hand across my throat, telling him to chill out, but when he gets going, he’s as bad, if not worse, than her.
“Simone,” I call, but she doesn’t look at me. “Baby.”
Her throat works on a rough swallow, and I recognize these signs. She’s seconds away from crying, and that’s only going to piss her off even more. She can’t stand the near bipolar changes in her emotional response to things. One minute she’s laughing, the next she’s angry. But it’s when she cries that it really bothers her.
“Baby, look at me.” I don’t approach her. And I know I look crazy when I stand and move around the room so I’m in her line of vision. “We like taking care of you.”
“I can’t be dependent on you,” she whispers, her voice cracking at the end.
“You’re not,” Jinx and I say at the same time.
“We need you to be safe,” Jinx adds. “That’s why I got you the Tahoe.”
This motherfucker. I thought we were on the same side, but he just fucking railroaded me.
I didn’t argue with his ass when we were talking about who was going to do what. He knows a guy at the dealership. At the time, it just made sense for him to do that while I took care of the bills. In hindsight, that asshole knew what he was doing. He knew she could eventually accept the new car because she would do anything to protect the baby. I don’t have the same leg to stand on with the fucking hospital bills.
Simone turns her head, finally meeting my eyes, and I realize I’ll have to murder my friend later because she looks utterly destroyed.
“We don’t want you upset.”
Jinx clamps his mouth closed because he knows his go-to it’s not healthy for the baby would go over like a lead balloon right now. Hell, with the mood she’s in, World War III will start right here in this living room.
“Helping you makes us happy.” I inch closer. “It makes me happy to know you don’t have anything to worry about.”
She gives me a soft smile, but I’m not convinced that now is the time—
“We came up with a solution.”
I growl at Jinx. He doesn’t have a fucking clue about women, and I know he’s about to barter with the fucking repayment through orgasm suggestion.
“Oh.” She jerks.
All of our eyes follow her hands to her stomach.
“Are you okay?” I move closer, willing to risk a limb if she’s hurting.
“The curry got him really active.”
“Really?” Jinx’s smile is wide, but it falls from his face a second later when she swats his hand away.
I feel the loss of it immediately, and I wasn’t even the one reaching for her.
“He’s moving?” I ask, my voice low and strained.
“Yeah,” she whispers, her hand circling the top part of her belly.
She’s been able to feel the little guy moving for a few weeks, but it wasn’t until the last couple of days that we were able to feel it too. I know we spent two hours on the couch last night with our hands glued to her bare skin waiting for it to happen again.
“Can I?” Jinx reaches out again only to be met with the same resistance. “That’s not fair.”
“What is this solution you mentioned?” She asks as her eyes sweep between Jinx and me. “I want to help.”
“And you’ll be able to with your new job.” Jinx grins.
“Wow, dude. You fucking suck at secrets.”
His face falls the exact same second hers does.
“What?”
“Umm.” He clamps a hand behind his head, pulling on his neck until he can no longer resist twisting it to the side to crack in both directions.
Her eyes dart to mine and fuck I wish I didn’t know this one thing. She knows I do the second she looks at me.
I give her a weak smile. “Congratulations?”
“Seriously?” The tears have disappeared, but the anger is back.
I expect pure unfiltered rage. I expect a face full of curry, but she must be starving because she doesn’t set her plate down on the table as she tries to stand, which only makes it difficult to stand. Her belly is exceptionally big these days, and now I fully understand her concern at the doctor’s office about thinking she was pregnant with twins.
Jinx bites his lip to keep from laughing, so at least he has some sense of self-preservation.
“Can I help—”
She glares up at me, so I snap my hand back.
“You’ve helped enough.”
Eventually she manages to stand, taking her plate of food