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Her tongue darts out to lick up my shaft when a piercing whistle penetrates my skull. I bolt upright to see Logan about two inches from my face, a yellow play whistle snug between his teeth. Hurriedly, I glance down at my lap and find that the blanket, while twisted, still covers me. The loud noise deflated my erection like a pin in a balloon. I guess be grateful for small favors.
“What’s up, little man?” I ask as if I wasn’t having the horniest dream about his sister.
“We got school. Can you drive us?”
“Sure. Sure.” I rub my eyes and peer at my watch. The dial on my Audemars Piguet says it’s seven. “Where’s your sister?”
“She went to work already. She starts delivering at six for the grocery store.”
I glance down at my lap again. Did she...come over while I was sleeping? Was I jerking off? Shit. I wish I could remember, but it’s hard to figure out what was real and what was my overactive imagination. I mean, I’m sure she wasn’t straddling my cock while I was sleeping. Right?
“Let me get dressed and we’ll take off.”
“Cool! Can we go through McDonald’s and have McMuffins for breakfast?”
“Logan, shut up. I told you not to ask him,” calls Dean. His mouth is muffled by the toothbrush hanging out of the side. There’s a drip of paste on his chin. I brush my face with my thumb to let him know that he’s got a minty guest hanging around and then pat Logan’s head.
“It’s all good. McMuffins, juice, and whatever else you want, but you’ve got to be ready in ten minutes.”
The boys rush to get dressed while I pull on my discarded jeans and T-shirt, which smell faintly of booze. I guess I got too close to the dealer last night. The boys scarf down two meals each and then wave merrily to me when I drop them off. A few of the moms in the school line give me some weird looks, which I ignore.
I drive by the grocery store, but Rory’s Jeep isn’t there, so I run home, shower, change, and then head down to City Hall to see my uncle. Mavis, his admin, waves me off. “You can’t go in there. He’s having a budget meeting.”
“Shit.”
“What’s wrong? Is your mama hurt?” She rushes to my side.
“No.” When I left the house, she was elbow deep in her flower garden. “I wanted to see if Uncle Phillip knew anything about some meth dealers in the area.”
Mavis frowns. “Child, why’re you asking about that? That’s grown person’s business. Go make your funny videos and leave all of that to the authorities.”
My funny videos? Is that all I’m known for? “I’m a grown person, Mavis.”
“Sure you are.” She pats my cheek. “How’s that romance with the Carlson girl going? From your last post, it looks like she’s still playing hard to get. You need to give us all an update.”
I scrub my face and bite back a retort that would likely hurt Mavis’ feelings. “It’s still going. If anything positive happens, y’all will be the first to know.”
“Oh, honey, no one wants anything positive to happen. We like the yearning.” She winks and shoos me to the door. “I’ll let Mayor know that you stopped by. Bye bye, now!”
I find myself on the other side of the office door before I can blink. I’ll admit I wasn’t the best student in the classroom but I didn’t realize that the town thought of me as some kid who didn’t—no, couldn’t—do anything worthwhile but post little videos that made people laugh. I’m doing that because it’s low effort and gives me an opportunity to follow Rory around.
Is that why Rory won’t go out with me? Because she thinks I’m a useless human? Getting a regular job does not appeal to me, but maybe I can prove my worth to her by cleaning up this business with her mom and the meth dealer. Can’t be too hard. I know everyone in this town.
eight
RORY
I knowmy mom is actually ignoring my phone calls at this point. She accidentally answered at one point only to hang up on me. I text her, letting her know what happened last night. That some man is looking for her. But she hasn’t even bothered to respond to my messages.
I was happy when Tyson had pushed to stay the night with me and my brothers. What if that man had tried to come back? I like to think I can take care of myself and the boys, but I don’t want my own ego to get in the way of their safety.
Now I can’t stop thinking about him showing up again this evening while I’m working and only the boys are home. I swear my mom is always trying to make my life harder. This isn’t the first time someone has come looking for her. And I’m pretty sure it won’t be the last, unfortunately.
If it was only so easy for me to pick up and move. But there’s no way I could leave my little brothers behind. Mom might not be around, but she does have final say when it comes to them, and she knows she can use that against me at the end of the day. She’d throw a fit if I up and left and not for the reason she should. Nope, she’d be pissed that she wouldn't have a place to crash when she decided to come back.
Dean texts me when he and Logan make it home from school. He does the same when they get to school each morning. I hate how much I put on his shoulders for such a young age, but there aren't a ton of choices.
I have to be at work to keep the bills paid. He told me that he got Tyson to take them this morning instead of taking the bus. He sent me a picture of Logan shoving a giant breakfast sandwich into his mouth. I know it’s ridiculous, but each time Tyson does something for them, it chips away at the walls I’ve built to protect myself.
