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I should’ve gotten my ass up right then.

Instead, I stayed.

And sure enough…

Same routine.

Same Xavier.

Same everything.

At one point this nigga had the nerve to look at me like he was putting on the performance of his life.

“Yeah, girl. You feel that?”

I stared over his shoulder.

One.

Two.

Three.

There were still some of them little glow-in-the-dark stars stuck to our ceiling from when we first moved in. The kids had gotten into the pack before we could put them in their room, and Zion convinced Xavier our bedroom ceiling needed a galaxy too.

“Sam.”

“Mhm.”

“You feel me?”

“Yeah.”

I could’ve counted every fucking star.

I damn near did.

“Yeah, I feel it,” I had mumbled.

I rolled my eyes just thinking about it.

“Mommy.”

I frowned.

“Mommy.”

Something smelled⁠—

“Mommy, it’s burning.”

My eyes shot down.

“Shit!”

The bacon.

I snatched the pan off the burner, smoke curling up from two pieces I’d managed to damn near cremate.