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Idk. Family stuff
I get it. If you want to talk, I’ll listen
Why?
Because I’m a decent guy, I guess
And I think we established that I like you
So I’m here
You’re only “here” because you want
to fuck me?
Zach’s back went up at once. What exactly had he done to provoke that response?
That’s not what I meant. Shit.
If you don’t want to talk, just say no.
Sorry. Didn’t mean to be bitchy
Like I said, shit day
Yeah. Family stuff. I got it
I’m really sorry
It’s okay. Sorry your day was so bad
Her avatar came up at once as she read his latest message, but no dots flashed. In fact, she left him on read so long Jay, who always yanked one out in the shower and was therefore always in there at least twenty, more often pushing thirty minutes, came out, brushed and flossed his teeth, gargled loudly, pulled on clean boxers, got into the other bed, and started watching YouTube—without earbuds—before another message from Lyra popped on Zach’s phone.
You have a good relationship with your folks, right?
Yeah. Pretty good
Better than ‘pretty’ good, though both relationships, with Mom and with Pop, had their ups and downs. Pop was just ... tough. He loved his family hard and out loud; that was never a question. But he was impatient and demanding, too. Zach had always felt like he was climbing a steep mountain in a stiff headwind to meet his father’s expectations.
Zach loved him as hard as he could love. Fuck, he wanted his own feet to fit those damn big boots. He knew his father would love him even if he was a fuckup, but the thought of being seen as a fuckup in his father’s eyes kept him awake in the night sometimes.
Mom was awesome. She was demanding, too, in her own way, and tough as hell. She herself rode, even forming up sometimes with the club when they went on family runs, while the other old ladies trailed in their SUVs. She had no compunction, either, about standing right up to Pop, going toe-to-toe when they disagreed, not backing down when Pop got loud. She was educated and accomplished and had never sidelined her own ambitions while being wife and mother to a family of bikers.
She was also gentle and sweet and understanding, always there with a soft word and a hug when one was needed. Just always there. Steady and true.
Zach wanted to find a woman just like her one day.
However, Zach and his mom were in the middle of their roughest patch ever. She was really pissed about Laughlin, suspecting instinctively and instantly what Zach had had trouble admitting to himself: that he wanted Laughlin because he needed distance from his family.
It felt shitty to him, too, that he needed separation from a family that was so objectively good.
Lyra’s reply came onto his screen.
Me too. Things with my mom
are a little rough rn tho
Parents are hard, even when
