AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The wavering look on Ms. Curtis’ face erased as her lips compressed. The look she sent me could have boiled oil. Not that I gave a damn about her opinion. In fact, I welcomed her ire. Bring it on. I wasn’t afraid of her. I’d rather she pointed it all at me, anyway.
“Archie,” Edward stated in a cool tone. “You’re going to regret this.”
“I’ve been regretting you my whole life.” I told him with a crisp nod. “This…” I motioned between him and Frankie’s mom, “hasn’t really been a factor, other than to prove once again what a selfish narcissistic ass you are.” I paused, more for dramatic effect than anything else, then smirked. Bubba had crossed the lot and stood a foot away from me. “Then again, maybe that’s why you two deserve each other.”
I let that grenade drop and walked away, and I didn’t glance back even once as I slid into the car. The passenger door opened, and Bubba gave it a beat before he slid into the seat. He hadn’t even gotten his seatbelt on before I pulled out and turned onto the street.
“Holy shit, Arch.”
I shrugged. Didn’t occur to me until right then that Bubba hadn’t really seen me and Edward go at it. They weren’t really that exposed to my parents, and I preferred it that way. Jeremy was a successful surrogate and far more desirable an authority figure.
“Text them and see if they need anything before we head that way.” I didn’t mean to snap it out like an order, but the fact Edward showed up with Frankie’s mom to pick up Frankie when he’d not once shown up at a single one of my schools irked me.
I got it, I preferred Frankie to me, too. But what the fuck was he up to? And why were they so intent on getting her to their new place?
The rain suddenly began sheeting down. I kicked on the windshield wipers and the headlights. At least it waited until we were out of it.
“Jake says she’s half-asleep in Coop’s lap. Maybe coffee. Otherwise, just come in quiet.”
I nodded and took the next turn. Coffee sounded like a good idea. One drawback to staying at Frankie’s was the lack of alcohol. Her mother didn’t even keep wine there, and I debated asking Jeremy to stock it, but I figured he bent the rules enough for me at home.
When I pulled into the drive-thru line, I glanced over at Bubba, who stared at his phone like it held the secrets of the universe.
“Problem?”
“Just worried about her.”
I nodded. “She’ll be fine.” Not that I wasn’t worried, but Frankie had been surviving her mom for years without us being aware of how bad it could be. Now she had us in her corner. We would make damn sure she was fine.
“You say it like it’s easy.”
I shrugged. “I say it like we don’t really have a choice. There are worst things in life than crappy parents who do a crappy job of being parents.”
Like assholes who drug my girlfriend.
The silence next to me was heavy.
“Just spit it out, Bubba. You’re not going to offend me.”
“Your dad’s a real dick.”
“Yep,” I agreed. “He really is. Edward’s not a father though. He’s a sperm donor.”
“Do you think he’ll actually cut you off?”
“Not the first time he’s threatened it. Won’t be the last. Doesn’t matter anyway.” It was our turn, and I cracked the window to give the order. I knew everyone’s drinks now. It was damp outside, and she was hurting, so I got her a hot one with the peppermint and extra whip cream. Rain spattered inside, but I ignored it. The temperature outside seemed to be rapidly descending, too.
He waited until after I’d paid for the drinks and we were pulling back out into the suddenly heavy traffic that marked the end of the school day before he said, “I’m sorry.”
“For what?” Sure, there were a lot of things he could be sorry about, and I wasn’t in the mood to guess.
“’Cause your dad is an ass. Your mom…well, I don’t really know your mom.”
“Don’t overthink it. I don’t really know Muriel, either. It’s not a big deal.”
“That’s not the way parents are supposed to be.”
I chuckled. “Bubba, did it ever occur to you that you got lucky? Jake and Coop’s parents are divorced. Jake barely mentions his dad without latent hostility boiling over. Coop avoids his like the plague. They’re both good with their moms, but their dads? Not so much. Frankie doesn’t even know her dad’s name much less who he was, and her mother has had one foot out the door for years. My parents? Pfft. Before we moved here, I hadn’t lived with them in years. I saw them at holidays, and I lived primarily at boarding school.”
