Page 10 of Nightmare’s Playground

Shaking my head, I got the door open with my elbow and followed them up the stairs. The whole stairwell smelled of sugar and warm butter.

At the top of the steps, I took in the two doors.

“How am I not surprised?”

1A was hot pink and 1B was black just like the color scheme down in the bakery below.

“I bet a girl lives there. Does a girl live there, Uncle Jax?” JJ asked.

“Yeah. A girl lives there,” I answered, trying to decide if I could get the key out of my front pocket without having to drop all the shit on the ground.

“Shit.” I couldn’t.

“You said a bad word,” Samuel informed me.

“I know, bud.”

I was crouching to set the pumpkin seat down when the door across the landing opened, and Joy stepped out and froze.

Her eyes bounced from JJ to Samuel to the sleeping baby at my feet, then back to me. “Uh… hi.”

I could see the confusion written on her face.

“My nephews,” I said.

“Ahh…” Her shoulders that’d been up to her ears lowered.

“JJ.” I pointed at Jacob Jr., who’d somehow gotten the iPad back out of the backpack and hadn’t looked up once. “Samuel.” I motioned to my sister’s middle boy, who was staring at Joy like he’d never seen a pretty girl before in his life.

Then, shaking my head, I gestured to the pumpkin seat at my feet. “And Mathew.”

Joy wiggled her fingers at them. “Hi, boys.”

Samuel pulled his thumb out of his mouth, took two steps closer to her, and blurted, “You wook wike a pwincess.”

Joy’s amused eyes met mine over his head.

She was getting a kick out of him. Most women did. The kid knew how to lay it on thick, and he did it often.

Then she turned her full attention on Samuel and crouched down to his level. “I do, huh?”

Sammy nodded, his grin stretching clear across his face. “Yeah.”

“Well, aren’t you a sweetheart?”

Good lord.

The kid had women eating out of his hand everywhere he went. Grocery store, daycare, the diner. It didn’t matter where it was; he could flash his gap-toothed smile and the ladies were putty in his little hands.

Sam beamed up at her while JJ started tugging on my hand. “Uncle Jax, I’m hungry!”

“Let’s go in and I’ll order a pizza, yeah?”

JJ’s nose wrinkled. “I don’t want pizza.”

My brows snapped together. “Who the hell doesn’t like pizza?”

His little shoulders shrugged. “I don’t know, but I want chicken nuggets.”