“Killing Ambrose.”
“Yes, so talking will help, and Cody sees Dr. Mahon. Said she’s easy to talk to and helped him. Will you consider it for me?”
Orsen snorted. “Are you using my like against me?”
Santino laughed and shook his head. “Busted. I am indeed using the fact that you like me to persuade you to do something that will benefit you.”
“Huh. All I got was ‘yes, I am.’” Orsen looked at Santino and then stared at his lips. “If I promise to go, will you kiss me?”
“I… what?”
“One kiss. I’ve never been kissed, and I want my first to be with you.”
“I think things are moving too fast.”
“Over one kiss?” Orsen pulled a face. “That’s crap.”
Santino’s eyebrows shot up, and then he leaned over and kissed him on the lips. Super quick. “There.”
“Wow. I feel so loved.”
“You have been spending time with Toni and Carter’s children.”
“I like Arthur. He makes me laugh, and he’s teaching me how to play games on the console he has. He has some his parents don’t know about. Cody bought them for him and swore him to secrecy.”
“You told me. I could bust him.” Santino waggled his eyebrows, making Orsen laugh. “Get on with your work. I think you’re delaying doing it.”
“Nuh-uh! I’m enjoying it, but one day I want to hate it too. Then I’ll make your life hell.”
Santino burst out laughing. “I think I like you, Orsen.”
“Enough for another kiss?”
Santino stopped smiling and stared at him. “You’re seventeen. I’m thirty-one.”
Orsen sank into his chair and pursed his lips. “I’m not going to be like teenagers my age.”
“I know, and part of me is telling me you should go out and live your life, date, have sex and have relationships until you’re ready to settle down.” Orsen opened his mouth, and Santino placed a finger on his lips. “You think that’s not what you want right now, but maybe it will be when you’ve had therapy and have moved on from what’s happened. What if I dated you and thingsdeveloped between us? Then you realize you want all the things those teenagers have and leave me?”
“Cheat on you?”
“Maybe not intentionally, but yes. You’re not even eighteen yet—”
“Ambrose used to sell Allison. I would hear it happen.”
Chapter Eight
Santino snapped his mouth shut. He wasn’t handling this as well as he normally would, and this new revelation had him on the back foot. Here sat a man—and he was, in more ways than he should have been—who had been exposed to acts no child should ever know. It reminded Santino that just because Orsen came across as innocent in some ways, he wasn’t in many others.
“I’m sorry.”
“I didn’t know what it was when I was younger and then she was gone. I knew later what he was doing. He tried it with me a couple of times, but I ran away. I always came back because that was home. I know I’m not like others, but I’m not a child either. I don’t want to see the world or do crazy things or sleep around. I want a normal life with someone who cares about me. A job. Friends.” Orsen tapped his chin, then looked at Santino. “You see me through your eyes and not mine.”
Santino arched his eyebrows. Orsen was right. Santino did. “I guess I do. From now on, I’ll stop doing that, or at least I’ll try.”
“Thank you. What were we talking about?”
“You doing your work and me having to do some thinking.”
