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“Jesus Christ,” I said.
“Fuck,” Shawn said.
“I, uh, I have to go get her. Now. Ranna is in court.”
“Court?” I asked. “Shit.”
“Ranna is a lawyer,” Shawn explained to me. “She’s not in trouble. She just can’t get out of work.”
“Oh,” I said, the gears turning in my head.
So Nathan’s ex-wife was a lawyer. I’d had no idea that she had such a high-powered job, but I’d never really heard Nathan say much about her.
There was a lot about Nathan I didn’t know. And there was plenty he didn’t know aboutme, too.
I watched him now, stressed out as he called Maddy and told her he was coming to get her, realizing how muchlifehe had lived—most of it while I’d still been a dumb preteen, sitting at home eating cereal and watching football on TV.
It put my ego in check, somehow, knowing that Nathan had been through so much and still managed to find something new and exciting with me. A guy who had raised a child, been married to a lawyer, and started a successful construction company was willing to put it all on pause to hang out with my young, dumb ass.
“We’ll take my car service,” I offered the moment Nathan hung up the phone with Maddy.
Nathan shook his head. “I got this, Kace, I already feel bad enough that I have to do this on our construction kickoff day—”
“Nonsense. Your car is already in the detailing shop,” I told him, trying to give him a pointed look so that he picked up on what I’d told the other guys. “So you should use the car service. They can be here in four minutes, and they’ll get you there fast as fuck.”
I broke off, jogging back into the kitchen to tell Vivienne we needed the car. She called it right away, and they were even faster than usual, arriving outside my house within a few minutes. Nathan came around to the front, still looking shellshocked.
“I can’t believe it,” he said, shaking his head. “She’s fifteen and I still feel like she’s a three-year-old. How could she have slept over at some strange guy’s place? There wasalcohol?She apparently told Ranna she was at her friend Maya’s house—fuck, Kace—”
“Hey,” I said, looking him in the eye. “It’s okay. Maddy is fine. Teenagers do dumb shit sometimes. God knows I did.”
“Right,” he said, looking into the distance. He didn’t seem convinced.
“Hell, she’ll learn a lesson from this shit,” I said. “Sounds like she already has. She’s probably fucking terrified right now, and embarrassed as hell sitting outside of that house.”
Nathan nodded quickly. “I’m going to go easy on her this morning. I’ll have alongtalk with her tomorrow. Shit, I don’t want her to have to be alone today.”
“Bring her here,” I said. “Duh.”
Nathan turned to me. “I can’t do that. After everything you’ve already done for me this morning.”
“I’d be mad if youdidn’tbring her here,” I said. “It’s perfect. She can hang, relax, recoup. I’ll have Benny cook her some breakfast. She can sleep on the couch or get in the hot tub, whatever she needs.”
Nathan looked crushed. “She would really like that.”
“She needs it, probably,” I said. “Bring her over. That’s an order.”
Nathan reached out, squeezing my shoulder. “I already owe you for life, Kace.”
He got in the black car and it took off down my driveway. As I watched them drive off, I felt like a little string was tugging on my heart the further away Nathan got from me.
Fuck, I thought, a strange sensation riding through me. I realized with a wave of discomfort that I was involved, now. I gave a shit. Nathan was just a fun hookup, sure. A straight guy who was older than me and didn’t know what he wanted.
But I was starting to care about him, in a way that I never could have seen coming. I cared about his daughter, and her well-being. I cared about his past.
As I walked back into the backyard to help the other guys set up at the guest house, I pulled out my phone and took a selfie in front of my pool. It was a carefree photo like all of my other ones, the sun shining on the glass panes of my mansion behind me, the jewel blue of the pool glittering in the bottom of the frame.
To my fans, it was just another smiling, shirtless photo of me. A picture for them to “like” and “favorite” and probably jerk off to—for some of the fans at least.
