Helen raised a brow. “Where is it?”
Luc checked her phone. “This guy’s house. His name is Javi? I don’t know him, but I heard his kickbacks are really—”
Helen threw her flip-flop in Luc’s direction. “No, ma'am. I went to Javi’s parties when I was your age. I know exactly what happens at Javi’s parties. There is no way in hell you’re going to a party at Javi’s.”
Luc glanced at me, but I shook my head. I’d been to one Javi party, and that was enough for me to know our girl was not going there unless she walked over our dead bodies. And even then, Helen would probably reanimate just to stop her.
Luciana groaned, but she didn’t stomp off or curse us out. “Jeez, fine. I didn’t really want to go anyway. I’m going to see if some of the girls want to come over and practice makeup tonight. I just got that new palette and I’ve barely used it.” She walked away, typing messages on her phone.
Helen’s eyes were wide, then she poked her belly. “Okay, we got lucky with one kid. This one is going to be a hell-raiser, I know it.”
Madeline. Helen was surprisingly superstitious, so she didn’t like to refer to the baby by her name, but we both knew she’d be Madeline the second we found out we were having a girl.
“I hope she is. She’ll be just like her mom, and I happen to like her mom a whole lot.” Lifting her shirt, I traced the faint dark line that ran up the center of her. Before Helen got pregnant, I’d never looked twice at another pregnant woman, but her...God, I felt like a teenager again, walking around with a perpetual hard-on. My tiger was sexy always, but the added curves and knowing she was carrying our child sent my attraction to her into overdrive. She even smelled different, and I was constantly sniffing her.
Helen palmed the bulge in my shorts. “Maybe we should let her go to the party so we can have the house to ourselves tonight.”
I moved her hand away. I knew this wasn’t going anywhere. Not until later, when I could get her alone.
“Wow, you’re hard up, aren’t you? Willing to sacrifice your sister for some action?”
Helen nodded enthusiastically. “She’ll be fine at Javi’s.”
“Okay,” I started to get up, “I’ll go tell her.”
“No you won’t!”
Helen tugged on the back of my shirt until I flopped down and rolled her on top of me. She shifted so her belly wasn’t pressed against me, then snuggled under my chin.
We didn’t have a lot of this, just sitting and doing nothing, or reading to each other in our favorite chair. We made time to be together—pretty sure it was impossible for us to be apart for longer than one of Helen’s shifts—but we were busy. With the house, friends, Luc, her job, and mine…
Working with Lock in maintenance at Savage U had opened up an unexpected career avenue for me. I got back into my love of fixing cars, and it took on a life of its own from there. One of the mechanics there knew a guy who owned a custom shop in Savage River. I started apprenticing there my junior year of college, learning everything there was to know about making cars run. When I graduated with a business degree, I stayed on at Savage Customs as an assistant manager. Two years ago, I’d used most of my savings to buy in as a co-owner.
Andrew hated it, but he wasn’t a big part of my life anymore, so his opinions were background noise. A few years ago, Miranda basically gave him an ultimatum: get with it or get out. He didn’t pull his head out of his ass, so she divorced him, but she didn’t walk away from Helen and me. She became the steady support system I’d never had, and she actually got a kick out of me going my own way and not following Andrew’s path. She wholeheartedly approved, in fact.
It was strange, really. I never thought I’d have that, even when I was bending over backward to seek it out from Andrew. I didn’t need Miranda’s approval, but it felt really good to have it.
Helen and I spent a little more time relaxing and talking about the things we had to do to the house to prepare for the party next weekend. Then it was time to go inside to make dinner.
Luciana liked to help Helen cook. Sometimes, they let me chop. Other times, I was relegated to being their fan club. Tonight was the latter. I sat on one of the stools at the island in the center of our kitchen, going over some paperwork for Savage Customs while they prepared fish tacos and fresh pico de gallo.
Helen and Luciana kept bumping into each other, then they gave each other little shoves, laughing every time. I put my phone down to watch. Luciana didn’t see the way her sister looked at her, but I did. Helen loved her like she was her kid, and it was there, written all over the way she watched Luciana cut tomatoes, in the soft curve of her lips, the warmth in her eyes at the small, everyday acts they did together.
I used to think I had to tell Helen to be soft. That was before I really got it. Helen didn’t need to be told to be soft. She had always been that way. Not for a jackass kid in his stepmom’s luxury car who’d told her he didn’t want to be responsible for her feelings. No, the kid I used to be hadn’t deserved Helen’s kind of soft. The man I was now got to see it and revel in it every day. I didn’t have to ask. That was just who she was when she was well loved and she loved well.
Helen was a rolling storm. She was the spark in the air, the scent of rain right before it fell. Helen was lightning touching down in an open field and the gentle breeze that carried the clouds. She was the steady mist that fell on thirsty ground and made it thrive.
Helen Ortega-Whitlock was soft.
Soft like thunder.
Bright Like Midnight
Are you dying to find out what happened in that dorm room between Zadie and Amir? Find your answers in Bright Like Midnight, coming in April 2022!
Pre-order now: mybook.to/BrightLikeMidnight
Make no mistake, Zadie Night, I am the bad guy here.
The first time I laid eyes on Amir Vasquez, he held me hostage in my dorm.
You made me a promise.
I swore to myself my second year at Savage U would be different from the last. No more hiding from things that go bump in the night. I’m dating now. Making friends. Living my life.
But then someone starts leaving me notes and whispering my name in the dark, scaring me right back into my shell.
Are you my pet?
I’m shy and soft. Amir is dominant and hard. He stole a kiss once, and then he left me.
I should stay far away from him. But you know what they say about the devil you know…
Do I own you?
Amir will protect me, but not without cost.
I’m his, to do with as he pleases.
He thinks it’s a punishment.
But what he doesn’t know is I haven’t stopped thinking about him since he was my captor.
No one’s going to hurt you.
I’m safe from harm if I’m with him, because he’s the biggest bad on campus.
Show me your whole universe.
And somewhere along the way, he became my haven, too.
You should be scared of me.
I can’t believe I’ve fallen for the villain.
Playlist