Carly smiled and shot Autumn a knowing look. “Okay, that’s not a problem. I’ll get that set up for you.” She put Levi in the rolling bassinet tucked in the corner and began to push it out of the room.
“Doc,” Sig called out, making Carly pause in the doorway and glance over her shoulder. “Thanks.”
“No, Sig. Thank you for taking care of them.”
Sig knocked back half the beer in the bottle as he stared with a frown at Red on the couch. He was going to need a lot more than that to bring up what he needed to discuss with Red.
He tipped the bottle to his lips again and downed the rest, tossed the empty into the trash, and then went for a fresh one. He stared at the contents of the fridge. He’d never seen such a full refrigerator in his fucking life.
Not just because it was full of titty milk, but because ever since he had brought Red home that morning months ago, Stella, Trip and Red had made sure it had been full.
And again, except for the titty milk stored in both the fridge and freezer, it was probably what most people’s fridge normally looked like.
Growing up, he’d always had to scrounge for food. His mother had never made an effort to keep a good house. Or take care of her kids.
Or keep her legs together.
He twisted off the cap, tossed it into the sink and took another mouthful.
His blood was pumping and he wasn’t sure how to start the fucking conversation they needed to have.
Which was Red’s future and his possible future with Red.
She sat there on the couch reading something on her tablet as the double milking gadgets were sucking her titties dry.
Like a fucking dairy cow.
Each session lasted about twenty minutes and occurred almost every three fucking hours since she came home yesterday from the hospital. If she was going to do that for months, he might lose his fucking mind.
He wanted it to be his mouth on those nipples. His mouth showing her pleasure instead of those two gadgets only giving her full tits some “relief.”
But her milk was supposed to be good for the kid. And that kid needed all the help he could get since he was half Shirley.
Good thing he was half Red, too.
His frown turned into a grimace.
She’d signed the adoption papers with a soft smile and only a few tears shed. And when Carly and Matt Bryson showed her the birth certificate with their names on it, with nowhere on it showing Red had done all the fucking work to make that kid, it made something inside him twist.
But she seemed happy. That was all that mattered.
Wasn’t his kid.
Now Levi wasn’t hers.
She could now start fresh. He just hoped she didn’t want to do that elsewhere. And if she did, he only hoped she’d let him start fresh with her.
If she didn’t want to stay in Manning Grove, he’d consider going anywhere she wanted. As long as it was with her.
Trip might not like it. But it wasn’t up to Trip.
No, it was all up to Red.
But Sig couldn’t imagine she was in a rush to go anywhere. She needed to heal a bit and she told the Brysons she’d provide that titty milk for Levi for a while.
Sig wondered how long “a while” was. And if it would be long enough for him to talk Trip into giving him his half. If he got that, he’d have enough money to set Red up wherever she wanted.
Once everything was settled, he might just take a fucking trip out to Ohio. Or with some of the money, hire someone else to make that trip.
Because, while he was done up on the mountain for now, that whole thing wasn’t done. Not yet. Two people still lived and breathed who had caused Red a lot of hurt. And that didn’t seem fair to him.
Not fucking fair at all.
He sucked air in through his nostrils and deep into his lungs, held it for a few seconds and blew it out before taking another long pull on his beer. He then headed around the counter to where Red sat.
“Hey,” he said softly, putting his beer down on the scratched side table. He noticed he’d left a half of a joint in the ashtray. Maybe he should go smoke that before talking to her. It might soften any sharp blows.
She lifted her gaze from the tablet and gave him a smile. “Hey.” Fuck, he loved her smile, it got him in the gut every fucking time. “You okay?”
“Not sure,” he answered honestly.
Her smile faltered.
“Don’t you get tired of doin’ that shit so often?”
She glanced down at the machine sucking on her tits. “Doesn’t bother me. Carly said eventually I won’t have to do it so often.”