“Oh, fuck yeah.” Oli slapped my shoulder and hooted. “Errol’s cooking his famous ribs. He adds the best barbecue sauce I’ve ever tasted.” His grin brightened the car. “It’s amazing.”
KC fell back against his seat and didn’t say a word.
His eyebrows furrowed thoughtfully when I looked at him through the mirror again, his face doing something strange. Since the misadventure at the hospital over the smoothies, KC had a weirder relationship with food. I hadn’t known him long enough to understand what he was like before his habits had changed, but it seemed as if he struggled with food as a whole. It was easier for him to drink a smoothie and be happy about it.
I had to step up and help him. “I’m excited to try it, then. We’ll all go over and taste this barbecue sauce.”
KC’s expression warped, turning gentle with a curve of his lips. “Yeah, we will. And it’ll give you a chance to talk to Barber again.” He sat up straighter. “Which reminds me. Oli, when does your mom go see your dad today?”
I shot a look at Oliver. I didn’t know a lot about his dad other than he was in jail and Oliver didn’t have much of a relationship with him. He was a King like Luke. “Your mom’s seeing him?”
Oliver scratched the back of his neck, shoulders curling. “Yeah. He asked to see her, wanted to talk about something. I don’t know what.” He glanced at KC. “And I think she’s going sometime this morning. She won’t tell me. I guess she doesn’t want me to be disappointed because he didn’t ask to see me.”
“He’s a dumbass.” I clenched my jaw. “Fuck him.”
Oliver chuckled sadly. “Easy for you to say. You know your dad. I haven’t seen mine since before he went to prison, and I barely knew him prior to that. He’s never wanted anything to do with me. I was a mistake, and he might not have said it to my face, but I know he thinks it. I was the result of a fuck.”
“Yeah, well, you know what? Every dude who fucks a cunt knows pregnancy is a possibility, even if you slip on the rubber and make sure the chick’s on pills or whatever. If an accident does happen, then he needs to man the fuck up and be a father.” I shrugged. I’d always been prepared if that ever happened to me. I didn’twantto be a father yet, but I wasn’t going to skip out on my duty if I knocked someone up and they kept the kid. “So, the problem isn’t you, it’s him. Like I said, fuck him.”
Oliver startled, eyes a little wider, and he stared at me for a long moment, studying me. Finally, he smiled in a way that released the tension in his muscles and turned him boneless against the seat. “Thanks, asshole.”
I laughed. “You’re welcome, Kitten. Don’t get used to it, though. I have a reputation to uphold.”
“Of course you do.” He hesitated, then reached over and touched my hand that held the shifter. He laid his palm over the back, and I waggled my eyebrows at him, earning an exasperated grin.
We got to the college not long after that. Oliver swung out of the passenger seat before folding it forward for KC. I slid out as well, meeting them around their side. I didn’t care who was looking, I made sure to gather thembothin my arms and kiss Oliver hard before doing the same to KC, aware that KC might want to be a little more careful because he was a football player. Still, there wasn’t anyone paying attention to us.
“You know what? I changed my mind about this afternoon. Do you want me to pick you up from school, and then we can head back to the shop for a few hours? Give you time to practice?” I looked at Oliver. “All three of us can head to Errol’s from there.”
“Sounds good.” To my surprise, Oliver snuggled deeper against me, and I tightened my hold on him. There was something extra hot about him wearing KC’s jersey. This time I was getting him into bed with that jersey on. It was something I’d have to bring up later.
“Look into that hockey team.” KC poked my shoulder. “It’ll be good for you to make more friends and skate out some of your anger.”
I saluted him. “Yes, sir. Kansas, sir.”
KC rolled his eyes and gave me another kiss.
I watched them walk off together, KC not shying away from holding Oliver’s hand. A clump of girls stopped to watch them, but not in the same way I was. They giggled and whispered together, following after KC and Oliver with their rapt attention.Was KC ready for his college to know he was dating Oliver? If he wasn’t, he’d better be soon.
Shaking the thoughts out of my head, I slid back into Shakira and headed for work, where my two employees, Wylie and Flint, were probably waiting for me. They were used to me being late, especially since I’d started dating Oliver and KC.
5
OLI
“Damn it, what’s going on?” I paced between two maple trees on a small grass slope leading down to the main student parking lot. I kicked at red and orange leaves as I went, but the crunch wasn’t even that satisfying. My chest clenched and my fingers shook on my phone as I tried to hold off on looking at the screen again.
I’d noticed that on the days after I played hard with KC and Ren, I was on an emotional rollercoaster, but I wasn’t sure what to do about it. And I wasn’t sure if my tangled-up feelings were the problem or if the real issue was how completely weird this situation was.
“Fuck it.” I glanced at the text again.
Mom
Come home as soon as you can. I have something we need to talk about.
Was she sick? My shoulders ached as I forced myself to straighten them out because I was hunched over doing an impression of a gargoyle. Were we getting kicked out of the cutehouse she loved? My stomach heaved and I gagged on some acid that bit the back of my throat.
Not again.
