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?”
“Yeah. Not a very high one, just over a hundred. Highest it went was one hundred point two.”
“He’s probably teething then. You have teething rings.” There was a pause before she added, “Right? I’m assuming because he looks about that age.”
“Yeah, yeah.” He jumped up and headed toward the kitchen where he had a couple that had been put in the bag he’d been delivered with. They were in the baby bottle sanitizer that had also been in there. Grabbing one, he rinsed it, holding the phone between his shoulder and ear. “I just