“His dad, probably,” Fletcher says. “His dad’s always in his head. Honestly, it’s been refreshing seeing him with Ember. It feels like he’s enjoying life again.”
“Which we could all be doing if we got out of this bore fest.” I yawn.
“If you think this is bad, you should’ve seen what it was like before you bribed the DJ,” Tate responds. “Brinley and Alex were watching hockey.”
“I think we’ve been here long enough.” Fletcher stretches. “I say we dip.”
“And leave everyone else hanging?” Tate leans back.
“I don’t think Jaxon’s night is as boring as the rest of ours.”
“That’s fair, and the golden boy already left,” I argue. “He’s the only reason we even stick around, and the event’s nearly over.”
“There’s still over an hour,” Tate twists the cap off her flask and takes a drink.
“Yeah, but you guys made it halfway; that’s passing.”
“Fifty percent is not passing.”
“Tate, if you wanna stick around for the rest of this thing, go ahead. I have somewhere else I’d rather be.”
I stand up and pull my suit jacket off the back of my chair.
“Only Zeke Harris would have a date to the banquet and a different girl lined up to sleep with.” Fletcher laughs. “What’s your secret man?”
“Girls have to actually like you, Fletch.” I pat his shoulder, and Tate’s body shakes with laughter as she hits the outside of Fletcher’s thigh repeatedly with the back of her hand.
“Fuck off, Harris.” He swats my hand away, and I shoot him a wink as I head toward the exit.
“See you at the game.”
twenty-eight
Avalon
I’m starting to get used to my mom not being here. At first, it felt like the end of the world. I thought worrying about her would consume me, but I’ve slowly realized that it’s not fair to me if I let her do that. I’ve put so much of my life on the back burner because of her and her issues.
Fuck, I didn’t even go to the cops when she stole from me, which at this point, I probably won’t get the rest of that money back, but I don’t care. Zeke’s really helped me get out of my head. It’s hard to overthink my problems when he’s inside of me. The world doesn’t exist when we’re having sex, and I don’t mind that feeling one bit. Not anymore.
“Hey.” My front door opens, and Zeke walks inside with a few bags of groceries.
“What are you doing here?”
“Making dinner.”
“What about your banquet?”
“I left.”
“The banquet started like an hour and a half ago.”
“Yeah, and each second of it was torture.” He drops the bags onto the kitchen counter. “What are you watching?”
“Bones,” I reply. “I started it after you left.”
“Bones?” He starts pulling out groceries. “Sounds stupid.”
“It’s actually really good. It’s about this anthropologist and her team who work with an FBI agent to solve murders.”