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It got worse when Corey came out onto the balcony.
Still in his tuxedo (Corey and Tania had been to some big event that night, after which, obviously, his dad had broken up with her), not even taking off the jacket (then again, Corey was perfectly comfortable in suits, and he would be, he wore them all the time), he went right to the railing, stared at the ocean and took a sip of his drink.
He then said, “Come here, Hale.”
Shit!
But…yeah.
Some way, somehow, his father always knew all.
Hale moved from where he was hiding to the railing, not close, but not far from his dad.
“Can’t sleep?” Corey asked the ocean.
“No,” Hale answered.
“Mm,” Corey hummed into his glass and took another sip.
He then turned Hale’s way and leaned sideways into the railing.
“You sleep like the dead the first couple of nights you’re with me after being with your mom.”
Hale shrugged, though, that was true. But he was kinda surprised his dad noticed.
“Do you not sleep well when you’re with her?”
Okay.
Now he knew where this was going.
And man, he didn’t want to get into it.
“I—” he started.
“You don’t have to say it,” Corey said so softly, the crash of the waves nearly took his words away before Hale could hear them. But Hale knew he knew. He barely slept at all when he was with her. “Do you need me to do something about that?” Corey asked.
Something funny was happening inside Hale’s chest.
“Like what?”
“A young man needs his sleep,” Corey declared. “More, he doesn’t need to experience the crippling anxiety that’s making him not sleep.”
“She would…” Hale didn’t finish that.
But his father knew.
He knew he did when Corey said, “Lose her mind and make us both pay if I tried to take you from her.”
Hale didn’t nod or say anything.
Still, Corey sighed, took another sip of his drink, then turned again to face the railing, bending to rest his forearms to it and looking out to sea.
“I did her wrong, Hale. You’re old enough now to hear that,” his dad admitted. “Though, considering it was over twelve years ago, it’s fair to say she’s milking it for all it’s worth.”
Studying his father closely, Hale turned to the railing and adopted the same pose, even though he wasn’t near as tall as his dad.
“I’m sorry you heard what just transpired between Tania and I,” Corey continued.
