Page 89 of Just A Little Fling

“Baaabbo, dat’s mean.”

“Is that your Daddy’s name, Nico?” Rory asked from across the table, I think in an effort to distract Nico from getting in trouble.

I held my breath to see how Nico was going to answer. “Yeah, Babbo my Daddy.” Rory nodded his understanding and returned his attention to his food.

A commotion at the front door announced the arrival of Jakob and Reed. Always animated, Jakob burst into the room with an exaggerated wiggle of his butt and a twirl. He was sunbeams and rainbows and dressed as brightly as both. His blond curls bounced around his head. I wasn’t sure if he was most excited about his friends or the food because he seemed equally enthusiastic about both. While Reed said hello to the Daddies around the table, Jakob made the rounds, giving hugs to his friends.

When Jakob got to Nico, he asked cautiously if he could give him a hug. The hesitancy answered any doubt about whether Nico was in on the purpose of our lunch.

Magic Eight Ball says very doubtful.

Nico accepted the hug with a fierce grip, and Jakob gripped him tightly back.

“Nico, you ’kay? You mad?”

“Not mad. I tired,” Nico answered.

It wasn’t clear how these boys had orchestrated this, but I was grateful they had. Nico would likely push back later when he wasn’t exhausted, but for now, he was letting himself accept the softness being offered. His usual MO was to rebel against it to be as independent as possible. But today, he’d accepted it.

“Jakob, come sit and eat,” Reed instructed. “You told me the entire way over that you were going die on the spot from hunger.” Jakob gave one more quick hug to Nico and then obeyed his Papa.

The table talk turned to summer vacations and politics. The boys were silly and eager for dessert. Their Daddies worked to get some vegetables in them before giving in and letting them run roughshod over the idea. Next to me, Nico picked at his food without eating much. His droopy eyes spoke to just how little he’d been sleeping.

I knew him well enough to know he’d never let his work suffer but would always take it out on his personal life. He didn’t need a wild afternoon playdate. He needed a bath, quiet time, and a nap.

“Baby, you need some sleep. We are going home, and you’re going to take a nap.”

“No, I wanna play.” His mutinous expression was coupled with crossed arms.

“Little boy, you’re exhausted, and I’m not going to argue,” I whispered in his ear. “I know you want to stay, but you should’ve thought about that when you decided to work yourself to the bone and not take care of yourself. Since you haven’t, I will.” Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Gabe nod firmly in agreement. I’d intended to keep my voice down but failed.

That spurt of sass was all he had in him. Nico was too worn to do more than nod after that. If my boy couldn’t take care of himself, then I was stepping in whether he liked it or not.

CHAPTERTWENTY-TWO

NICO

Babbo was here, and it was all gonna be all right.

Anders had promised it would be when I got to Owen’s house. When he’d pulled me aside and said he needed to speak with me while Owen helped someone outside, I was scared I’d somehow done something wrong because he sounded so serious.

When I heard what the boys had planned, I was angry for half a second, but my emotions immediately morphed into relief. I’d been so miserable since I’d walked away from Levi in the club. The conversation with Nonna had rattled around my head nonstop since we’d had it. The trouble was I hadn’t figured out a way to go back, tail between my legs, and tell him I was wrong to walk away. I didn’t want anyone but him, but demand for independence was my default position, even when I didn’t want it to be.

At night, I lay in my bed with Saffy and Wormie as my sounding boards and tried to talk through what I was feeling about Babbo. Their advice wasn’t overly useful, but they didn’t mind when I went on a tangent about how sexy he was when he fixed breakfast shirtless or came home with his tie loosened and glasses perched on his nose.

I knew the boys only wanted to get Babbo and me in the same space. Their hearts were in the right place, and I was glad they took it out of my hands, but I needed to get out of there. I felt like I was crawling out of my skin.

“Babbo, we go?” I whispered. He immediately whipped his head around and gave me a searching look.

“You want to go now?” Babbo looked at our still-full plates because we were too preoccupied with our thoughts to eat, shrugged, and pushed his chair back from the table. He turned and helped me up. The boys looked at each other with concerned eyes, but Babbo waved them off.

“Nico’s going to come home with me.”

Uncle B slipped into the kitchen and put together a takeout bag that he handed to Babbo.

“He’ll be looking for dessert later.”

With that, Babbo led me out of the house and to his car. I reached for the door, but he brushed my hand away and opened it himself. Once inside, he buckled me in and closed the door. I barely moved when his car door opened and he slipped inside. Later, I’d demand he respect my independence, but in the meantime, I’d rest my eyes.

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