Page 20 of Always Salty

I jerked my chin up at him and he gave me one back, and I disappeared back inside.

Milena, my sister, was headed to Montana to run a marathon on a trail.

Cutter, however, was headed to the prison where his brother was located to kill the man that’d raped Milena.

I was wholly, one hundred percent on board with this morning’s activities.

I’d actually wanted to do this myself for years, but Milena had made all of us swear that we wouldn’t retaliate anymore against Lyle Pettigrew.

I was just happy that Cutter didn’t have that same pinky promise that Milena had forced out of us.

“Good,” I responded. “Let me know if you need any help.”

He jerked his chin up at me and started off at a jog.

Closing and locking the door, I headed to my bed where I set Nate down.

I came back seconds later in sleep pants and had a warm rag in my hand.

He started to twist away but I caught him by the foot and hauled him back to me. “You clean it.”

Nate took the rag and looked at it like it was going to bite him.

“It’s warm and soft. It won’t hurt that bad,” I pointed out.

He rubbed his nose on it and paused to test out how bad it hurt.

It must’ve been okay because he cleaned it better the second time.

“Use the other side to clean your eyes,” I suggested when he went to get to his eyes.

The kid twisted the rag over to the other side and I saw all the snot that was left over.

I curled my lip.

Kids were cool.

I didn’t mind them.

Until they started leaking.

Then kids weren’t my favorite things in the world.

However, I seemed to be able to handle a lot more from my nieces and nephews than kids who weren’t related to me.

After he was cleaned off as best as he could manage, I said, “Now blow your nose in it.”

The kid did, then handed it to me.

I nearly gagged as I took the rag and tossed it into the trash.

That was one rag I’d never use again.

When I came back, Nate looked just as miserable as when I’d left him.

I reached for him and pulled him into my arms before sitting on the bed, propping several pillows up behind me, and yanking the comforter over the both of us.

Nate laid his head down on my chest and went to sleep—fitfully.

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