“Don’t ever be sorry.”
“You didn’t let me tell you what I’m sorry about.”
“Ah. What are you apologizing for, Lie?”
“I quit.” His body tenses. “The bar,” I add quickly. “I quit that bar.”
He lets out a breath. “My turn to apologize. I didn’t mean to read something else into those words. We’re all a little tense right now, and I think it’s making our heads immediately go gloom and doom, worst-case scenarios.”
I turn in his arms to look at him. “I’m not quitting you.”
“That’s what Nason wants, and I know how much you miss him.”
“Thatman is not my father,” I say, hearing how my voice gets dark. “I don’t know who he is, but he’s not my dad.”
Laiken rests his forehead on mine. “I understand that more than I can say. I’ve been thinking those same thoughts this last week. I don’t recognize the man we’re dealing with right now. I’ve never seen him act this way. Unwilling to listen. Being confrontational. Saying shit I would have bet my life on never leaving his mouth under any circumstances.”
“I have such a headache,” I complain.
His hands slide down to my thighs, and he picks me up, so I wrap my legs around him. Despite my exhaustion and misery, I smile.
“How about you spend the evening in bed? I’ll get some sandwiches delivered. Call Cash over to hang out. Watch cartoons. Crochet some dicks.”
“I’m sorry I’m screwing you at the bar,” I say as he sets me on the floor in his room.
Laiken crouches down to take my shoes off. “Don’t be. I’ve been over-staffing us so I can spend more time with you than actually working.”
“I guess maybe some of his accusations aren’t wrong,” I whisper.
He gets back to his feet, his fingers around my chin. “Heiswrong. What happens in the back room only beganafterwe started seeing each other. Not in the way he’s implying, Lie. There was no seduction involved. No quid pro quo. No bribing. No sucking up. Nothing except us unable to keep our hands off each other as our relationship got more serious.”
I know Laiken is right. I was there for the whole thing, after all. I know the truth. But it just… hits me when Dad says those things.
Laiken kisses my forehead. “Get into bed. Call Cash. I’ll get some food delivered. I’ll be back as soon as I can get away.”
“Okay.”
He leaves the room, and I pull out my phone to call Cash. He answers right away.
“Want to come over while Laiken is at work?” I ask.
“Are you at home?”
“No. I’m at Laiken’s. Surprisingly, Dad now has an issue with me working at the bar, so I quit. I’m not feeling like going back there right now, though, so I’m going to wallow in Laiken’s bed. He’s ordering dinner.”
“Yep, I’ll be there in ten. Need anything?”
I shake my head. “No. Just your company. You better have some tea to spill. I need to think about literally anything else tonight.”
“I have some tea,” Cash confirms. “Be there in a minute.”
I drop my phone and curl into the blankets. Laiken returns and I hear the television flicker on. He kneels on the bed, his fingers running through my hair.
“It’ll get better,” he says quietly. “I promise.”
“I don’t see it getting better,” I admit. The words feel like I’m finally admitting something, and it makes my chest hurt. Emotion lodges in my throat.
“It will. Even if better doesn’t look anything like what we hope will happen.”
