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she held her own legs up while he pounded through his need inside her. His gasp and cry told her he’d reached his release, and he collapsed on top of her.
    After some time, Russ rolled away, and Joy turned from him. She couldn’t help herself. She started to cry, hard, and covered her mouth to try to stem it, but it didn’t quiet her down. Russ was there in an instant, spooning her ass, his strong arms around her. She didn’t move from his embrace but just lay there until the emotion passed.
    The bed shifted, and she heard rustling behind her. A tissue appeared before her face, and she blew her nose with it. He offered another, and she took it. More rustling and he walked to the door dressed in his jeans. He opened it and left the room, the door clicking closed behind him.

Chapter Nine
    J oy had a headache. At least school was out for the summer, so she didn’t have to get up early. The three of them had been living with Russ for a few days, and things had gotten slightly better—meaning she didn’t sob like an idiot every time they had sex. She didn’t get sick either. The headache probably had to do with her staying up too late playing some stupid game with Russ.
    Denita’s loud voice reached her through the closed bedroom door, and she winced. The clock read nine fifteen. Damn, the girls would be hungry, and she didn’t like them to eat cereal for breakfast more than necessary. Besides that, Joy had no business sitting at home laying up in bed rather than looking for a job. No, wait, it was Sunday.
    Searching the medicine cabinet in the bathroom, she found pain meds and downed a few. Then she brushed her teeth and pulled on anything that covered the nakedness. She had made a mistake and fallen asleep in Russ’s room. Maybe the girls would be too engrossed in their TV shows, they wouldn’t notice.
    She left the bedroom with her eyes slitted against the brightness of the house. The scent of sausage and nutmeg permeated the air. Alarm struck her. Surely, the girls weren’t crazy enough to get on the stove. They knew better. She ran down the hall to the kitchen and stumbled to a confused stop when she found Russ standing at the stove flipping pancakes. Denita and Nicolette were at the table with coloring books and crayons.
    “Mommy, look,” Denita shouted, “he can cook.”
    “He has a name, Denita,” she muttered, “and I beg you to lower the volume a little.”
    “Sorry.” Denita tried but failed to bring it down to an acceptable level, but her daughter stood to hug her. Nicolette jumped to do the same. Russ smiled from his post.
    “I made enough for you. Coffee?”
    “Caffeine, yes.” She fell into a chair. “You don’t have to cook for them. I can make whatever they want. I’m a decent cook too. I don’t even mind making the meals. I’m used to it.”
    She waited for him to reply. He said nothing. Joy was soon handed a cup of coffee, and plates of sausage and pancakes passed around the table to everyone. Russ sat down with a wide grin as if he had just solved world hunger. From the way Nicolette tucked into her meal, for her he did.
    “Taste it,” Russ encouraged her. “I’m not half bad myself.”
    She raised an eyebrow at him and gave the blueberry filled pancakes a try. They were sweet and delicious with warm blueberry syrup and whipped topping. The sausage was spicy, and Joy shot a hand out to grab Nicolette’s before she bit her sausage.
    “Don’t worry,” Russ said. “We had an exhaustive discussion on the merits of hot sausage before you woke up.”
    Joy couldn’t help laughing. “By that you mean Nicolette told you everybody who likes hot food is crazy, and Denita, on the rare occasion, agreed.”
    He nodded and looked at Denita. “They’re exactly like you described them.”
    Joy laughed again. “I’ll warn Denita not to talk your ear off. And Nicolette, well... I got her.”
    “It’s fine, Joy. You don’t have to be so careful.”
    “I do,” she insisted.