Page 88 of Psycho

Giving us two under two. Fucking wild.

“Oh, look who it is, Rory!” Peyton cheered excitedly as the guys waited for us at a corner. “Uncle TeeTee!”

Maddox groaned and rolled his eyes as Rory flailed in her carrier, arms and legs swinging a mile a minute as Tamen walked up to us from the darkness.

I tried really hard to keep my past judgments of him to myself, but I still kept him mostly at arm’s distance.

Rory, on the other hand, demanded every single time he was near, to be directly in his arms. And would scream bloody murder if she wasn’t.

As if on cue, she wailed a loud screech of delight as he tossed his cancer stick to the ground and reached for her without so much as greeting Maddox as he took her out of the carrier. Uncle TeeTee only had eyes for one girl, and she was currently slobbering on the side of his face, giving him her newly discovered kisses.

“Where’s your costume?” Dane asked, pushing his mask up on top of his head.

Tamen scoffed, “I’m wearing it.”

“What are you supposed to be, exactly?” I asked, eyeing his completely typical black suit.

“Irresistible.” He nodded to Rory as she giggled and kissed him again. “Duh.”

I rolled my eyes so far; I thought they’d get stuck. “Oh, how could I have missed that?”

“I figured I’d come check out this small-town vibe before I get wrapped up in the city for the next few months. I’m going to be busy and won’t make it out to as much of this stuff.”

Peyton locked right in on his early avoidance of the holiday season and lit into him. “What exactly is so important that you will be MIA more often than you already are?”

We had a weird little family unit with the five of us and Rory, but it kind of worked. At some point along the way, some weird unspoken truce occurred between the boys and Tamen, leaving us all in each other’s lives without a pivotal moment that started it.

Well, if you don’t count the one where I was kidnapped and gave birth in an abandoned building surrounded by serial killers. Because apparently Tamen wasn’t just a modern-day pimp, he was also dark and twisty with a knife and disappeared with the guys on hunts occasionally.

Like I said before, life was fucking wild.

Tamen shrugged and handed Rory back to Maddox when she let out a big fart, not wanting to be near her if she needed a diaper change as he avoided giving us any real information about his life. Another trait of his. “I bought a club. And the takeover of it is going to be extensive. Lots of things to change around.”

“A club?” Dane asked, not buying it.

“Yeah.” Tamen replied, looking out over the crowd as he put another cigarette between his lips. He wouldn’t light it being so near to Rory, even if we were outside, but it gave away his anxiety hidden beneath his mysterious exterior.

“What kind of club?” Peyton pushed.

“A club.” He repeated.

“A sex club.” I deadpanned, already knowing a leopard never changes its spots.

The group all stared at Tamen and waited for him to either confirm or deny it, but we all knew I was right.

Eventually he groaned and faced me head on, “A legitimate place that respectable people pay a lot of money to go to where they can enjoy things with like-minded people.”

“Is it legal?” I countered, and he waved me off.

“It’s consensual.” He replied. “That should be enough.”

Maddox scoffed and hushed Rory, who was getting antsy with all of us just standing still. “It’s not.”

“Whatever.” Tamen rolled his neck. “Good thing I didn’t ask your bloody opinion on it then, huhdad?”

“We just want you to be safe.” Peyton smoothed over for the group, but she was speaking for herself and maybe a little for Dane. Maddox and I couldn’t care less about what happened to the guy other than Rory would miss him if he ended up in prison for prostitution. “And to be someone that we can be proud to call family.”

“Oy,” Tamen cringed at the word and shook it off, “I’m successful and I’m bloody rich.” He smiled brightly at Peyton. “That should be enough.”

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