𝓦𝓱𝓸𝓵𝓵𝔂 𝓨𝓸𝓾𝓻𝓼

❃ Chapter Twenty - Bad, But Good

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Zoe
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It was when I heard him talk that I woke up, the sound of his voice, gruff and pleasant, making my whole body shudder from the memory of last night. The smile on my face was instant.

"Oh, shit, I forgot that was today," he was saying, not sounding too stressed about forgetting, tho. "Yes, Pip, I'm alright. You gotta stop asking me that, I'm fine. I'm really fucking perfect, not just fine."

And didn't I know the why of it?

"Don't bother with that, I don't need any of that. I'd rather have you do me favors when I ask you to, not buy me stupid presents." He stated. "I don't need anything right now. Mm-hmm… right. Well, I would like to have a… no, where did you get that? I wanted to say listen to your kid speak gibberish, not a pet!" With a long exhale, he continued, "Did he start… oh, really? I can't wait Christmas, I'm gonna teach him all type of bad words." He snickered. "Uh-huh, love you too, Pip. How's Reeve?"

As I fluttered my lashes to look at him, I noticed he was on his back, his eyes closed and his phone at his ear.

"Mm, that's good." He listened to whoever was on the phone as he lowered his fingers on my arm with his free hand to stroke my skin. The amusement almost immediately disappeared as he pouted, arching his brows as well, "Ouch, do you really have to be so mean? You know, I have feelings too. And hearing you insult me like this? My heart crushes."

He stilled his fingers, raising his brows as if he'd been rolling his eyes. "We're gonna sell body parts on the black market, don't you know?" He returned to the meek motion of the finger then, "I'm not gonna teach him how to hurt other kids, are you insane? I'm gonna teach him how to hide their bodies, duh!"

Even if the theme wasn't amusing at all, I still smiled as I thought out loud, "At least teach him how to do it right."

"Exactly," Jer murmured, smirking a little.

"Good morning," I smiled, raising up to kiss his cheek.

He smiled wider, briefly raising his lashes to look at me, "Morning to you too, kitten!"

As I settled back with my forearm on his chest, my chin pressed on the back of my hand, he exchanged a couple more words with whoever he was talking to before hanging up. Most of those words consisted of nos and it's-not-happenings, after which he concluded with give-your-man-my-hello-and-your-kid-a-kiss.

Hanging up the phone, almost throwing it on his nightstand, he turned to me and cradled me in his arms, burying his nose in my hair.

"Morning, kitten," he purred in my ear.

"Morning to you too, Jerome!"

Stuck in the cage of his arms, I struggled to find a loophole and return the tight embrace. "Who were you talking to?" I said mostly curiously.

"My sister," he sighed.

"Why the sigh? Is there something wrong? Is she okay?"

There was a long pause at the sound of my question, one that seemed to last an eternity before he replied. "No, no, there's nothing wrong," he whispered, "It's just my birthday apparently."