“Gannett.” I glower at him, similar to the way I did when I had to scold Taryn when he was younger.
“Gordy,” he taunts back. Similar to the way Taryn used to throw"Dad"back at me when he was being a little shit.
I scrub a hand down my face. “Why the hell did I do this to myself?” I groan.
“Just get in the goddamn bed, for fuck’s sake. You act like I’m going to grope you while you sleep, but, if you recall,Iwas the one who wason the other side of the bed the last time.Youwere the one who went all octopus on my ass, wrapping me in your tentacles and shit.”
I scowl at him, but he just chuckles. Then he adds, “And ifthatweren’t enough, I do believe we were on opposite ends of the couch, watching the game, and before I know it, you were passed out on my lap.”
I pinch the bridge of my nose and start counting down from ten. At this point, however, I don’t know if it’s a countdown to try to calm myself down, or if it’s signaling how many seconds he has left until I lunge over this damn bed and pummel him.
“Croot, I know I’m risking my damn life here, given the way you’re seething right now, but I’m not sleeping anywhere but in this bed tonight. Get… the fuck… over it.”
“Don’t let me cross over onto your side,” I huff, slipping under the blanket.
“No problemo,” he snickers, stacking pillows between us. “I’ll just build a little fortress here, just like I did all those years ago when me and my family went camping. Ev and I had to share a blow-up bed. Kept him back, but it didn’t drown out the snoring, though. Ma once had to hold me back from using one of those pillows to smother him with.”
I snort. Evan’s snoring is something Gannett and I can commiserate over. That summer, back at Explorer Camp, I remember him keeping the whole tent up with it. There were more than a few times that I had to play the role of Vickie Waters and stop our two other bunkmates from tossing him out into the woods in the middle of the night.
My grin that forms at the memory is quickly dashed away, however, when I recall how I’d ruined his life after that. We were the best of friends, until I fucked it all up.
“Should I have not brought Evan up?” Gannett rasps from behind the giant wall of pillows. “We can make that rule three—or is it four?—of living with you, but I’m going to be real honest with you, it’s going to be hard for me to do. He is my brother, after all. He is annoying, but I don’t hate him.”
I sigh. “No, it doesn’t have to be made into a rule. But—are you? Living here again?”
“Do youwantme to? Christ, you just put up a huge stink about me sleeping in the same bed as you, and I don’t know how much longer before my apartment is livable again. As of right now, it’s officially condemned. The whole building’s wiring wasn’t up to code, and there was asbestos in places. My landlord’s freaking out about what to do.”
I roll over and prop myself up on my elbow, peering down over the pillows at him. He blinks up at me, all of the playfulness from mere moments ago no longer present in his eyes as they flick between mine. In its place, a sincerity like I’ve only seen one other time on one other person. And I swear, it’s Ryann’s voice, not his, when he says the exact same thing she ever said to me:I promise, I will do whatever it takes for you.Youjust have to want it too.
The next words out of my mouth take me as much by surprise as they do him. “Yes, Gannett. Please stay.”
Chapter Fourteen
Gannett throws up a "hold on" finger to me as he walks in the door. He rolls his eyes, and points to his phone, then mimes a yapping motion. He sighs. “You done?” he finally asks whoever’s on the other line. “Good, because I’d like to take a turn speaking here, if that’s okay with you. First of all,I don’t knowwhen my apartment will be done. I realize it’s February, but I don’t work on their timeline. Secondly, you know goddamn good and well I want to see my girls, so don’t pull that bullshit on me that I’mblowing them off.”
He waits, wobbling his head from side-to-side in annoyance while, I’m assuming, Sarah loudly chastises him. “I have picked them up from school and spent nearlyevery fucking daywith them at your house for the past two weeks to make up for not having them on my weekends, Sarah. I’m losing money every day I’m having to cut short. Don’t take that to mean that money’s more important than them either. That’s not what I’m saying. I have Marcus and Caleb to think of too.”
She yells at him some more. “Well, what do you want me to do?! Iunderstandthat you andStevewant to go to Cape Cod for the weekend! Do you honestly think I sabotaged my own apartment, just so you’d have to keep the girls every weekend, just so I could thwart whatever romantic getaway you two have planned?! I don’t give a fuck about your trip, and I’d never use Tati and Terra aspawnslike that.”
“They can come here,” I suggest, breaking into their conversation.
“Hang on, Sarah.” He mutes his phone. “What?” he asks me.
“Isaidthey can stay here.” For the past month Gannett’s been back, he has been sleeping in my bed anyway, so that leaves an unused room. Also, per his report, I haven’t had a single night terror. I don’t want to give him the satisfaction of believing it’s because I sleep better when he’s in bed with me, but it definitely is pretty fuckin’ suspicious.
“You sure?” he asks. “I haven’t asked if it was okay if they stayed here, because I know how you feel about having your space fucked with, and trust me, those two are the highest form of fuckerers to ever fuck a place up. Terra’s graffiti skills are only rivalled by her cousin’s, and Tati? Well, there isn’t a piece of furniture at Sarah’s place that doesn’t have nail polish spilled on it.”
“It’s fine, Gannett. You think Taryn was an angel when he was their age?” I scoff.
He unmutes his phone and gets back on the line with Sarah. “Have fun in Cape Cod this weekend. The girls are coming here.”
She says something else to him, and his jaw ticks. “Don’t…” he says, his tone colder than I’ve ever heard from him before. A frustrated growl rumbles out of him before he steps back outside, shutting the door behind him. He’s not quiet at all, however, when I hear him snarl at her. “You don’t fuckingknow himlike I do, Sarah! I wouldn’t let the girls stay here if I thought they were inanydanger whatsoever.”
Oh. They’re talking about me. She apparently thinks I’m a threat to their safety. Fucking fantastic.
“I don’t carewhatyou’ve heard about him!” he goes on, his yelling only slightly muffled by the door. “Like I said, I trust him implicitly. Did I give you shit when you moved Steve right in? No, I trusted your fucking judgment. The least you could do is reciprocate that.”
My eyebrows lift. Wow, reciprocate is a big word for him—andhe used it in the correct context. Last week, he used the word "copulate" instead of "cooperate" when he was yammering on to me about something. I laughed, but didn’t correct him, because I’m pretty positive he’ll do it again sometime, and I’m an asshole like that. Not the way his ex-wifeapparentlythinks I am.
