Under the Radar // Devin Booker

Chapter 41

Devin

Nimali and I stayed up a little longer trying to talk through the situation, until she fell asleep on the couch. While she slept, I tried calling Alex, but she didn't answer her phone, and eventually my calls were being sent straight to voicemail.

I wasn't sure what was going on with her, but she needed to get it together, and soon. I'd already called my lawyer and we'd taken the necessary steps to get in front of things. Alex was still extremely sketchy in my eyes and the last thing I needed was her claiming that I had kidnapped DJ or anything crazy.

She'd screwed more over once, I'd be damned if she did it again.

Since DJ was still asleep, I took the time to take a hot shower and make myself look somewhat presentable for the day ahead. Afterwards, I made my way into the kitchen to make breakfast. Son enough, DJ walked into the kitchen rubbing his eyes.

"What's up, big man?" I scooped him off of the ground. "You hungry?"

He nodded and laid his head on my shoulder.

"Okay. Go sit at the table, and I'll get my some food." I put him down and he walked over to the table and climbed into a chair, waiting for me to bring him a plate.

I scrambled some eggs, fried a few pieces of bacon and threw a couple of waffles into the toaster before taking it to him. As soon as I sat the plate down in front of him, he grabbed the oversized fork and began eating.

Leaving him to his meal, I went to check on Nimali and she was still knocked out. I carefully picked her up and put her into the bed before going back into the kitchen and joining the toddler for breakfast.

"What do you want to do today?"

"Hm..." His tapped his tiny finger against his chin dramatically while he thought the question through. "Ice cream?"

"Wanna go to the park and then get ice cream?" He nodded his head vigorously. "Alright. Eat all of your food and then we can get ready to go."

"Okay."

Once we finished our food I cleaned our dishes and began to get DJ ready. I picked out a pair of shorts and a t-shirt for DJ before putting him into the bathtub. With everything going on yesterday, we were knocked out as soon as we got back. So, both of us went without bathing for the night.

After a mini flood and bubble tsunami I'd gotten him out of the bathtub and dressed, ready to go. His was going through his independent stage, so I left him alone to himself to brush his teeth while I went to check on Nimali.

She was still knocked out, with her wild hair covering her face. I could only imagine how tired she was. She'd flown from a different country, hopped onto another flight to get here, only to not be able to sleep when she got here.

"Mali," I shook her slightly until her eyes fluttered open, "I'm gonna take DJ out for a little while. You need me to bring you anything back?"

"Food." I laughed lightly at her groggy request before agreeing. She'd drifted back off to sleep and I pulled the covers over her body before placing a kiss on her forehead.

"You ready to go?" I asked as I walked back into the bathroom.

DJ put his toothbrush into the holder and hopped down from the stool that he was standing on.

"Yeah!" He sprinted past me and towards the door, grabbing his small basketball on the way.

. . .

"Again! Again!" DJ screeched excitedly. For the past 30 minutes, I had been lifting him up so that he'd be able to 'dunk' his little basketball into the hoop on the park's basketball court.