cream and a spoon Tino had obviously grabbed from downstairs when he got home from the gym. “You’ve got to stop doing this. Neither of us can afford to gain any more weight.”
Despite the complaints, Jules started happily eating her ice cream.
“Aw, it’s just baby.” Tino fell down on Jules’s other side, making himself at home as he patted her rounded stomach affectionately. Then he pulled the lid off his ice cream and snuggled against the pillows, completely oblivious to personal space. He dug into his ice cream as he looked at the television. “Bruce Lee, cool.”
Wyatt rolled his eyes at Tino, who was always underfoot. Wyatt thought his family was bad growing up, but they didn’t touch the Italians. They were constantly in each other’s business. He didn’t know how his sister stood it, but oddly enough, she didn’t seem to mind.
“You know, Tino,” Wyatt started as he watched him inhale that ice cream, “you got another fight next month. I know you’re over the upper limit in your weight class. You can’t keep eating that shit.”
“Why do you give a fuck?” Tino took another bite and left the spoon in his mouth as he turned to Wyatt with his eyebrows raised.
“Because the Cellar is your sponsor. We back you,” Wyatt went on. “I have a vested interest in your success, and watching you put away carton after carton of ice cream is starting to make my blood pressure go up. Now I gave you a diet to go by; you should be following it.”
Tino pulled the spoon out of his mouth and gestured to Jules’s stomach with it. “She’s supposed to eat it, and family has to stick together. That’s more important than a fight.”
“No.” Wyatt shook his head. “It ain’t good for her either. Stop buying ice cream behind Romeo’s back. Every time I come over here during his classes, you two are eating it in secret.”
Tino huffed with indifference and turned to Jules. “What’s wrong with him?”
Jules snorted. “I don’t even know where to start with that one.”
“It’s that chick Tabitha,” Tino mused as he took another bite of ice cream. “I know you’re always giving him shit about her, but I think she’s hot. I like redheads. They’re my favorite flavor.”
“Tino,” Wyatt started warningly.
“What?” Tino asked him with a laugh as he waggled his eyebrows. “Scared?”
Wyatt growled and reached over Jules. He grabbed the carton out of Tino’s hand and tossed it across the room.
“Hello!” Jules shouted. “That carpet is new!”