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What? “You didn’t mention that up front?”
“Cars can be repaired. But this may be the only time I walk in on my mom in bed withJoystick and Eli.” Lucas stood again. “I’m still processing the awesome.”
Sometimes this boy had Andrew’s priorities. “So where’s your car now,” I asked. “And while we’re on the subject, why are you here, and how did you get into the house?”
Lucas shrugged. “Andrew asked me to bring him something. Car died. Some sexy old guy was driving by in an Impala, gave me a ride there then here, and a key to the house.”
“Sexy old guy?” I repeated. “God. Please don’t tell me you called Xander that to his face.”
“Give me some credit. I only thought about saying that to his face. How about I go find the car repair place, pick us up breakfast, and while I’m gone the three of you can get your story straight. I’m taking your car, by the way.”
I had no idea when he’d grabbed my keys, but my purse was in plain view, so it wasn’t a big mystery how. “You sound too much like Andrew sometimes.” I didn’t mean it in a bad way.
Lucas didn’t look bothered. “You’d better tell a better story than he does.”
“I promise you that Eli is a better storyteller.” Though I may be a little biased. A lot.
Lucas pulled out his phone. “You don’t even call them by their full names. You’re just likeJoystick. Eli. Like it’s the most natural thing in the world. I’m literally deceased right now.”
“You’re not, because you’re still standing here talking. Breakfast?” I’d like to move past this moment in life. It went far better than expected though. Enough that if I shoved aside the embarrassment, I was pretty pleased with the whole thing.
Lucas jabbed his phone a few times. “Rawr, I’m a zombie. I’m going though. What’s everyone eating?” He took our orders, and walked out of the house mumbling, “I’m buying breakfast for fucking Donavan and Corey. My mom isfuckingDonovan and Corey.”
“I like him,” Joystick said the moment the door closed.
“This feels weird to say—the words, not what they mean—but I agree with Austin.”
That definitely went better than I expected. This whole morning was strange, but was it a bad strange?
22
joystick
WatchingKandace interact with her son, the easy friendship they had, made me realize something.
It was possible to adore her more.
It did remind me though, I’d been curious about something in regards to Lucas. It never seemed like a good time to ask, but I’d rather know now if the topic was off-limits. “Lucas’s father. Is he out of the picture?” I asked Kandace. “You don’t have to share any messy details, but divorce? Death? One night stand…?”
“None of the above. Not for me, anyway. One night stand, I suppose. And no, his biological father is very much a part of his life.”
Jealousy flashed inside, but I suppressed it. I’d never once heard her mention the man. What was that look on Eli’s face? “Are you smirking?”
“No.” Eli’s expression went blank and he shrugged.
As I looked between them, something else occurred to me. “I’m the only one who doesn’t know this story.”
“Andrew’s his father,” Kandace said.
That damn grin of Eli’s was back. Though it was better than his scowl. “You know how that sounds, don’t you?”
My brain had glitched. Kandace— She hadn’t— “I don’t— Your brother? That Andrew?”
“This is why I don’t talk about it.” Kandace didn’t sound upset at all. “I’m not Lucas’s birth mother. Andrew got a girl pregnant and didn’t know. He was in South America when she dropped newborn Lucas on my doorstep, and there was no way I was letting someone else raise that innocent little child. Especially not my brother, who was barely more than a baby himself. Lucas knows the truth, we told him seven or eight years ago, but I’m Mom and my brother is Uncle Andrew.”
That made so much more sense. “Then the whole thing isn’t as nearly we-must-protect-the-bloodline as it sounds.”
Kandace seemed to consider this. “I suppose in a way… But no. Do I have something on my face?”
