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!”
“I don’t know how you stand him.” Wyatt fell back against the bed and folded his arms again. “I would go fucking crazy in this house. Visiting is bad enough.”
“Then leave if you don’t like it.” Tino got up and fetched the ice cream. Obviously deciding it was no worse for the wear, he stuck the spoon back into the carton. “Jules is right. That chick does make you stupid even if she is smoking hot.”
Wyatt turned to his sister, giving her a look of disbelief.
Jules shrugged unapologetically. “She does. It’s observable. Is there ice cream on the carpet?”
“Nah.” Tino walked back to the bed and then fell down next to Jules again. “Maybe you need to give him a break. I was stupid for a redhead once. I get it. I’d throw ice cream and end worlds for her too. I
did
end worlds for her, and I’d do it again in a heartbeat.”
“Well, here’s hoping you two never hook up.” Jules sighed. “One of you is enough.”
“Yeah.” Tino took another bite. His gaze was on the television, but his thoughts seemed far off. “That would be bad.
Very bad
. Don’t ever tell Nova I mentioned her.”
Jules took another bite. “The secret’s safe.”
Tino still had that far-off, haunted look to him that Wyatt knew so well. It stirred up his own turbulent emotions that had been troubling him since they ran into Vaughn Davis at the hardware store. Wyatt reached over and took the spoon from Jules, helping himself to a bite of her ice cream before he confessed, “She’s started having nightmares. It’s disturbing me. I know she’s hiding something.”
“Her mama’s almost recovered from that surgery.” Jules held out the carton, letting Wyatt have another bite. “Maybe she’s planning on leaving again, and the stress is giving her the nightmares. She does have a life back in Key West. I don’t think she expected to be here this long.”
Wyatt took a breath past the crushing sensation the thought of losing her again caused. “God, Jules, if she leaves again, you might as well take me out to the firing range and use me for target practice.”
Jules hit his shoulder. “Stop being stupid!”
“It ain’t even a lie either.” Wyatt dug into the carton again. He let the ice cream melt on his tongue as he considered the past four months that had been blissful and happy as long as he and Tabitha didn’t acknowledge the lie they were living. “It’s the reason I’ve been keeping you two as far apart as possible. Last thing I need is for you to start barking questions and scare her away.”
Tino laughed. “She is pretty scary, especially when those pregnancy hormones start raging.”
Jules gave him a look of annoyance. “Tino, you
are
a pain in the ass.”
“See what I’m saying?” Tino snorted. “Be glad you’re across town getting busy with your redhead instead of dealing with her shit every day.”
Jules reached over and punched him, getting him hard in the arm, but Tino just laughed and grabbed one of the pillows, using it to deflect her next hit.
“Ain’t she supposed to be taking it easy?” Wyatt pointed out with a frown.
“I am so sick of this bed.” Jules grabbed another pillow and hit Tino with it. “You’d be in a bitchy mood too.”
She shoved Tino, using considerable strength to push him over the edge. They both laughed when he landed on the floor with a loud thump.
Tino reached up with his pillow and hit her, knocking the ice cream out of her hand. She screeched when the chocolate spilled on her bedsheets. It got Wyatt too, and he wiped at his jeans as Jules grabbed the carton of ice cream. She stuck her hand into it, grabbing a fistful of chocolate fudge, and then leaned over the edge of the bed far enough that Wyatt grabbed her flannel nightshirt in fear of her falling.
She smeared the entire handful into Tino’s inky hair.
“Oh, hell no.” Tino bounced up, carton of ice cream in hand. “You
do not
mess with my hair and get away with it.”
“Tino, no!” Wyatt shouted, but it was too late.
Jules had thrown her hands over her face protectively, but that didn’t stop Tino from squeezing the entire carton of ice cream onto her head. It ran down Jules’s forehead and coated both of her hands. They were both laughing hysterically.
“You do need to get out of this bed,” Wyatt said in concern. “This shit is driving you crazy, and Tino sure ain’t helping the cause. He started out unhinged.”
Tino ran both his hands through his hair and then reached forward and smeared the chocolate over Jules’s face. She was a mess, and Tino wasn’t much better.
“My sheets.” Jules’s entire body was shaking with mirth. “You’re buying me new ones.”
“What the hell?”
They all turned when Romeo walked into the room, still sweaty and wearing his karate gi, making it obvious he had forgone a shower to get back home to Jules. His jaw was hanging open as he stared at the ruin of his bed and his sticky wife and brother.
“You’re supposed to be watching her.” Romeo glared at Wyatt accusingly. “Now I gotta put her in the shower. The doctor said—”
“Stop.” Jules held up her hand with another giggle. “I wanted a shower anyway. Tino did me a favor.”
Romeo put his face in his hands and mumbled, “Five more days.”
“Your brother has a problem,” Wyatt announced. “And my sister’s got too much energy to be on bed rest for a month. The two of them together is more than anyone can handle.”
“I know.” Romeo looked completely exasperated as he walked over and picked up one of the cartons. “
Madonn’
, Tino, the carpet. Go get a towel to clean it up.”
Tino left to find something to clean the mess.
“Why aren’t they doing the C-section? These babies have got to be huge.” Wyatt eyed his sister’s stomach pointedly.
“Five more days,” Romeo repeated as he picked up the other carton with a grimace. “And she’s not supposed to be standing for more than a couple minutes. If something happens, we’re so fucking far from the hospital. I should’ve rented a place in Mercy, but she wanted to stay here.”
“Romeo, if something happens, you put in a call to dispatch, and I promise we’ll get you there,” Wyatt told him seriously as a surge of fear hit him in the chest. “You do not hesitate.”
