“Don’t go. Please. This is the most you’ve told me about your life.” He swallowed, Adam’s apple jumping in his throat. “Tell me more?”
“Tell us both more.”
I startled and glanced toward the counter where KC was leaning. He smiled gently, his red hair windblown from being outside. His arms flexed under the sleeves of his black T-shirt, and the color made his hair pop even more.
Flint was gone, probably headed toward the back, and Wylie concentrated on his client, giving us the illusion of privacy.
KC closed the distance between us and swooped down to lay a kiss on Oliver’s lips. “Hey, sweetheart. You okay?”
Oliver made a face. “Did Ren text you?”
“Of course he did. He was worried.” KC grabbed a seat with wheels and dragged it over to sit beside Oliver. A combination of warmth and concern flickered over his face as he rubbed his hand down Oliver’s arm. “I came as soon as I could. I had class with Weeman.”
“Ugh. That sucks balls.”
I snorted. “Sucking balls is fun. He doesn’t sound fun.”
Oliver and KC laughed, the happy sound echoing off the walls.
“He’s not.” KC grimaced and ran a hand through his hair, scratching his fingers over his skull as he went. “He hates athletes, so he’s a real pain in the ass.” I opened my mouth, but KC beat me to it. “No, not the good pain in the ass. You’re more like Barber than you think.”
I didn’t know what my face did, but whatever happened on it made KC chuckle.
“Are we still on for tonight with him and Errol?” KC asked.
My gaze slid to Oliver, taking in the way his shoulders relaxed while beside KC. Would he ever feel that comfortable around me? I riled him up, but only because he seemed to enjoy the banter. Maybe I needed to go easier on him. Between the whole virginity thing and now his dad, he had to be hurting.
“If Kitten feels up to it.”
“I do.” Oliver offered me the sweetest smile that I wasn’t used to being on the receiving end of. “It would help to blow some shit up.”
“Wait. You’re serious? They actually have bombs and stuff?” I stared at them incredulously, even as they gave each other a grin.
“Oh, this is going to be fun.” KC rubbed his hands together in an objectively unKC-like way. And despite the worry about meeting my uncle for the first time niggling in my stomach,a feeling akin to excitement swelled inside me, too. This visit might not be too bad.
7
OLI
Twilight was settling in as I clutched two yellow pastry boxes, each filled with a dozen cupcakes. Troy’s Sweet Treats swirled across the top in red. It was a new place everyone was raving about, so Ren had decided to stop. He wouldn’t say it, but he wanted to impress everyone. I’d been to Errol’s more times than I could count, so I tuned out the scenic drive to east New Gothenburg—past the edge of the suburbs. My mind was stuck gnawing on everything that had happened with Dad earlier.
It kept chewing and chewing, asking the same questions on an endless loop.
What was Dad doing here? What did he think of me? Why wasn’t he happy to see me?
Or should I say Cain? He wasn’t mydad. He didn’t act anything like a dad.
My jaw ached and I opened my mouth, wiggling it, trying to relieve the tension. Shit, I’d been gritting my teeth. I wasn’t sure if I was pissed off or sad, but I hoped every gallon of milk Cain ever bought spoiled and he got lice once a month until he died.
KC beeped the horn of his Jeep, and I startled. He grinned when I glanced up front and caught him watching me in the rearview mirror.
“You all right back there?” he asked. His eyebrows dove. He was beautiful in the dregs of the setting sun, the pinks burnishing him so he might as well have been part of the edge of the horizon. I got choked up. Fuck, my emotions were all over the place.
“Yeah, I’m okay.” I wasn’t, but it would be pretty shitty of me to ruin this get-together for Ren just because I would rather be sitting at home with Mr. Wiggles. Mr. Wiggles was wonderful because he hadn’t learned to ask annoying questions in a sweet way that I couldn’t even really complain about. Fuck, I felt bad for being shitty about KC, too. The man was damned close to perfection on the boyfriend front.
Jesus, I was mad at myself for how bitchy I was being inside my own head, but I couldn’t turn it off.
KC frowned, pouting his lickable lips. He couldn’t know what I was thinking, right? But before he could say anything else—which would inevitably be the kind words of a wonderful boyfriend—Ren sighed. The sound started all the way down in his toes.
