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“It started with a finger, didn’t it?”
“A thumb, yeah.”
“And it ended with…”
He nodded into his coffee cup, looking well-pleased with himself. “Sure did.”
“Damn,” I swore, rubbing my cheeks for effect. I pointed up at the cabinet. “We haven’t done that since…”
“Since we celebrated your twentieth birthday,” he replied. Smiling, he took a fresh mug down and began pouring me a cup. “Remember that night?”
“Of course I remember,” I chuckled. “I think we slept for ten hours after that.”
“Eleven.”
The night in question had been legendary, just like this one. Adrian fixed my coffee exactly the way I liked it, then passed me the mug. We toasted again, although I had no idea what we were drinking to. My tight little ass, probably.
“Ugh.”
Whatever brew the guys were keeping at their apartment wasn’t exactly gourmet. Since arriving in California I’d become a bit of an insufferable coffee diva, but at least I knew it.
“Wanna tell me why we’re up drinking coffee at this ungodly hour?” I asked, wincing through the second sip.
Adrian’s face went abruptly serious. The knuckles holding the mug flexed a tiny bit whiter.
“Do you remember offering to come with me?” he said. “To visit my father?”
I blinked in total shock. It took me a moment to answer.
“Yes.”
“Still up for that?”
It was the last thing in the world I expected. Adrian harbored anger toward his father, and felt indifferent at best. He blamed the old man for abandoning him. For pulling some stupid, bone-headed armed robbery that landed him in jail throughout Adrian’s childhood, and cost him a chance at a normal upbringing.
Yet now, after all these years, the man was coming home. And Adrian might finally be ready to reconnect with him, depending on the circumstances.
“Well?”
I tried to keep the surprise from my face as I formulated an answer. Adrian’s desire to see his dad was a tenuous connection at best. Every second I hesitated could snap it like an old rubber band.
“T—Today?” I asked.
“Yes.”
“But I’m leaving today.”
It was a topic we’d avoided talking about, so we could enjoy last night. But now last night was over.
“Your flight isn’t until later this afternoon,” he countered. “The correction facility is down in Monroe, so we’d have to go early. It’s one of the reasons I’m already up.”
Mentally I started doing the math in my head. Monroe was an hour and a half away. Without traffic.
He jerked a thumb in the direction of the living room. “Mario and Luigi back there wanna take you to breakfast. Do that with them. I’ll get one of them to drop off your rental car later this morning, and we’ll drive you out to the airport in time to make your flight. We’ve already talked about it.”
His last statement touched my heart a little. It hadn’t hit home yet that they were discussing me amongst themselves.
“What about my stuff?”
