Page 48 of Clean Slade
But that was enough for me.
I just hoped he didn’t come to regret saying those things to me.
TWELVE
KING
It was killing me not to tell Slade the entire truth, but something told me he wouldn’t approve of my plan.
Which sucked because I could use his help and that of his experienced friends, but the fewer people I involved in my mess, the better.
Besides, he was far better utilized for protecting my daughter than helping me with my father’s demise.
I still hadn’t come up with a plan, but I had time. I’d figure something out. I may not have been able to do it when I was young and stupid, but I could handle it now.
I hope.
I offered Slade the spare room in my house, the one next to Mac’s, and he wasted no time going back to Luna’s Lodge to pack the rest of his stuff and bring it here. Thankfully he’d stopped by the retreat to pick up the rest.
By the time he was back and settled, it was almost six in the morning, and there was no point going to bed.
“All settled?” I asked him.
He smiled and opened his bedroom door.
It should have shocked me, but it didn’t when I found all his stuffed animals had moved in with him.
“Oh my God. You don’t realize just how many there are until you see them in a tiny-ass room.”
“The room’s fine,” he said, and I laughed.
“You’re focusing on the wrong thing. What is it about stuffed animals anyway?” Maybe it was inappropriate, but if he was going to live under my roof, wasn’t it my right to ask?
“I just like them.”
“Is that it?” I tried to bite back a laugh, but I wasn’t sure I’d been successful.
He shrugged.
“I don’t know. My dad used to buy us one each for Christmas and birthdays. He loved collecting them, and I guess he was trying to pass on the bug to us. I guess he was successful in passing it down to me. But honestly, I just like them. They make me feel…less shitty.”
Well, if that wasn’t the most adorable thing in the whole wide world. Not that I’d ever stop teasing him for it. I needed to entertain myself somehow. It could be myownway of feeling…less shitty.
“I guess I can understand that. But Care Bears? Really?”
Slade glowered and shoved me, and I couldn’t hold my laughter any longer.
“I think I liked you better when you were being moody and mysterious,” he said.
If only he knew I was still those things. Especially every time I circled back to what I had to do, both for my father and my family.
I hated not knowing what my father wanted of me. I hoped it was nothing. I hoped it would be simple, but things never were with him.
All the more reason to get rid of him sooner rather than later.
“Daddy,” I heard from the other room and went to find Mac.
“What’s up, sweetie?”
