Page 16 of No Second Chances

“You’re in the way of tacos, my man.” Tugging on his hand gently, I pull him into step next to me and we walk into the restaurant. “So you better speed it up and you can have some, too. You know…” I lean down next to him to whisper, “I don’t share my tacos with anyone at all. Not even your momma. So me sharing my tacos with you is something special.”

“Your tacos are on me today,” Parker says when she joins us. “I’m sorry to spring it on you last minute, but Remy and the guys are going out to Galloway Bay this weekend to help with something to do with roller derby. And after everything that happened, I don’t trust Nox with anyone but you.”

She doesn’t say anything else about it because Nox is right there, but I know what Parker is talking about. Hell, everyone in Birch knows what happened the night Nox was taken and buried alive.

Parker has every right to be psychotic when it comes to her son’s care, and I wouldn’t blame her even if she didn’t trust me.

“Hey, Nox.” I point him in the direction of my favorite booth at the back of the restaurant. “Go have a seat. I’m sure Vi is gonna bring you over some food as soon as she sees you. I got my taco order on repeat.”

He takes off like a bolt of lightning, leaving me standing there with Parker and a tiny bit of privacy.

“How is he?” I miss being at the house with them, but honestly, I like having my own space and not hearing my big brother having sex. Which actually happens a lot. They are loud after Nox goes to bed, and my room happened to be the halfway mark between the two rooms, so I heard it all.

“He’s a lot better than I am,” she admits with a long look at her son. “But he’s still having nightmares sometimes. I wouldn’t ask you to stay with him, but this trip seems pretty important to Remy. I guess one of his friends needs help. You know how he is about loyalty.”

I’m already nodding. “When a friend asks for help, you give it to them.”

She smiles. “Thank you, Kennedy.” We slowly make our way to the table. “We’re not leaving until tomorrow, but Nox got so excited about spending the weekend with you. If you don’t want to, I can ask Rose.”

“Shut the front door.” I raise an eyebrow while she tries and fails to come up with a response, her mouth opening and closing like a fish gasping for air. “I’ve got the next four days off, to use some vacation time before I lose it. It’s honestly not a big deal. Nox is my favorite, too. Of course I’ll keep him.”

“Good,” Nox says loudly from the table. “You didn’t have a choice. Mom said she’d break out the big guns if she needed.”

“Big guns?” I slide into the booth next to him and think about how many tacos the two of us can possibly go through.

“Yep.” He nods his head with the air of an old man and not a six-year-old kid. “She said I could use the crocodile tears if you didn’t say yes.”

“Traitor,” Parker mutters in response as she takes her spot across from us.

Almost immediately, Vi appears with two plates of tacos, proving yet again that she is beyond a badass who sees everything and runs Lucy’s like a champ.

“Thanks, Vi.” Nox reaches over the table to give her a high five. “Can I please have my usual?” There aren’t very many kids who have a usual at any restaurant, but that is the benefit of his mother running the place. Plus, he is so cute and caring that everyone just loves him to pieces.

“One Shirley Temple coming right up,” Vi answers him seriously, making sure to write it down before offering him a playful wink. “Anything else?”

“Nope.” He sits back down and snuggles into my side with a smile. “Auntie Kenny’s gonna share her tacos with me.” He completely ignores the fact that Vi brought him his own plate of tacos to eat.

Parker and Vi both snort at Nox’s statement. If it were anyone else in the world, I would have stabbed them in the hand for trying to steal my food. But not him. Since the first time I met him, when he cried and held his hands out for me to take him from his mother in the middle of the grocery store at three months old, I was his. Literally, he owns me. Heart and soul. It doesn’t hurt that he looks exactly like his father and uncle, either.

He has blond hair, blue eyes, and freckles under his eyes that will drive girls crazy when he becomes a man. Not only that, but Parker has raised Nox to be a gentleman, even if he is only six.

“Auntie Kenny?” Nox looks up at me with a question in his eyes, and I realize that I completely missed part of the conversation.

“What’s up? Sorry, I’m sleepy.” I yawn for dramatic effect. “I didn’t hear the question.”

Nox eyes me suspiciously, wrinkles on his forehead as he gives me a dissatisfied and sarcastic expression. “I asked,” he says dejectedly. “If you still have all the blankets we need for a blanket fort. You’re my favorite auntie, and that means you have to have the blankets, right?”

That little shit even bats his eyes at me. He knows he’s my weakness, and if I have to turn my living room upside down and inside out to make a fort for him to keep my top-shelf placement, I will.

“Duh,” I snap playfully. “What kind of aunt would I be if I didn’t have the blankets?”

“Great.” Nox claps his hands together as his drink shows up. “Let’s eat. Then we can make a fort and watch a movie.”

Parker leaves us there with the promise to send videos and pictures, but not before she inhales an entire plate of tacos. Nox and I make sure to eat our fill and to ask for a to-go box as well. By the time we make it back to my house, Parker has dropped off Nox’s backpack and a stack of extra sheets on my front porch.

“Mom knows what’s up,” Nox explains when we walk onto the front porch and see them. “She probably knows you don’t have enough blankets.” He nods to himself before opening the door and walking in like he owns the place.

We proceed to tear apart the house completely. The couch is moved. Every one of the dining chairs that my mother gave me when I moved in is dragged to the living room. We even grab an entire bin full of clothespins that I’d bought to dry my blankets outside during the summer.

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