Page 15 of Daddy's Little Chaos Gremlin

“He’ll be here,” I assured Phillip and Zephyr, too, leaving it at that for now, until Tristan and I could talk about pulling the plug on our time here and taking him home.

“Okay, then I, um—I’m good with a follow up in a month,” Zephyr replied.

“Perfect,” Phillip replied as he bent to unzip his carrying case.

As he always did, he made short work of this part of the process, declaring Zephyr’s blood pressure, heartbeat and respiration rate to be perfectly normal, while his blood sugar and weight were a bit on the low side.

“I’ll be looking for those to come up between now and our follow up,” Phillip said as he began meticulously packing away his things. “Though I doubt that will be an issue with the plan you’ve already begun to work out. Just remember that when keeping to little portions, you have to eat them in greater frequency or replace one with a smoothie if you don’t feel up to solids. Can you do that for me?”

“Yes, sir,” Zephyr said without any hesitation.

“Good. Then I will see you next month.”

“When, um, you say you want to see my weight come up, how much do you mean?” Zephyr asked.

“One pound,” Phillip said. “That’s all, and you shouldn’t have to do anything to gain that besides stick to the plan you’re already laying out.”

When he smiled at that, I felt myself relax a little, glad it wasn’t some number that would throw him into a panic or a fit of anxiety.

“All right, I’ve got another patient to see so I’d best get going,” Philip said. “Good to see you again, Tristan.”

He waved but kept silent, always a little wary of Phillip since his visits to the house to see him usually involved a tummy ache induced by over-indulging in the decadent treats Theo made on occasion. He hated enemas, but they tended to be the prescribedcourse of treatment, something I knew he held against Phillip, just a little.

“Thank you for coming,” I said as I walked him to the door.

“Anytime, you know that. I think you called it right when you contacted me, though,” Phillip said. “I can only see him thriving once he’s in your home.”

He winked when he said it and I tipped my hat as he stepped out the door. He was right, though. We couldn’t begin to implement a meal plan or any changes until we were back home. Someplace I longed to be more with every passing moment. I was just about to pull Tristan aside for what I hoped would be a quick conversation when my phone pulsed with the tones of “You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet.” Sebastion calling me was never a good sign and I felt my soul groan as I slid my finger over the icon to answer the call.

There was a reason I’d assigned that ring tone to him, dammit. Every time it went off I knew down to the tips of my toes that someone had gone and fucked up spectacularly, usually in a new and more disastrous way than any of the crew had ever fucked up before.

8

ZEPHYR

Loud, growled rumbles echoed up the hallway as Mr. Rowan told someone off. I’d heard a burst of music first and wondered if it was a neighbor being loud the way he kept warning us not to be. We were really trying, but the walls in the building seemed really thin, maybe because it was a newer place, unlike Honey Hearth, which had been an amazing Victorian Era home more than a hundred years old. I’d never even heard Grayson crying on the nights Josh claimed that he’d been fussy, and they’d been in the room next door to mine. I felt bad that Tristan was racking up chores when I was laughing and being loud right along with him and planned to ask Mr. Rowan if it was okay for me to help him, since I’d helped get him into trouble.

I just had to wait for him to be done grumbling at whoever had made him mad.

When I looked over at Tristan, I saw him staring down at his hands where they were clasped together in his lap, his lower lip trembling when Mr. Rowan’s bellowedIs he out of his fuckin’ mind?drifted up the hall. We both flinched before Tristan wrapped his arms around me and kissed my temple.

“Something bad happened at Daddy’s work,” Tristan explained. “He never gets mad like this unless someone screws up badly.”

Tensing, I made a mental vow never to fuck up. It was scary listening to him tell whoever it was that they’d better fix whatever had gone wrong before he was forced to get involved.

“Not me,” Tristan blurted, still holding on to me. “He’s never once yelled at me that way, and he won’t yell at you like that, either. He saves that for the people who work in his security business where messing up can get someone killed. If we mess up and get hurt or something bad happens to us, Daddy will blame it on himself for not watching us better or thinking ahead and planning accordingly ‘cause he’s supposed to be the one guarding us.”

When Tristan said it that way, I could see where it was different. Every time he called Mr. Rowan Daddy and me his baby brother made me long to call Mr. Rowan Daddy, too, but I was waiting to be told that it was okay.

And to earn the contract.

He’ll be here.

Mr. Rowan had been adamant about that when Mr. Phillip had wanted to set up my follow-up appointment, but it was all so fast. I knew better than to settle in completely until all the I’s had been dotted and the T’s had been crossed. I’d had contracts fall apart at the last minute through no fault of my own, like when the carnival owner who’d planned to hire me for the season was told by his accountant that not only couldn’t he afford me, he was going to have to cut three other acts loose before they got on the road, or he’d run out of payroll money before they’d earned back their operating costs. That’s how I’d wound up with Paulieand his family in the first place. They’d been one of the other acts let go, and with our complementary skills, it had only seemed wise to head out on the road together.

You tell him that I want his face on my video screen in thirty minutes or he can consider himself fired with no chance in hell of receiving a reference from me. As it is, I’d like to speak to Kelly when I’m finished with Ryan to see why the fuck he suggested him for the position in the first place if this is the bullshit he was known to pull. Why are we only hearing about this shit now when he’s been on assignment for the past twelve days? I needed to know these things before I trusted the safety of one of my clients to an incompetent who allows a kid without proper documentation into Katana’s dressing room on just his word that he’s Katana’s son! Was he smoking something that I need to know about? If that’s the case, then he’s still fired but at least it’s half a good god damned reason for that kind of abject stupidity.

“Oh yeah, Daddy is pissed,” Tristan murmured.

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