Page 82 of Rent Free

“Hello, Good Solomon,” Gable drawled.

She rolled her eyes.

“There are a whole slew of good Solomons.” She sighed. “There’s only the one that sucks.”

“If you say so,” Gable teased.

She hefted Forest up on her hip again, but decided after she’d done that it’d be easier to put him down since he was somewhat contained in Dad’s office.

“What are we looking at?” Pepper asked, squinting at the screen.

I gestured her to come closer, and when she did, I patted my leg.

She hesitated, contemplating what she should do, but ultimately chose to take a seat on my thigh.

She perched on the front of my leg, nearest my knee, as if she was waiting to take off at any second.

I leaned forward, hooked her around the waist, and tugged her to sit completely in my lap.

She stiffened, and I leaned forward and said, “Relax. I want to see, too.”

That was a lie.

As long as she was in my lap, I couldn’t care less what I was seeing.

She relaxed, though, allowing her back to rest into my front.

“Turn it up, darling,” Mamasauce ordered. “It’s too loud in here with all of your sons’ loud breathing.”

“Mom!” Gable whined. “I breathe like a lady.”

“You also smell like a lady,” Mom turned to him. “Why is that?”

Gable ignored that question and turned to Forest. “Oh, hey, Forest. Come to your uncle.”

“That’s low, using the baby,” Pepper said under her breath.

Gable scratched his nose with his little finger as he picked Forest up to rest in his lap.

Forest immediately reached for the cup of pens on Dad’s desk, knocking them all to the ground.

“Oops!” he threw himself down, and only Gable’s grip on his hips kept him from face planting onto the floor.

Pepper gasped and lunged but leaned back into my chest again once Gable proved he had him.

My own heart had taken a leap as well.

“I got it, Forest,” Auden said as he reached for the pens.

He filled the cup up and handed it back to Forest, leaving the rest of us the time to look back at the screen.

“Turn it up,” my mother repeated her earlier words.

Dad fiddled with the screen, and soon we could hear everything that was being said in the interrogation room.

“...wasn’t mine,” Sage was saying.

Auden snorted.

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