Page 218 of Solanum

"What am I going to tell Maya? And Anita. She'll think I've been rash…"

"You'll tell Maya the truth and Anita won't think that. If she does, I'll tell her to fuck off," I said, frowning at the idea of Anita laying into Nora.

"Don't do that. She's having a rough time…"

"With Marita, I know." I nudged her chin so she'd meet my gaze again. "Anita's okay. So are you."

"I don't feel okay." She sniffled then curled toward me to rest her head on my shoulder.

I wrapped my arms around her and caressed her back. "I know, honey. How can I help?"

She remained quiet for a few minutes, though the weight of her against me deepened when she relaxed. Eventually she whispered, "Make me purr?"

I chuckled softly and nibbled her ear. "I promise."

Her mouth curved into a smile against my neck while she settled with me. I pressed my lips to her shoulder and kissed her softly while the weight of everything tumbled around us. Relief tangled with worry, but at least Nora wouldn't be returning to the FBI any time soon. Of that much, we could both be sure.

We shared dinner with Sali and Maggie while camped out in the living room after both of us changed out of our work clothes. Eventually, Harper and Moreno joined us, along with Ben, Katie, and Olivia. Our evening turned into an all-out pizza party, and Nora welcomed the distraction.

Olivia bullied whoever she could into a nail painting session, and we laughed when she covered almost all Sali's fingertips in messy blue. She moved on to Katie and Harper after, leaving Maggie and Nora to their own devices. Maggie held up a pink bottle of polish to Nora, a silly grin on her face. Nora nodded through her snickers then set her hands down on the table. The noise level around us grew exponentially, and I found myself settling into it.

"Whatcha thinkin' about?" Sali tossed herself on the sofa beside me and landed a playful punch to my gut.

I let out a dramatic puff of breath, then shoved her. "Not much."

"Liar. Your face is like a fucking giant prune."

"Your face is like a stank old twat."

"Har har." Sali scoffed. "Least I'm still a pussy."

I laughed at her. "Yeah. You are."

"That backfired." She scrunched up her face and laughed. "Fuck you."

"Fuck yourself," I said, smirking at her failure. "You're off your game tonight."

"Yeah, well, with good reason." She flopped back into the pillows beside me and we both fell quiet for a moment while observing the room. "Nora seems okay."

"She is for now. Feels a little strange without Anita here. She's been around a lot when Nora's been down and out."

"We're working on that. She's taking me to see Doctor Lewis this week to talk about taking over prescribing for me so we can terminate." She glanced at me and shrugged. "We're better off just being normal."

"You good with that?"

"Yeah. Better than the awkward shit we've dealt with."

"For sure."

"Have you showed Nora the basement yet?"

"No." My brows flicked upward. "Is it ready?"

"Oh yeah." Sali grinned and wagged her brows at me. "All the final shit got here yesterday. Mags and I set it up with Gene's help. Harper watched…"

"I saged, Salinger." Harper tossed her a glare from the spot on the floor in front of us.

"Quit eaves dropping, jerk."

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