"Yeah, unless you're found to be unfit. If that happens, you'd only get to see her with a chaperone." She tapped the papers beside her. "That's why your arrest is such a big deal. It can and will be used against you. Luke, you should've let Ash handle it."
"They wanted to kill him, Cess," I breathed.
She nodded. "Wouldn't be the first time, and that man can hold his own. He'd also understand."
"No," I said. "I'd rather teach Faith that it's worth risking everything to do the right thing than have her learn that it's ok to ignore things like that. I want to have primary custody of her more than you can imagine, but if I have to throw out all the values I want her to learn in order to do that? Not fucking worth it. If I can't look her in the eyes and feel like I'm a good role model, then I don't deserve to be her dad."
"I'm trying to make it go away," Cessily assured me.
"I know," I assured her. "But I think you're going about it the wrong way. They jumped us, Cess. They were going to kill a man because they thought he was gay. Maybe just hurt him real bad, I dunno. Yeah, I got in the middle of that, and I'd do the same if someone came after my kid. There is right and there is wrong. Standing up for a victim is always right."
"It should be," she agreed, "but that's not how the world works."
Chapter Ten
Between the early morning, the excitement of getting ready for church, and the need to be up early again tomorrow, the house began to quiet down around ten that night. Luke made Faith go to bed, telling her she needed to get used to waking up before school started. I headed to my own room and took a long, hot shower.
Something bad was going to happen. I could almost feel it. Things were too good, and with Paul Simmons involved, I just couldn't trust it. Cessily was convinced that Luke's arrest was going to be a big problem, but I wasn't as sure. I had a feeling that a video of the event would help change the judge's mind, and Cessily had one. Granted, this was small-town Texas, which meant that standing up for "the gay boy" might not be seen the same by the judge as it was by me.
But when I got out of the shower, there was a half-naked cowboy in my bed, flipping through his phone. His clothes had been hung from the back of my makeup chair. His boots were sitting by the door, looking like they'd been cleaned. His hat sat upside down on my dresser, also clean. Clearly, Luke was planning to stay the night.
"What if I'd planned on sleeping alone?" I teased as I moved to the side of the bed.
He looked up with a smile. "Well, then I'd pack all that back up and go back to my end of the house."
"Maybe I had someone else coming over."
His smile turned into a grin. "What's the downside of that again?"
I just laughed and tossed my towel back toward the bathroom. His eyes ran over my naked body before I could slip under the covers. He also scooted over to make sure I had enough room.
"Cessily's serious about this monogamy thing, and it sounds like the court date will probably be moved, so it will be longer than two weeks," he finally said. "I don't know how much longer, but are you sure you're ok with that?"
"Believe it or not, I've gone a while without sex before." I reached over to poke him, laughing when he jumped away from my finger before it could hit his ribs. "Get undressed and turn out the lights, Luke."
So he rolled off the bed and shucked off his briefs. Naturally, my eyes dropped lower. He wasn't hard, but he wasn't fully soft either. Without shame, the man walked around the bed, setting his phone on my side so he could plug it in. Then he moved to the door, locking it before he flicked the switch for the lights.
In the darkness, his silhouette crossed the room, heading back to "his" side of the bed. I watched, loving the shape of him and the way he was so at ease in my room. Luke slipped under the covers, then scooted over so he was close to me, but he didn't reach for my body.
"I'm serious about this," Luke finally said. "You never asked for my shit, Violet."
"But that's where you're wrong." I reached over to clasp his arm. His bicep was hard under my palm. "I didn't have to let you in. I could've called the police instead of Teal and Chartreuse. I could've shut the door in your face. Luke, the moment I saw you with Faith, knowing it was two in the morning? That's when I asked for your shit."
"Because it's what Southwind does." He acted as if that explained it all.
"No, because I didn't have enough time to stop caring before you needed me." I slid my leg between his, hooking my foot on the back of his calf. "Cy and Ash needed some time. They split up for a long time, and there's a lot of shit they still need to work out. I obsessed over some cowboy for just as long, and now he's lying in my bed. I'm ok with this."
"And me being with them?" His words were barely more than a breath.
I just reached up to trace the line of his face. "I like that you can be happy for me and happy with me at the same time. Why would it be any different in reverse? Luke, I want you to have the chance to figure out what you really want, and if that's just me, then we'll cross that bridge if it happens. If it's all of us, then we're already proving that it's working. You still need time to know who you are and what you want once all the shackles of this town have been stripped away."
"I'm bisexual," he said. "I'm attracted to men as much as women. I'm not going to hell, and this doesn't make me a bad father. I had sex with a man, was sucked off by another, and I was as turned on by them as I am by you."
The air rushed from my lungs, trying to be a laugh, but I wasn't prepared for it. "Yeah?"
He nodded his head against the pillow. "It feels weird to say that to my girlfriend, but yeah. I keep thinking about the things I want to try. Fuck, Vi, I feel like a teenager half the time. I mean, I see Ash adjust himself and I wonder what it would be like to drop to my knees and take him in my mouth. Cy had me pinned to the floor a while back, and we got interrupted, but I keep wondering if I would've let him... you know."
"Fuck you?" I asked.
