Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 88736 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 444(@200wpm)___ 355(@250wpm)___ 296(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88736 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 444(@200wpm)___ 355(@250wpm)___ 296(@300wpm)
“Oh, so now you’re concerned if we’re sleepin’ together?” he shot back. We’d had the condom discussion months after he and Isla started dating when I realized they were spending a whole lot of time driving around in Dylan’s truck. I thought then, and I still thought now, that there wasn’t a whole lot I could do to stop them, and I wanted them to be smart about it. But that sure as fuck didn’t mean that they’d be sleeping together in my boy’s bedroom.
“Were you under the impression that this was a discussion?” I asked curiously. “Because it isn’t. This ain’t a democracy. Isla, you’re in Dylan’s room. Dylan, you’re on the fuckin’ recliner or the floor down here.”
“This is bullshit,” Dylan mumbled.
“I’m gonna go help the kids,” Teddy said, not looking at anyone as she moved toward the stairs. I didn’t blame her for escaping. Hell, I didn’t even want to be part of the discussion.
Dylan scowled at Teddy’s back. “So you can have some random woman in your bed, but—”
“Dylan,” I barked, so fucking done with his shit. “Enough.”
“Stop, Dyl,” Isla murmured quietly as she stood up. “It’s fine. I’ll see you in the morning.”
“You’re goin’ up now?” he asked in disbelief.
“I’ll see you in the morning,” she repeated, scooting around me. “Night, Mr. Harrison.”
“Night, Isla.”
I watched Dylan until I couldn’t hear her on the stairs anymore.
“You fucked up,” I told him quietly.
“She’s—”
“Nope,” I cut him off. “You don’t get to talk right now. I’m talkin’ now. You fucked up, Dyl. Huge. That girl’s parents are probably outta their minds with worry.”
“She talked to them,” he replied defensively.
“Before she went?” I asked. His silence was answer enough. “Yeah, that’s what I fuckin’ thought. Jesus.”
“She called them when we got here.”
“Well, brace, kid,” I snapped. “Because I guarantee you that they’ll be here by tomorrow mornin’.”
“They can’t make her go back.”
“Oh yeah?” I asked, wondering what planet he thought he was living on. “How’s Isla gonna live? Who’s gonna buy her school clothes and supplies and fuckin’ toilet paper? You? With what job, Dyl? How are you gonna pay for her phone? You gonna buy her a car since she left hers back home? You payin’ for insurance? You tell me how you think this is gonna go.”
“We’ll figure it out,” he ground out, his face red with frustration.
“Christ, kid,” I replied with a huff. “I did not need this shit today.”
“Dad, we can make it work,” he said, desperation lacing the words. “I know we can. I’ll get a job, and—”
“She pregnant?” I asked, the thought making my stomach feel like it was going to drop out of my asshole.
“No! I’m careful.”
“Thank fuck for that.” Relief made me dizzy. I shook my head and dug my fingers into my eye sockets. “I’m fuckin’ exhausted. We’ll talk in the mornin’.”
“Fine,” he grumbled, finally realizing that pushing me at the moment would do more harm than good.
“Your ass stays downstairs,” I ordered, pointing at him. I’d seen the stubborn look on his face more times than I could remember. He’d made it since he was a baby and was about to do something he knew he shouldn’t. “I’m not kiddin’ with you, Dylan. Don’t make this shit worse by fuckin’ with me.”
“Fine,” he ground out again, throwing himself back into the recliner like a fucking toddler.
I left him in the living room after I’d made sure the front door was locked. I checked every window in the house, along with the back door and the door to the garage, closing up the house for the night. The slider in the kitchen that led to the back patio needed a rod in the track—the lock was flimsy as fuck—but I’d deal with it in the morning along with everything else.
Upstairs was quiet. Dylan’s door was closed, and so was Finn’s, but Jesse’s was open. I paused and glanced in to find Jesse and Finn lying side by side in their sleeping bags. Finn had already crashed, but Jesse was lying in the dark reading a book with a little light.
“You got everything you need?” I asked quietly, making their head shoot up to look at me.
Almost immediately, Jesse sat up, their face serious.
“If you hurt her,” they said, like they were talking about the weather. “I’ll kill you. I don’t mean that figuratively. I mean it literally.”
“Understood,” I replied, clearing my throat.
“You probably think I’m bluffing,” they said, lying back down. “But I’m sleeping right down the hall, I have excellent hearing, and you have to sleep at some point. You willing to take the chance?”
The book light turned off, and I was staring into darkness.
“I’m not gonna hurt her,” I promised. “You guys are safe here.”
When there was no reply, I continued down the hall to my room with my guts churning. It wasn’t what Jesse had said that worried me—they clearly felt like the protector of their little family—it was the way they’d said it. They weren’t just giving me a warning. It was like they were preparing for the worst to happen. I thought back but couldn’t think of a reason why they would be afraid of me and had to assume it must’ve been a general distrust of people they didn’t know, but I couldn’t be sure, and that fucked with me. The last thing I wanted to do was scare a kid that I was supposed to be protecting.