“I won’t, but what the fuck? Juliet—”
“I hate this bed.” Jules covered her face with her hands and let out a sob. “I want to get up. I need a shower. I need to wash my hair. I need to wear something besides flannel.”
Wyatt frowned at his sister, unable to believe she had gone from laughing to crying in that short amount of time. For a moment, he was reminded of Jules as a teenager, when everything was a drama. He thought she had mellowed with age, but this pregnancy was making him second guess that assumption.
“You don’t know what just laying here is doing to me.” She wiped at her sticky cheeks. “I won’t last another five days.”
“Okay, come on, baby.” Romeo crawled into the bed despite the ice cream spilled everywhere. He leaned forward and placed a kiss against her forehead. “You’re gonna do this. You’re strong. I know you’ll make it.”
Jules shook her head in denial. “I don’t think so.”
“We’ll take a quick shower. I’ll wash your hair for you.” Romeo wrapped an arm around her and caressed her arm. “Deal?”
“Deal.” She nodded. “It’ll be a power shower.”
“Will you wait until I get her out?” Romeo lifted his gaze to Wyatt. “You got the sheriff SUV.”
“Yeah, I’ll wait.” Wyatt rolled out of bed and tried not to think about Romeo in the shower with his sister. “Downstairs.”
Romeo gave him a wan smile. “Thanks, Wyatt.”
“I love you, Wy Wy,” Jules whispered, the tears still sounding in her voice.
“Okay, Ju Ju,” Wyatt said softly. “We got your back, darlin’. You’re almost to the finish line.”
Jules nodded as Romeo helped her up.
Wyatt walked out of the room and closed the door behind him. He ran into Tino in the hallway and yanked the kitchen towel out of his hand. Then he went one step further and snapped it harshly at his face.
“
Merda
!” Tino dodged the attack and shouted, “What the hell was that for?”
“You know she ain’t supposed to be standing long enough to take a shower,” Wyatt growled at him. “You’re lucky I ain’t punching you for putting her health in jeopardy.”
Tino held up his hands in challenge. “Bring it, but be careful. I fight dirty.”
“Yeah, that ain’t a lie.” Wyatt huffed as he walked past him. “We got to work on that with you. I’ve never seen a fighter get more penalties than you do.”
“Hey, man, it’s survival of the fittest in the cage. I gotta do what I gotta do.”
“It ain’t a street fight, Tino. It’s a sport,” Wyatt said defensively. “Winning by following the rules is part of the art.”
“Rules have never been my friend, Conner,” Tino said as he followed Wyatt down the stairs. “I’m not Mr. Sheriff of Hicksville who never broke a fucking rule in his life. Where I come from, you gotta break rules to survive.”
“Tino, I’ve broken rules too. Plenty of ’em, but I’m older than you. I’m telling you at some point you got to learn to follow them, and if I catch you breaking a law in my town, I’m gonna forget we’re family.”
“Yeah, I know, Sheriff,” Tino said sarcastically. “You remind me every time you see me.”
“How’s Nova?” Wyatt asked in concern as he sat down on the leather sofa in Jules’s family room. “Speaking of fellas who break the rules.”
Tino shrugged as he sat down next to him and grabbed the remote off the coffee table. “Why do you always ask that? You know you don’t want the answer.”
Wyatt rubbed a hand tiredly over his face. He hadn’t been getting much sleep since Tabitha started having nightmares. “Believe it or not, I like your brother. I wish I could help him somehow. I know it upsets Jules he’s still caught up with everything in New York. It’s not good for her. It’s not good for any of you. This mafia crap is real bullshit.”
“He’s got his business handled,” Tino assured him with unbending confidence. “Things have settled down.”
“Okay.” Wyatt sighed, even if he was far from convinced. “I hope so.”
“He’s good. Don’t worry about it.”
Wyatt sat there watching television with Tino, silently thinking through over everything. Something occurred to him, and he turned to Tino curiously. “When you say you ended worlds over your redhead—”
“Whoa there, Sheriff,” Tino cut him off. “You start questioning me, and I’m gonna have to call my lawyer.”
“Do you need a lawyer to talk about what happened?”
“If I’m talking to you, I do.”
Wyatt stared at Tino, who had obviously rinsed his hair in the sink. It was pushed away from his forehead, leaving him exposed as he stared at the large, flat screen. That haunted look was back, and Wyatt couldn’t help but ask, “Did you love her?”
“I still love her,” Tino confessed without looking away from the MMA reality show they were watching. “All the other ones are just a way to forget. The booze too. The partying. The fighting. All of it. Just trying to forget, but none of it works. Jules doesn’t get it, but I do. When you love a girl like you love that Tabitha chick, nothing makes it stop.”
“If you care for her that much, you should go after her.” Wyatt took a deep breath as he mourned over his decision to let Tabitha go all those years ago. “Regrets like that are hard to live with. Trust me on this.”
“Nah.” Tino shook his head. “Good girls need guys who follow the rules. That’s
not
me. I did both of us a favor by cutting that one loose.”
“Tino, you better not be breaking the rules,” Wyatt warned. “I ain’t kidding when I say I will arrest you if I find out you’re bringing that mafia shit into my town.”
“Yeah, but she’s not in your town, is she?” Tino countered. “She’s in my town, and in my town I gotta break the rules. So stop fucking worrying about it. I don’t do shit but hang out with my family and train. Garnet’s made me a fucking saint.”
“Then bring her back here.”
“She’s married already.” Tino turned and scowled at him. “Drop it.”