Page 8 of Pushing Styxx
“Oh, you have a baby.” Promise squeaks excitedly. “If you ever need a babysitter, I’ve got a certification for babysitting, and I’ve taken CPR classes. I took a course at the youth center in town. I’m free any time I don’t have school, which is any time after four in the afternoon, which again is after Hope drops me off at our house after picking me up. She takes me to school as well, though I wish she didn’t, but she doesn’t want me on the bus for long periods of time.
“I go to a private school. Again, I don’t want her paying for it, but she’s insistent because it’s where she went, and our parents paid for her to go. She says they would have wanted me to go there as well.
“Anyway, I can babysit any time after four until nine, nine-thirty. On the weekends, I’m free all day except Sundays. I do have to be home at a decent time. Hope doesn’t like for me to be out late. Granted, where we used to live, I get. Now that we’re in a better part of town, she probably wouldn’t mind so much to change the time. So, if you need me, I’m right next door.”
Before I can tell her I wasn’t looking for a babysitter, she pipes up again with a bright smile, eyes shimmering.
“Oh, and I have references if you need them. I’m really good with kids.”
“I’ll think about it, kid.” I doubted I’d ever let the kid watch my daughter, but I didn’t want to hurt her feelings.
“Promise.”
I stiffen at the sweetest voice I’ve ever heard and glance in the direction it was coming from to find the sweet Temptation rushing in our direction. She’s dressed in a pair of skin-tight jeans that encase a set of legs I want to feel wrapped around me, along with a tank top that barely contains those perfect tits of hers.
Hope’s a lot shorter than I would have put her at. She’s maybe five-six at most, putting her barely reaching my shoulders.
Her eyes come to mine as she reaches us before going back to her sister, hands on her hips. “What did I tell you about being the noisy neighbor. We just moved in.”
“I was just introducing myself,” Promise mutters.
“Right, well, come on. We have to go to the grocery store.”
“Ugh, can’t you go without me?”The teenage sass in Promise’s voice makes me glad Eabha is only a baby. “I want to be able to see . . .” Promise glances back to me. “You didn’t tell me your name.”
“Styxx,” I grunt.
“What kind of name is Styxx?”
“Promise,” Hope snaps and looks at me. “I’m so sorry, my sister doesn’t have a filter.”
“Yes, I do,” Promise protests. “I just don’t see why I should have to hold back questions I want answers to.”
Damn, the girl is funny. Loopy maybe.
“Well, you’re going to the store with me. We have things to get, and if you want me to make my lasagna for dinner, we need to get going,” Hope states.
“You should come over for dinner,” Promise remarks, still looking at me. “And bring your baby, of course. What’s her name?” she asks, dropping her gaze to my daughter.
“Eabha,” I answer.
Eabha makes a disgruntled sound from her seat, letting me know her displeasure with still being in it. She’s not one for being in the damn thing unless we’re in the car.
“I’ll see y’all around. I need to get her inside.”
“Right, well, nice to meet you, Eabha,” Promise says, speaking directly to my daughter.
I leave the two women, well, woman and girl, to it as I fight not to look back over at Hope while heading for my front door. It’s not easy, and I have to grit my teeth to keep from doing it, but as I unlock the door, I glance over, seeing them walking back toward their place just as Hope looks over her shoulder in my direction.
Our eyes meet, and damn if I don’t want to march over to her and claim those pretty lips of hers.
Hope is the first to look away as she heads straight to her car, making me wonder what had been on her mind.
Why does it even matter?
All I need to be worried about right now is taking care of my daughter.
She’s all that matters. Nothing else.
