Total pages in book: 153
Estimated words: 155903 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 780(@200wpm)___ 624(@250wpm)___ 520(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 155903 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 780(@200wpm)___ 624(@250wpm)___ 520(@300wpm)
“Let Daddy try.” He sat next to her and took hold of Petal.
“Petal needs to go to bed. She’s very, very tired.” Faith yawned as she took a cookie and bit into it.
“Sounds like another Little girl I know.”
“Idon’tknowwhatyou’retalkingabout,” she mumbled around another big mouthful of cookie.
“Uh-uh, Little girls need to use their manners. Did you say thank you for the cookie?”
“Um. Thank you, Daddy,” she said after swallowing.
“That’s better and no more talking with your mouth full.”
“Okay, Daddy.” She took another bite of cookie as he held up Petal who was now diapered.
“Daddy! You did it! How did you learn to diaper a dolly?”
“Us Daddy’s just have skills.”
She threw her arms around him, hugging him tight. “I guess you do.” A sad sigh left her. “It’s getting late and I need to go home.”
“No.” He tightened his hold on her.
Yeah, she’d known this wouldn’t go down well.
“I have to. I have to go to work in the morning and my boss is a real tyrant if I’m late. So I need to go home and get some sleep and make sure I have clean clothes and underwear.”
“Your boss thinks you should go to work with no underwear.”
“No. That doesn’t sound like something he would say. Or maybe it’s the way you’re saying it. You need to scowl and say it in a really grouchy way. ‘Faith! Get your ass to work tomorrow minus the panties! Or you’re fired!’”
“I do not sound like that.”
“Uh-huh, you totally do. I am the bestest at boss impressions.”
“You made me sound like SpongeBob SquarePants’ boss. The grouchy dude.”
“Oh. My. God.” She gaped at him. “That’s it! That’s who you remind me of. You’re Squidward!” She clapped her hands. “Oh, that’s been bothering me for ages. Now, I know.”
“I know that you’re a brat who still owes me lines and needs another spanking for calling me Squidward!”
Standing, she laughed. “No, Daddy! No!”
He stood and reached for her. She barely managed to dive away with a squeal.
“Come back here!” he demanded.
“No, Squidward! You won’t catch me! I’m the Gingerbread man!”
“Uh, there’s no Gingerbread man in SpongeBob SquarePants,” he pointed out as she raced off out of the room.
“Daddy, no being logical!”
“Get back here!” he demanded.
She giggled as she ran around the living room. She’d never thought Reuben would relax like this . . . that he could have fun.
And she vowed that she was going to make him do this more often. He carried the weight of the world on his shoulders, and whether he liked it or not, she was going to take care of him as well.
43
Reuben walked into Alejandro’s office at the Circus of the Dark, nodding to the Scot who stood guard outside the door. Cairn was standing guard at the bottom of the stairs.
Alejandro glanced up with a nod at him. “Wasn’t actually certain you’d come.”
Reuben just raised an eyebrow as he sat across from him.
“Thought you might be too busy with Faith.” Alejandro’s lips twitched as though he was holding back a grin.
“I just dropped her off where she’s staying.” Which he hated. He wanted her with him.
And he knew she wanted to be with him, too. Even if she’d been grumpy about having to write lines before he’d taken her home.
“So you didn’t kidnap her and lock her in your lair?”
“Of course not. That’s more your style.” He was alluding to how Alejandro had once locked Cat in his home.
“It is,” Alejandro agreed.
“She’ll be in my apartment by the end of the week,” Reuben said confidently.
Alejandro nodded.
“Did you bring her things?” Reuben asked.
Faith had been nervous about going back to her friend’s house without her coat. He didn’t like that. It was just a fucking coat. Surely, her friend wouldn’t worry about it being returned a few days late.
Yes, Faith would definitely be living with him by the end of the week.
“No. Cat is insisting on returning them in person. They’re going to become friends.” It was a statement from Alejandro. One he wouldn’t argue with.
Alejandro was his friend. His employer. He’d helped save his life when he’d gotten into trouble with the Venturos a few years back.
But Cat would always come first.
Which was the way it should be.
“Of course. Faith already likes her. She just needs the coat back. She thinks her friend will be upset with her.”
Alejandro nodded. “All right.”
“Oh, and I’m ruining Leonard for talking to Faith the way he did.” Fucking asshole.
Alejandro waved his hand in the air. “He thinks he’s a big fish, but he’s no one. I kept him hanging to see if I could use him in anyway, but I have no problem with you taking him out. I’ll help you in whatever way I can.”
“Good.”
“We need to talk about Venturo’s death,” Alejandro told him.
“What have you discovered?”
Reuben wasn’t really worried about the death of the former head of the Venturo family. Former head because the Venturo family was no more.