I love this for me.
He clears his voice and starts again. “Tommy was just more…” He waves his hands around a little, ungracefully indicating something smaller or shorter than my dad.
“Ah,” I say. “Was Tommy a little twink? Is that your type?”
“No,” he replies quickly. “It’s not about that. It’s not about physical characteristics exactly…it’s more, um, like a personality type…an attitude, I think you’d call it.”
An attitude.
Yeah right.
I’m about to go for the jugular when he clamps his hands together decisively and looks weirdly excited. “Welp,” he says, “how about you choose a show for us. I’ll get some ice cream and we can eat on the sofa. Let’s get the show on the road so we can both have an early night.”
“Nah, can’t. Heading out. I’m meeting some friends for drinks.”
His face falls. It literally drops, cheeks and mouth sagging loosely, and then he exhales sharply.
“All right,” he says, though I definitely don’t remember asking him for permission. “Yeah, sure, okay, go out and have fun. Just make sure you get home by a decent hour.”
The way he says it makes me feel like he’s taken sandpaper to my skin. I feel the familiar prickle of rage trickling up my spine. “What do you mean by a decent hour, Stuart?”
“Oooh, how ‘bout eleven?” he suggests as if that’s the height of reasonableness.
Eleven?
E-fucking-leven?
Is he joking? What even happens before eleven?
“Yeah,” I drawl, “‘fraid that’s not gonna work for me.”
His lips press together and he tucks his chin down. “It’s nonnegotiable, Elliot.”
It’s what now?
The fuck is going on here?
“I, er,” I splutter.
“Look, it’s a weeknight, and I need to get an early night. And so do you.”
I ignore the part about me needing an early night because it feels very close to him giving me a bedtime, and that’s so ridiculous that I don’t even know how to respond. I also do my best to ignore the fact my dick seems hell-bent on making itself part of this conversation. “You don’t have to wait up for me. Itoldyou I don’t mind.”
“Yes, and I told you, I have to put the alarm on. There was a break-in two streets away a couple of years ago, and they had atimedealing with their insurance company because their alarm wasn’t on at the time of the burglary.”
I don’t mean to do it. I’ve been trying not to do it since the first day I got here, but now I lose the thread of self-control I’ve been clinging to, and I find myself rolling my eyes so hard my entire head tilts back.
I quickly get a grip and compose myself. I press my cheeks up and out and give him a cursory hint of teeth. “Maybe you should just let me download the app so I can put the alarm on when I get back. See? No biggie.”
He sighs heavily. “It’s a very tricky system, Elliot. It’s hard to get your head around, and if you do something wrong, you’ll set the alarm off, and I’ll never hear the end of it from Pam.”
“Who’s Pam?” There’s a chance I’m trying to provoke him. He’s mentioned Pam several times, and I’ve met her twice.
“She’s the neighbor to our right. She has three young kids. The last thing she needs is us waking them up in the middle of the night.”
“Well,” I say, sounding as dubious as I possibly can, “I’ll do my best, but I can’t promise anything. Wyn’s driving, so I’ll be at his mercy, and you know how he gets when he’s out.”
“Elliot.” The word slams into me, causing the lump of bravado I’m in the process of swallowing to get stuck in my throat. “Eleven. And that’s final.”
