Hands All Over

Ch. 116 Old Memories

Happy opened one eye as the sound of Evie's crying filled the room. He glanced at the alarm clock sitting on the bedside table. It was barely five o'clock in the morning. Groaning, he got out of bed and trudged over to the small bassinet in the corner. Evie was squirming around, her hands balled into fists. "What do you want, brat?" he asked the baby.

Evie just kept right on screaming, her cute little face all scrunched up as she wailed on. Rubbing a hand over his face, he scooped her up into his arms. "You shit yourself, didn't ya?" he asked, going over to the changing table his Aunt had set up in the corner. He laid her down on it and stared at the diapers and wipes. "Look, I haven't done this shit in years, you sleep for an hour or two more, 'n' I'll get your Aunt Chlo over to clean you, yeah?"

She cried on, not giving a shit about his deal. Grimacing, he undid the little buttons of her onesie and opened her diaper. "Your Ma would get a kick outta this," he muttered, cleaning Evie up before tossing the dirty diaper in the diaper genie and putting a new diaper on her. Now clean, Evie was giving him big smile around the little fist she had in her mouth. "Feelin' better, princess?"

Evie cooed back at him, kicking out her little legs. He had to admit she was a pretty baby. Shining dark eyes, a head full of soft curls, and a smile that was going to break a lot of hearts. "Look like your Ma," he told her, picking her up and cradling her against his chest. "Smile's all his though. Fuckin' idiot."

"Are you cursing at your niece?" Chloe's voice came from the doorway.

He smirked, setting Evie back in the bassinette. She started to whine again, so he picked her back up. "You're s'posed to be in my room," he told Chloe, sitting down on the bed with Evie on his chest.

"Heard her cryin'," she explained on a shrug. "Didn't know if you could handle it."

Happy scoffed, rubbing his hand over Evie's back. "I got her. 's not difficult," he murmured, fighting against a smile when Evie yawned and snugged in closer to his chest. "Likes to be held."

"She's a cuddler," Chloe said, sitting down next to him.

"Like her Ma," he said softly. Angela loved being held as a baby, loved being cuddled into his side during movies when she was a kid, it wasn't until she was older that she realized he wasn't a big fan of cuddling or hugs and started to pull away. "Huh, brat? You got your Ma's genes. Not that idiot's."

Chloe scowled, leaning her head against Happy's shoulder and stroking her hand over Evie's back. "You're worried about her," she stated softly before pressing a kiss to his bare shoulder.

He was still getting used to how well Chloe could read him. Of course, he was worried about Angela. He spent most of his life worried about her. "Don't like not known' where she's at," he muttered, turning to kiss Evie's head. "Never happened before."

Chloe sighed softly. "Wherever they are, I hope they're okay."

---------------

Angela had a white knuckled grip on the steering wheel of the Escalade as she pulled up to the front of the small liquor store. She hadn't gotten through to Diana, but Rosa had answered and had managed to get a hold of her dad, Oso, the newly appointed president of the Mayan's Stockton charter. Oso told them to meet with him and the rest of the Oakland chapter at the Oakland warehouse. The same Oakland warehouse she'd spent hours in with Esai. Those had been her favorite days when they were together. Just hanging out there with him, watching him work on his bike, playing cards with him and the younger Mayans, and just messing around with him. She didn't want to go back in there and relive those memories. Didn't want to have Juice in there surrounded by Esai's ghost.