53
The next morning, Cyrus was sitting in Gage’s Chicago skyrise corner office, stewing over his next move. Gage was now co-owner of IWX, so even though they were goofing off for the past hour, he knew he wouldn’t be in trouble with the boss. Especially since the boss married his cousin, Isis.
“Gage, this is crazy. I’m not making a fake account and catfishing the poor girl.”
“Hush, ya old stick in the mud. You’re not catfishing if you tell her who you are from the start. You can’t use your regular profile. Our team uses our phones to post stuff for us when we are working.”
“Ugh, Fine. Give me the damn phone. This is going to blow up in my face. What if she gets mad? I feel like I’m lying to her.”
“Hey, you wanted to have secrecy to get to know the real her.”
Isis walked in with one baby on her hip and her oldest daughter waddling over to her father. “Daddy!”
Gage’s smile beamed as he picked up his two-year-old, Macy. “There are daddy’s girls. Hey, love. What are you doing here?” Gage kissed his wife.
“Visiting. Madison was fussy, so I took them on a drive to visit daddy. The car soothes her.”
Cyrus walked over to hug his younger cousin. “How’s momma doing?”
“Pregnant as ever. My morning sickness just started.”
Cyrus took the ten-month-old baby from Isis, cooing at her. “Mommy needs to learn to stay away from Daddy so her baby parts can have a break.”
Gage smirked. “What can I say? I’m a stud.”
“Cy’s right, Gage. After this, we’re being more careful. I want to get back to work, eventually.”
Gage kissed the top of her head. “Yes, love. Whatever you want.”
Cyrus faked a cough. “Whipped.”
“Shut up, old man. If it were you, you would have an army of these little ones.”
Cyrus handed the baby back with a sigh. “Yeah. I guess.”
Gage saw his friend’s head drop. “Oh, Cy. I wasn’t thinking. Sorry, buddy. I forgot you can’t have kids.”
“It’s okay. You guys are lucky. You have a beautiful family. At least Uncle Cy can spoil them.”
Changing the subject, Isis interjected. “What are you two doing? I know you’re not working.”
“Cyrus is catfishing some chick on the internet.”
“You nark! What? No! Gage, what the hell? Shut up! Isis, I’m not, I promise.”
Isis scowled at him. “You better not, Cyrus Evans. That’s mean.”
“No. Really, I’m not. I like her. I made a second profile so I can talk to her. It was Gage’s idea. He made me do it.” Cyrus pointed at Gage for the blame.
“You two better be on your best behavior or I’ll call Holly.”
In unison, the two men yelled. “No!”
“So, tell me about this girl.”
As Cyrus told her about the woman, he had a wild crush on; it was clear to Isis that Cyrus was smitten with her.
“So, the idea is if I talk to her online, without her knowing who I am, I can make sure she knows the real me. Not just the celebrity version,” Cyrus said enthusiastically.
Isis narrowed her brows while bouncing the baby on her hip. “Are you sure this isn’t about your scars?”
Gage and Cyrus got quiet.
“I knew it. You both are idiots. You better be nice to this poor girl.”
“I will. Look. Here’s her picture.”
Isis took his phone and smiled. “She’s pretty. I thought I would see some bimbo. She looks like a nice lady.”
Cyrus took the phone back with a goofy grin. “I like her smile.”
Gage tried not to laugh. It was so cheesy even Isis was fighting back a laugh.
“So, my big brother figure has a little crush. I can’t wait to tell Holly and Candy,” Isis taunted.
“Don’t you dare! Candy already gives me crap about ring rats hitting on me.”
“Yet you still think your scars are a problem.” Isis shook her head in disbelief. “You’re a handsome guy. Stop being so hard on yourself.”
Cyrus rolled his eyes at her. “Don’t you have someplace to be besides here, bugging me?”
“Nope. I’m free all evening to annoy you. Gage and I are putting you on babysitting duty tonight.”
“Huh? Why me? Madison is a demon-possessed tiny poop machine.” He stuck his tongue out at the baby and she giggled in response.
“Too bad, Uncle Cy. You promised you would take the girls so Gage and I can go on a date night.”
Macy pulled on Cyrus’s pants leg and reached for him. “Uncy Cy. Up!”
“Stop Macy. Your cute ways are no match for my powers of the dark side.”
“Uncy Cy. Play with Macy?” The girl giggled, wrapping her arms around his leg.
Cyrus leaned over and picked up the oldest girl, who was pleading for his attention. “Dang you and your tiny person ways. Using the cuteness of the force to weaken my powers. Fine. I’ll babysit but Macy and I are going to eat ice cream and candy all night and we might go fishing out on the dock.”
“FISHY!”
Isis smacked her cousin in the back of the head. “You better not feed my baby that junk. The last time Macy was so hyper, she didn’t sleep all night.”
“Whatever. If I am going to babysit, I get to spoil her. That’s the rules. Anyway, I have work to do. I’ll catch you losers later.” Cyrus headed to the door.
Gage chuckled. “More like you have a cute blonde to seduce.”
“Shut up, asshole.”
