Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 88736 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 444(@200wpm)___ 355(@250wpm)___ 296(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88736 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 444(@200wpm)___ 355(@250wpm)___ 296(@300wpm)
“You could have said nothing and let me deal with the fallout. Instead, you included him and promised him a cool new friend. That’s when it started for me,” she told me with a crooked smile.
Chapter 12
Curtis
“Why are you still with her?” Jesse asked Dylan, carrying a big bowl of fruit to the table. “All she does is bitch at you.”
“She doesn’t bitch that much,” Dylan argued, setting plates out.
“Bro,” Jesse sang with a knowing smile. “Finn, back me up.”
“She does seem mad at you a lot,” Finn said apologetically to Dylan.
“She’s not mad at me. She just misses me.”
“So that’s why you couldn’t watch a movie with us yesterday or take us to the store the day before that? Because she misses you?” Jesse asked dryly. “Like, damn. Give it a rest.”
“You knew I was on the phone,” Dylan countered.
“You’re always on the phone, and when you’re not, you’re texting. Like, seriously. You don’t have to be up her ass all the time.”
“I’m not up her ass all the time.”
“You’re awake like twelve hours a day, and you’re on the phone or texting her like eight of those hours,” Jesse replied. They weren’t wrong. “I’m not sure how she’s missing you when she’s talking to you every waking hour.”
“It’s you,” Dylan blurted out, throwing his hands up. “Okay? She’s all fuckin’ weird because we’re always hangin’ out.”
Teddy and I both turned to stare.
Finn’s mouth dropped open in surprise.
Jesse started to laugh, and it grew in volume and intensity until tears ran down their face.
“Nuh-uh,” they said, gasping.
“I shouldn’t have even told you. She’ll be pissed if she finds out,” Dylan grumbled.
“What kind of Beverly Hillbilly shit does she think we’ve got going on here?” Jesse wheezed. “All in the family, right?”
“We’re not technically related,” Dylan countered, his cheeks growing red.
“Yeah, that’s true,” Jesse replied. “But she does know that I’m gay, right? You don’t have the right parts. Isla, on the other hand…”
“I—uh…well, I wasn’t sure,” Dylan shot back defensively. “We haven’t talked about it, and I didn’t want to say it if it wasn’t true.”
“Dyl, you sweet, innocent baby boy,” Jesse said, leaning on the table like the conversation was making them weak. “I’m so gay. Super gay. Extra gay. I like boobs and vaginas.”
“Okay,” Teddy called in warning. “That’s enough of that.”
“Gross,” Finn gasped.
“And you’re not into nonbinary folks, right?” Jesse said, raising their eyebrows. “So it’s a non-issue on a variety of levels.”
“Thank God,” Teddy whispered to me with a look of horror.
“Well, I mean, you have all the right parts,” Dylan argued.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Teddy griped.
“Dyl,” Jesse said, shaking their head. “Come on, man. Be real. You like girly girls. Girls who know they’re girls.”
“Fair point.”
“So tell Isla. I don’t care. Shout it from the rooftops if you want. She’s got a better chance with me than you do.” Jesse smiled widely, and Dylan chuckled.
“I didn’t even think about that,” Teddy said to me as we turned back toward the counter. “No wonder Isla’s constantly checking in. Jesse’s never been attracted to boys, so it wasn’t even on my radar.”
“I saw Jesse fart on Dylan two days ago,” I replied dryly. “Maybe Dylan should’ve shared that tidbit with his girlfriend.”
The kids started talking about something else, and I tuned them out as I heated up the tortillas for dinner. It had been three weeks since Teddy’s little interview at the club, and things had been relatively normal. We’d started eating dinner at the table, which was new for me and Dylan, but it was nice. He didn’t bring his phone with him, so I actually got to have a conversation with my son at least once a day. We had a pool party, dinner, and a couple of movie nights with Draco and Kara, Charlie and Bishop, and Rebel and Wes. Teddy took the kids on hikes, to the river, and got them library cards. Even Dylan came home with stacks of books.
If someone had asked me, I would’ve called it an ideal summer. All of us had gotten tans from working in the yard and hanging outside. There was always lemonade in the fridge. Half the time, the kids stayed up later than we did, watching movies and playing video games, and then slept until noon.
Grease let me know that Grandpa Casper had spoken to Granger and told him flat out that Teddy and her kids were family and therefore off limits. The conversation had gone about how they’d expected, but we hadn’t heard a word from the man since. We got Teddy a new phone and kept the old one so we could check it each night for messages, but so far? Nothing.
I’d been keeping my head down, getting my shit done, and coming home. Teddy had forgiven the stunt they’d pulled right after it happened, but I wasn’t there yet. Even if she hadn’t been mine, she was a woman, all alone, with two kids who were dependent on her. That should’ve been enough for them to treat her carefully, and if it wasn’t, I no longer recognized the club I’d grown up in.