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“Redix, stop. It’s fine. He didn’t hurt me. He just disappointed me.”
“Why?”
“Because I’ve been out with him before. A long time ago, and I thought he’d change by now, but he hasn’t. He’s a dick.”
“Why the hell are you giving him another chance then?”
Fuck, tick another mark in my HYPOCRITE box. Everyone gave my dickhead antics dozens of chances until I finally got my shit right.
Renie collapses in a chair, looking defeated. “Because he’s Nicolas’s dad, and I really wanted it to work.”
Holy shit.
Me and Mama never knew who Nicolas’s dad was. Renie just said it was a one-night hook-up, and the condom broke, and wouldn’t answer more. It was hard enough for her to be eighteen and pregnant.
“Look.” I sit on the sofa, trying to cram down every protective instinct I have. “I’ll never judge you. I have no fucking room to, so if you wanna talk or need anything, I’m here.”
She sighs, staring at the ceiling. “I always knew he was the dad. Don’t freak out, okay, but he was my first, and then I got pregnant. Yes, I was drunk, but I remembered him. And then, he disappeared for two years and showed back up, and I told him about Nicolas.”
“Has he met him?”
Because the only disappointing dick allowed around my family is me. And I’ve changed.
“No.” Renie snaps her eyes my way. “He’s a fucking party animal with a mean streak, and I won’t let him meet Nicolas. Not until he gets his shit together.”
Something. She’s not telling me something.
“Renie, how drunk were you? Like, could you even consent to sex?”
“Jesus, Redix, that’s none of your business.”
“But you said you were drunk. Like, how drunk?”
“I don’t know. It just happened, okay. I was underage and drinking at a bar when I shouldn’t have been. He came up and flirted with me, and I don’t remember how it happened, but I woke up in the backseat of his car. He was going so fast; it hurt like hell because it was my first time, and there was never a condom. I remember that. When he was done, he dropped me off at home and disappeared. What do you want me to say? I’ve been catching hell from Mama about it ever since.”
“Do you know his name? Nicolas’s dad?”
“Yes.” She rolls her eyes again.
“Who is he?”
Because it sounds like he raped my little sister, and yes, I’ll kill him.
“Derek Baucom,” she grumbles.
And my world explodes.
CHAPTER TEN
It’s been days since the riverboat party, and Silas is acting weird.
Not like ghosting me, but he’s lost in thought a lot.
He’s helping me shop for a Christmas gift for Nina. She’s the one-year-old daughter of my best friend Penny, and I’m scanning across too many choices.
“Should I get her a music bus or an activity block?” Standing in the aisle of the toy store, do I just buy everything? “She just took her first steps, so maybe a walking toy?”
Quiet answers me. Silas is staring at the ground. He asked to come, but he was just being nice.
