“What do you mean?”
“Your mother insisted that you had no idea how Tate felt about you, and I was sure you knew but were waitin’ for her to express her undying love for you.”
“What did you lose?”
He smiled slightly. “That’s not relevant.”
“Yeah, your weird sex games are best left unexplained.”
My old bedroom shared a wall with my parents and the noises I heard, more than I cared to admit, were traumatizing enough that I’d moved out the second I could afford to.
“So, did Tate tell you how she felt?”
“No,” I growled. “Tillie, by way of Hayden, did.”
“And how do you feel about that?”
“No fuckin’ clue,” I admitted.
Dad gave me a sympathetic smile. “You’ve always been our quiet one, Flash. If it were Jamie in this situation, he’d have a slide show at the ready, complete with bullet points on every emotion he was experiencing, and at what time he experienced said emotion. You’ve always been a bit harder to read. Your mom says you’re inscrutable to everyone but her.”
I smirked. “That word of the day calendar seems to be working.”
Dad chuckled. “Yeah. But she’s right about most things and it’s why she does the heavy-lifting with the emotional side of shit when it comes to you kids.”
“Except Poppy,” I pointed out.
Poppy was my big sister. She was actually my half-sister, but if anyone was ever caught saying that, Dad would box their ears. My mother had been a widow with a twelve-year-old daughter when she met my father and he’d officially adopted Poppy when they’d gotten married.
“Even Poppy,” Dad admitted. “She comes to me when she wants her dad to fix it, and to your mom with everything else.”
“That’s because Mom’s... well... Mom.”
“True.” He closed the distance between us. “What did Tillie say?”
I filled him in on the conversation.
All of it.
“Did you fuck Madison?”
“No,” I ground out.
“Then why would she think you did?”
“I don’t fuckin’ know, Dad.”
“You think maybe you wanna find out?” Dad challenged.
“Not sure she’s ever gonna talk to me again.”
“Hatch, love?” The garage door opened, and Mom peeked her head in. “What’s going on?”
“Goddamn it, woman, get your sweet ass back into bed,” Dad growled.
Mom pulled her robe tighter around her body and frowned. “I just came down for a cup of tea and heard you two going at it out here. Now, what’s going on?”
“Flash has just discovered Tate’s in love with him.”
