Page 7 of Seeking Salvation

“No way, just because I have a vagina does not mean I’m on nappy duty.”

“Fine, I’ll do it, but don’t leave me.”

Placing Tyrique on the table, he pulled the blanket apart and saw he was wearing a onesie with little lions printed all over.

Duchess caressed Tyrique’s tiny head. “He looks well cared for.”

Titan frowned, feeling protective of the innocent baby who had been abandoned. “He does, which makes this even more confusing.”

“Who knows what’s going on behind closed doors. God knows we aren’t what we seem.”

“True.”

“Can you finish up with this?” Bás waved his hand at the nappy area. “Then we can figure this out.”

“Now what?”

“Pull the poppers open around his butt and get his legs out.” Duchess waved in the direction of the poppers from a safe distance away. Hurricane and Bás looked on in fascinated horror.

As gently as he could, he pulled them open and instantly the smell grew worse. His gag reflex kicked in and he began to heave as he turned away.

“Pull it together, Titan.”

Giving Bás a ‘fuck you’ glare, he faced the task at hand. Tyrique kicked his legs in the air without a care, as if being free was the most fun ever. Gently pulling his feet out of the onesie, he tucked it up out of the way and peeled the tabs on the nappy apart. Opening the nappy released the smell and revealed the horror of the contents.

Turning his head away, he heaved again as Hurricane tucked his nose into his t-shirt and Bás gagged.

“Jesus fucking Christ, what is he eating? It smells worse than a three-week-old corpse in the middle of the jungle.”

Titan wanted to disagree or at least defend his potential child’s honour, but he couldn’t because Bás wasn’t wrong.

Duchess waved at the contents of the nappy. “Just hurry the fuck up.”

“What do I do?”

“Clean him up.”

She shoved the wipes at him and he grimaced at the thought of getting up close and personal with the sewage stuck to the kid’s little tooshie. Grabbing a handful of wipes, he attacked the mess as best he could and pulled the full nappy out of the way. He was immediately covered in piss as the little guy peed straight up, catching him all over his forearms.

“Urgh, gross.”

Duchess laughed. “What? He’s enjoying having some air. I’m sure you boys are the same.”

“I’ve never pissed straight up, I can tell you that,” Bás denied.

Titan smirked. “Yeah, well, this boy is probably hung more than you.”

“Fuck you, Titan. I have no complaints.”

Now most of the stench was gone, he slipped a clean nappy under the baby and fastened it like he’d seen Snow do with her baby. Doing the onesie up was fiddly as fuck though, and it took him a few goes to get the poppers to line up. Lifting the kid straight up, he held him against his chest and breathed him in. He had that scent of milk and powder that all babies seemed to have, and he felt his heart kick up with a feeling he couldn’t name.

“So now what?” He looked at Bás as Valentina walked in with Watchdog on her heels.

Watchdog’s gaze flicked to the baby and, for the first time in months, there seemed to be a flicker of life behind his friend’s eyes.

“Now we find out who this little guy belongs to and why the fuck they left him on our doorstep.”

“I’ve already traced the car.”

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