"Nothing incriminating," he said regretfully. "He doesn't have 'Zeus' in brackets on his social media pages. Not even on his website."
"Well, that's rude," Boner declared. "Couldn't he come out and admit who he is? If he did, we would have dealt with him a long time ago."
"Inconsiderate and evil," I said. I knew I didn't like the guy.
"Those are the worst kind," Boner agreed.
"I'll keep digging," Archer said.
"Me too," Cass said. "If there's anything to find, we'll find it."
"Or we could go for the old-fashioned method," Boner said.
"Stab first and ask questions later?" Jules asked.
Boner snapped his fingers. "No, but that could work."
"What if he's innocent?" I kneaded Cass' neck muscles a little more firmly. He was tense as hell.
"Doubtful," Boner said. "Have you seen how small his eyes are?" He held his fingers in front of his face, slightly apart. "Like a literal bead. He's suspicious as fuck."
"Fuck is pretty suspicious," I said. "Boner, did you speak to him the other night?"
"Not really," Boner said. "He talked to a couple of other people, but I wasn't paying attention to him. He was just there, you know?"
"Hiding in plain sight," I said with a sigh. That figured.
"Who was he talking to?" Archer asked. "We can look into them as well."
"Good idea," I said. "Anyone we've seen speaking to him is immediately under suspicion."
"Did Forrest talk to him?" Jules asked.
"You really don't want to believe he's as innocent as he says, do you?" Cass turned to glare at him.
"Do I want to believe it? Yes," Jules said. "Do I believe it? Not so much. What has he done to prove he's not a monster? He could be setting us up. I know you want to think he's ready to pick up where he left off and be our dad, but it's going to take more than a few nice words for me to buy it."
"It's okay if you don't believe him," I said. "A lot of water has gone under the bridge, not all of it good. You can't expect someone to walk back into your life and everything's hunky-dory.”
If it took him days, weeks, or even years to accept Forrest again, that was okay. Whatever it took. I'd be here to supporthim, and Cass. The others would as well. That was what found family did.
"Exactly," Jules agreed. "There's no 'hunky' or 'dory' involved."
"Speak for yourself," Boner said. "I'm pretty hunky." He pulled his hair out of his bun and let it fall down to his shoulders. He shook it out like he was in a shampoo commercial, his eyes shining with humor.
Jules gave him the side eye. "If you say so."
"See, he likes me," Boner whispered loudly.
"I like you," Cass said, smiling at him, suddenly shy.
"I like you too," Boner put his coffee down and stepped around to the front of him and placed his hands on his cheeks. Pressing him between us, he kissed Cass' mouth softly. In case it wasn't obvious. "I love you, Cass Titmus."
"I love you too," Cass said.
"I love both of you," I said softly.
"We love you too," they said in unison.
