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My daughter?
What was Josh thinking? I look at the boys, positive that the panic is evident on my face. They all looked back at me with pleading eyes.
Fine.
"Yes," I agreed, turning back to the admin. "This is my daughter Mila."
"Hmm," Chrissy hummed. Clearly she was unconvinced. "Why is she here?"
"Unprotected sex," Cooper volunteered.
I felt myself crack a smile. I watched as Danny and Josh tried to cover their own laughs. Walter even looked slightly amused. Chrissy, however, did not.
"What is she doing in this house?" she asked me with a bitter tone.
I had no answer. I hadn't even known that Mila was my daughter until a few seconds ago, I didn't have time to craft a lie about what she was going to do here. "I needed a sitter," I said.
"And three hcokey boys were your best bet?" she asked me.
"They are great with Mila," I defended them.
"Ha," Chrissy said without amusement.
This bitch. She was insulting how Mila was being raised without knowing it. I was angry on their behalf, but I could tell that the boys were also getting mad.
I rolled my eyes. "Do you want to comment on how I raise my daughter or can you leave these poor boys alone?" I asked frustratedly.
"I wouldn't expose my daughter to these men," Chrissy said with a disgusted look on her face. "I would have dropped out of college to raise her."
It took every particle of my being not to yell at her or slap her or something.
"I wouldn't waste my time talking to three boys because you were clearly misinformed by your 'tip line'." I would move my flat ass alon and go bother some other innocent people. I wanted to say the last bit, but I kept it in my head.
"Don't tell me how to do my job," she told me.
"Don't tell me how to raise my daughter," I shot back.
She rolled her eyes with a sneer. "We'll just take a peek around," she told the boys.
I sat with the boys and Mila on the couch while Chrissy and Walter checked every room in the house. Mila called me 'Mommy' the entire time and I was impressed that she never messed up. All of the boys were tense and not talking, so I played with Mila.
"Okay," Chrissy's naisily voice said as she came downstairs. "There is nothing here, but there is a room without a doorknob."
I watched as Cooper and Josh exchanged a quick look. "Sorry that came off last week and we haven't gotten around to replacing it," Josh told Chrissy.
"Okay," she said. She seemed disappointed that she hadn't found anything. "I guess we'll be going. Sorry for the inconvenience," she told the boys.
She only spared me one disapproving look as she left the house, Walter trailing behind.
The front door clicked closed and there was a moment of absolute silence before three breaths were released and all of the boys slumped back against the couch.
"Do you want to tell me what just happened?" I asked them.
"Apparently someone reported that we had somebody other than one of us living here," Cooper explained."So Chrissy and Walter got to come here and inspect."
"That's a shitty thing to do," I said.
"I know," Danny agreed.
"When I get my hands on whoever reported us.." Josh threatened. I traced the lines on Josh's palm and I could practically feel him calming down. "Sorry for throwing you under the bus Blondie," she said with half a smile.
"Don't call me that," I told him. Then I returned his smile, "It's okay. Is it just me or was Chrissy a..."
"Bitch," Cooper offered.
"Swear Jar," Josh and Danny said at the same time.
"Worth it," Cooper said as he put some cash into the jar.
"I was going to say a grouch," I said. I was actually going to say bitch as well, but Mila was still sitting in front of me.
"Liar," Josh whispered in my ear.
"Shut up," I said quietly. We looked at each other. I suddenly felt trapped in his gaze.
After the past few weeks I had become much closer to the boys. Sometimes Danny and Cooper felt like my brothers, and Mila was a ball of energy. It was actually nice to have friends other than Cami. Not that Cami's presence wasn't enough, of course it was, but being exposed to other people was good for me.
Josh, however, did not feel like my brother. I wasn't sure why, but he made me feel differently when I was around him. I trusted him just as much as the other boys, but he made my heart race faster. I must have a heart issue.
What was exhausting was keeping the secret of Mila away from Cami. The guys didn't want more people than necessary knowing about her existence. I got that, they had only known Cami for a month, and I probably wouldn't know except I had found out by accident. But Cami was a very nosey person as I pointed out to them after multiple close calls.
"I just came to tell Cooper to upload his photos to the article," I said, changing my focus to Cooper and not the smoldering gaze of the man beside me.
"Oh sorry," Cooper apologized. "I totally blanked. I'll upload them right now." He disappeared presumably to do just that.
"Well," I said. "It seems like my work here is done. I'll see y'all later."
I started to leave, but a hand caught by the arm. "Hey," Danny said. "Thank you for today."
"It was no problem," I promised him.
"But really," he said. He seemed really grateful. "I don't know what would have happened if you hadn't come in."
"You would have figured it out," I assured him. I could feel him slipping from gratitude to spiraling. "You boys can talk yourselves out of anything."
He smiled thoughtfully. Then his face darkened. I could tell that he was thinking about what Chrissy had told me.
"Just so you know," I told him. "I am happy to be Mila's fake mom any day. And everything that Chrissy said was untrue. You are the most caring father that I know and you are a full-time med student who is on the hockey team. Mila doesn't need or want you to quit school."
"But what if I am holding her back, by not giving her two parents, or a normal childhood, with a dad who isn't in college."
I took his arm and looked him in the eyes. "She doesn't have two parents," I told him.
"I just said that," Danny interrupted me.
I rolled my eyes before I continued. "She doesn't have two parents, she has three. She has Cooper, Josh, and you. That little girl is spoiled beyond belief, any child would be begging to trade places with her. It doesn't matter to Mila that you are in college, in fact you are setting a good example for her, teaching her that getting an education is important."
Danny smiled a little bit, "Thank you, Lili."
"Anything for you, Danny, you know that," I told him. I stepped on the tips of my toes and hugged him. He wasn't that much taller than me, but he still had to bend down a bit to hug me back. "I'll see you later," I told him.
He nodded. I reached the front door before Danny stopped me again. "She has four parents," he said suddenly.
"What?" I asked. I had heard him, but I only counted three guys in this house. I looked at him, perplexed.
"She had you," he told me.
I smiled and bit my lip to prevent myself from beaming.
