Me: How is he?
Mom: Perfect.
She includes a picture of Luis sleeping in her arms and I smile, running a finger across the screen before opening a new text conversation and pulling up Monique’s number. There is no way this can wait.
Me: He’s here.
Three dots appear almost instantly because of course she isn’t paying attention in class. Like she even needs to.
Monique: Oh my God! Did you tell him?
I roll my eyes. Is she serious? You don’t just see a guy for the first time in close to two years and drop a baby in his lap day one.
Me: No. I didn’t get the chance to talk to him, but at least now I know he’s here.
Me: Also, I ran into your brother.
I leave out the part about her brother being friends with Luis’s dad. Knowing Monique, she wouldn’t be able to stop herself from grilling Dominique about him and I don’t want word of Luis getting to Emilio from anyone but me.
Monique: Was he an asshole?
I snort. Heads turn my way and I bite my lip, sinking down lower in my seat.
Me: No. He’s friends with this girl, Allie. She introduced us. I think you’d like her.
Monique: Don’t get any ideas about replacing me B.
I roll my eyes and smile.
Me: Not possible. But she wants to hangout this weekend. Us three and a girl named Kasey. You in?
I hope she says yes. Now that I know Allie and Kasey are friends with Emilio, I have every intention of feeling them out and getting every detail I can about him. He one hundred percent has every right to know he has a son, but that little boy is my everything, and I owe it to him to make sure that whoever I bring into his life isn’t going to walk right back out of it either.
Monique: Yes! I need to meet this chick.
Me: Allie?
Monique: No. Kasey. Dom gripes about her ALL THE TIME. Anyone who can rile my brother up like that is someone I need to know.
Me: LOL. Okay. I’ll tell Allie you’re in. TTYL.
I shove my phone back in my pocket just as the teacher walks by my desk, placing a sheet of paper on the surface. “Pop quiz. Let’s see what you know and how behind you all are. I like to see what I’m working with. Fair warning, Christmas break is over, and I don’t tolerate slackers in my classroom,” he says, and the collective room groans.
The rest of class goes by in silence as we all work on the math quiz. I finish before the bell rings and take a few extra minutes to go over my work until I’m satisfied with all of my answers. I need to finish strong this year. I might not know what I plan to do after graduation, but I want college to be an option. Monique is going to Suncrest U. And I don’t know…maybe I can work out a way to go there too. It wouldn’t be full time. Not with Luis. But it would be something and I’m okay with college taking a little bit longer. I’ll do whatever I need to do in order to make sure Luis gets the life he deserves.
I wonder briefly what Emilio’s plans are after high school. How his plans might affect my own. But before I get too stuck in my own head, I force myself to take a breath and relax. There’s no point in worrying about any of that yet.
For now, I need to figure how to tell him about Luis, which sounds a hell of a lot easier than I know it will be. After that, I can worry about the rest.
Five
This is one of the absolute worst fucks I’ve had in my life. I don’t know what the deal is. Sarah is into it, but my dick certainly isn’t. Her moans are loud and dramatic. And the excessive back scratching is starting to hurt. It’s like she’s auditioning for a B-rated porn flick.
“Yes. Yes. Oh. My. God. More. Emilio, Yes!” Her moan is obnoxiously loud.
I grit my teeth as she tightens her grip around my hips with her legs and I plow into her, trying to find a rhythm that will do something—anything—for me, but it’s no fucking use. Her pussy convulses on my cock, her eyes all but rolling into the back of her head as she finds her release again.
Fuck.
