Page 133 of Root

“Fuck you.” He sounds chuffed. “And I’m proud of you.”

“You’re not going anywhere?”

“Fuck no. Rose is too murderous to want to leave her role as emerging queen. And now she’s knocked up—”

“The only man who can defy medical science,” I say. “And you’re really old.”

“I’m allowed to fucking kill you and feed you to the cat,” he mutters. “It’s just a one in a million chance, that’s all. Maybe it’s Rose. Maybe she’s—”

“She didn’t cheat.”

He starts laughing and it’s a good sound, something I don’t hear enough. “Rose wouldn’t. I wouldn’t. Fuck.”

“Nikolai, you’ll be a great dad.” I stop. And I say it. “You already are.”

He goes silent.

The back of my neck burns. Jess is glaring, and I can picture Nikolai doing the same fucking thing, but before I sort this out with the girl my heart’s defected to, I need to say this.

“You raised me like your own, Nikolai, so yeah, I know what a great dad you are.”

The silence stretches longer and I hear liquid hit glass. He’s gonna have a drink and wish the ground could open and eat him because that’s preferable to emotions, but too fucking bad.

He has to get used to this all over again. Luckily, he’s got me and Rose to remind him he’s human. And old. I half-smile.

“I mean, you raised me right, dude, and I’m pretty fucking great.”

“Want me to list all the shit you’ve done that should have earned you a bullet?” Then he sighs. “I did do pretty well, Rush. Now, are you going to talk to me or go get that damned trouble maker?”

“Going. I love you, too.”

“Fucker.”

I hang up and give the cop back his phone. “You can both go. I got this.”

Jess stares at me as they take off, and we’re alone. The anger, the fear that she could run off, slams back into me and I look around, picking the guest house. I point to the big driveway as I pull out my phone and type in the address and the app to turn on the lights and unlock the door.

“I don’t want to go with you.”

“Too fucking bad, Jessie, you’re not in charge here, I am.” I look around.

“Are you breaking in somewhere?”

“Don’t be stupid. We own everything in a two-block radius. Everyone who works for Nikolai lives here. The guards, drivers, his personal staff of ass kickers. I mean the estate’s fucking huge, but this is all essentially ours. Including those bikes you were trying to steal. Mia and Tony live somewhere near, too.”

“Oh, so you’re just going to park your ass in someone’s place?”

I grab her elbow and steer her forward with me. And yeah, it feels good touching her, even if she decides to get stabby.

“Not everything needs to be fucking hard work, Jess,” I mutter.

We reach the door as the cheery lights that come along the path end and the porch ones spring to life in a soft glow. The light at the windows is inviting and her face is a little mutinous and a little of the kid seeing a happy Christmas setting for the first time.

I’m talking tree, presents, cookies, Santa and family.

She wants the inviting.

Even as she pushes away before it rejects her.

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