Dominic took his place at the dining room table while Danica and Delia brought everything out from the kitchen. Their mother had always insisted they eat their meals together like a family. And unlike many people who rarely used their formal dining rooms, this family used it almost three times each day. Though because of work they skipped lunch a lot. But not Dominic. He even had his snacks in there at his place at the table. Once the whole spread was out on the dining table, Danica and Delia took their places. Danica made her brother his plate, reminding him before handing it to him, “Little bites, okay?”
Eating was one of his favorite things to do, but he was often too eager and would start to choke. She dug into her own food and began telling Delia about the Starbucks card and how that had just been the last straw. She left out anything about his insensitive ass since her sister didn’t know the whole truth about the baby either. Delia had met Baby Orlando a few times, but Danica had told her she’d picked up a babysitting gig to help supplement the few hours she was getting at ShopMart. Delia had even watched him a few times for Danica when she hadn’t wanted to give up her shift. She’d always been terrified about even attempting to leave him with Angie, and she refused to leave him with Ted. Not that the idiot ever offered to help with him, but even if he had, she didn’t trust him. She’d sooner have had Dominic help keep an eye on him than she would’ve Ted. Delia didn’t mind since, for the most part, the baby slept through Danica’s short shifts.
They discussed Ted’s controlling ways as they ate and finished their breakfast and then cleaned up after. Once done with breakfast and the cleanup, Danica headed out to her car to grab the rest of her stuff. On the second and last trip back to her trunk, Ted pulled up, skidding to a stop just behind her car in the driveway.
He got out, looking incensed. “Who is he?”
Danica peered at him, lost by what he may mean, but ready to tell him off. “What?”
“Don’t act stupid, Danica.” He grabbed her roughly by the arm and got in her face. “You’ve barely let me touch you since you gave up that kid. You show up late and all cheery last night when you’ve been nothing but a downer for months. Then you lie about not having gone anywhere else yesterday when I knew you had. Now you just up and move out without so much as a good-bye?” He squeezed her arm so tight Danica couldn’t even move and her heart beat erratically. “You fucking someone else, you ingrate? After everything I’ve done for you?”
“Let go of me.” Danica tried in vain to come loose.
“You going back to being a loser hood rat, Danica? Is that what you’re doing? Because without me that’s all you’ll ever be.”
“I left your ass because of this.” She hissed in his face. “I’d be insane not to.”
“Get in the car.” He shoved her toward his car, still holding her arm tightly. Danica yanked at her arm, shocked that he was acting like this. She knew he was a control freak and a heartless asshole, but this was an entirely different and terrifying side of him she was seeing now. For a moment, she came loose, but he grabbed her other arm.
“Get your fucking paws off my sister before I shoot your dick off, asshole!”
Ted froze at the sight of Delia just a few feet away pointing her gun at him. He was distracted just long enough for Danica to come free. Grabbing his crotch, she squeezed as hard as she could and twisted with everything she had. With a wail, Ted hunched over just as Danica let go, and he fell all the way down, holding his crotch area in agony. “Don’t you ever put your hands on me again, you bastard!” She kicked him in the ribs despite her hands still shaking from the terror of it all. “You have two minutes to get off our property or we’ll call the cops.”
“Or?” Delia looked at her like she was crazy even as she still stood there pointing the gun at Ted. “I already did.”
“Oh my God,” Danica gasped. “Then put that thing away, will you?” She grabbed her sister’s free hand, glancing around at some of the neighbors looking through their windows and cracks in their doors. “We’ll wait inside.”
Taking deep breaths before she hyperventilated, Danica wondered if she should leave but thought better of it. Just because she was still on felony probation didn’t mean they would haul her ass back to jail. Ted was not coming back. Of that she was sure. Knowing the cops were on their way, he would realize this could make for a scandal in his perfect life. As long as her sister put the gun away and it wasn’t mentioned, Danica should be fine. She reminded herself she had no warrants and she had nothing to hide—that the police might catch wind of anyway.
Chapter 7
Orlando
Why the hell hadn’t he made sure to get Danica’s phone number? It’d been over a week since her stop at the shop, and Nine hadn’t heard from her either. Orlando could only pray she hadn’t been offered a better gig or just changed her mind about his impromptu proposal. He walked around as Baby O wailed away and nothing he did helped calm him. Not even the pacifier was cutting it this time. The fever was gone now, but he was still crying and had been for what felt like forever. Googling how to stop a baby from crying wasn’t helping either. Orlando had to have some idea why he was crying. He still didn’t know what had brought on the fever either. At least he had baby aspirin to help in that aspect, but aside from that, he was at a complete loss. His mom was at an appointment with his grandparents, so she wasn’t answering either. Beast still hadn’t called him back, and Felicia was at work and unavailable. She didn’t have kids, but maternal instincts might come naturally to her, right? At least that’s what she’d said when she offered to watch Baby O once, maybe twice, a week for him until he could get the childcare thing squared away. Orlando was getting so desperate he was considering calling Nine to see if maybe his wife Drew, who was a mom and soon to-be for the second time around, might be of some help. Just as he picked up the phone, it rang with a number he didn’t recognize. He almost sent it to voicemail but then remembered Danica and prayed to God it might be her.
Please, please, please. He hit the button and answered.
“Orlando?”
He smiled when he heard the godsent voice he recognized, despite the agitation he’d been feeling for the past half hour. “Danica?”
She was quiet for a moment before clearing her throat. “Yes, is the baby okay? Why’s he crying like that?”
“I don’t know. He had a fever earlier, but that’s gone now, and I’ve tried feeding him, giving him juice, his diaper’s fresh, and he keeps spitting out the pacifier.”
“Where is he at right now? His crib?”
“No, in my arms. I’m walking around, trying to calm him.”
“Is he in that thing you were wearing the day I was at the shop?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay, try taking him out and sitting down and laying him across your lap on his belly.” Orlando worked diligently to do as he was told and got Baby O out of the sling. Unbelievably, the baby calmed, but it was fleeting. He’d been distracted by the change in position, but within a few moments, he was back to crying.
“Oh, I know,” she said when the crying started up again. “You said he had a fever, right?”