"Creep." I stick my tongue out at him. He returns the gesture along with an eye roll.
"Daddy! Mummy said you and-and she is havin' a party and me and Li Li can go!" Mar shouts at him. He gets so excited over everything and it's so fricking adorable. I peck the back of each one of their heads; I love the crap out of my babies.
Zayn gives him a toothless grin, where his eyes are squinted and his cheeks are squishy and God Liyana is actually a spitting image of him. "Oh yeah?"
"Yeah! We lookin at da pictures now too! You gonna look wid us?" I look up at Zayn and flutter my lashes and bite my lip so he has no choice. And just as I knew he would, he strides over to us and collapses back on the couch, practically right on top of me. Li immediately crawls over Marley and plants herself right in Zayn's lap, turning to give him the same toothless grin. Traitor.
"Feelin better today?" He asks me as he picks up Li and holds her high in the air so that it looks like she's flying. She's squealing and giggling and probably on cloud nine as he keeps lowering her and raising her in the air, pretending that she's an airplane.
"Yeah, loads," I respond, lacing my fingers through his gray hair as my head falls to his shoulder. "How was work?"
"Shitty," he snorts. "Lou flipped out on me for the second fucking day in a row. Like it's my fault that Genevieve didn't work out, you know? And to make matters worse, she keeps calling me and I won't answer. So of course Lou gave me an earful for that too."
"I'm sorry," I murmur into the space behind his ear. "I don't know what I can do to help. Do you want a cupcake?" I smile into the same spot, and I hear him lightly chuckle before turning his head to somewhat face me. "They're red velvet with cream cheese frosting and filling today. I got the recipe from the Pioneer Woman Cooks. Love her. And you know what they say...the way to a man's heart is through his stomach."
"Or through his dick."
I flick his ear, causing him to laugh hysterically. "What," he continues. "It's a compliment. To you." He pushes off of the couch then, bringing Li with him. "Cause you've already got the man, yeah?"
I shouldn't get butterflies. But I do.
*
"So I learned this new thing from Twitter called Netflix and chill," Zayn says as I'm snuggled up on the couch wrapped in a fleece blanket. The kids have gone to bed, despite it being just after eight, and Zayn's busy trying to hook up Netflix to the tv, I think. "And I figured a low key night is in store for us since we lead some of the most dramatic lives-oh for fuck's sake...we're about to just watch it on your iPad, honestly." He blurts. I'm guessing he's having a tough time. But he's the one who insisted on having one of those smart tv things. I said get a basic big screen and call it a day, but no. Don't listen to Charlie.
"That's fine. I actually wanted to show you something anyway." Whether he wants to or not, he's going to help me decide on a venue. Oh yeah, momma bear has spoken.
"Is it on now?" he asks from behind the tv.
"Yeah, you just have to sign in." He does so, me admiring his bent over form in black sweats and a gray sweatshirt with the sleeves cut off. Yum yum yum. I commented one day on how the sleeves of a lot of his shirts are cut off and he told me (quote) 'I cut my own sleeves bitch.' And then he apologized for using the word bitch, stating that he would never call me that.
He's back on the couch soon after, pulling some of my blanket over him and throwing his arm around me as I bring my head to his chest. "Now what is it you wanted to show me?"
Chapter 21
Start from the beginning
