He sputtered. “Because you were supposed to do the smart thing! Pick a school!”
“Papa, I don’t want to do that. I’m sorry.” My stomach sank and silence dragged out between us for a long time.
“Pick a new school for anything, sweetheart. What would make you happy? I don’t care. A bachelor’s degree gets you almost nowhere these days. I want you prepared for the world.”
Tears leaked out of the corners of my eyes and I swiped them away with my palm. “I don’t know. I like basketball and being with Flynn. Hey—” I smiled and glanced at the front door of Papa’s office building, half expecting him to come striding out. “Do you think I could make a career out of fu—”
“I am your papa, Judge, and there are some things I don’t want to hear come out of your mouth.”
“What? I was going to say fundamentals.”
I laughed as he growled at me. “What will you do with your time?”
“Work, I guess.”
“Oh,” he said, all cheerfulness again. “You could come here. I could—”
“No, doing something not law related, Papa. I don’t want to be an accountant, either.”
He sighed. “I love you very much, and I have never held back anything reasonable from you boys—or unreasonable for that matter. I don’t think you have a single clue how much money you and Jury blow through in a month. I am certain the pair of you spent over five hundred dollars on shoes alone last week.”
Uneasiness had me leaning back. I ran my thumb over the dash of my brand-new car, which I hadn’t paid a single dime to own.
“I want to support myself for a while, get a little house with Flynn. Find out.”
His sigh, a deep one that seemed to come from his toes, wasn’t comforting, and as soon as I sat down at my laptop later that afternoon I found out why. I scrolled through job listings, and it didn’t take long to realize I qualified for nearly nothing that paid more than ten dollars an hour. I had no job experience.
“Fuck,” I muttered and slammed my hands on the cushions at my sides. The living room in Dad and Papa’s house was big and airy and I wouldn’t be able to afford anything even half this size if I worked a job like that. I leaned my head back on the couch. I hadn’t thought this would be easy, but it was shaping up to be nearly impossible. How did people live? “Fuck, fuck, fuck.”
At a quarter after four, I left the house to pick up Flynn from work, and I smiled when I stopped the Lexus beside him in the parking lot outside of the building where he worked with River. Flynn stood there in a black suit that hugged his muscles and barely gave him enough room to move around. He was fucking delicious. I unlocked the doors, and he jumped in, giving me a winning smile.
“How was it?” I asked. “You look amazing.”
He grinned. “Thanks, not bad.” I fell into the heat of his warmth when he pressed his lips to mine. Before I did something indecent, I started the car toward home with my hands tight on the wheel. He buckled his seat belt and settled in.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
Laughing, I snuck another glance at his handsome face out of the corner of my eye, and then I had to pay attention to the road because everyone in the city was trying to get home at the same time. “Did you know there isn’t a house in New Gothenburg that rents for less than nine hundred dollars a month? And the ones I would consider living in are closer to fifteen hundred a month? Or more.”
“Uh, yeah. I did know that.” He chuckled. “A lot of the time it is cheaper to buy, but then you have other expenses. It’s a toss-up.” He touched my thigh, and I let out a long breath. “What happened? You seem tense.”
“Hold on,” I muttered.
He didn’t take his hand away, merely rubbed my muscles until I spotted the entrance to the parking lot for a boat dealership. I turned in there and took the first open space. I put the car in Park, and shifting to face him, I let out a long breath and grasped his hands in mine.
“Don’t be upset.”
“Oh yes, that is an awesome way to start a conversation where I’mnotupset.” He widened his eyes at me, and I was happy when he didn’t pull away, only laced my fingers with his. “Tell me.”
“I got kicked out of school.”
“Fuck.” He tried to tug free, but I squeezed my fingers tighter on his and we stayed entangled.
“I’m okay.”
He hung his head. “Fuck, no you aren’t.”
Kissing his fingers, I waited until he glanced up at me. “But I am, I have you.” I leaned in and sealed my lips over his until he flicked his tongue against mine, and then I reluctantly drew away. “This day was awful, and I missed you, wanted you earlier. I talked to my papa and we had a Papa Fight.”
