“Okay, if that’s what you need to do,” Jess says with a smile on her thin lips and trust in her eyes. Sometimes it makes me nuts how agreeable she is.
Like, fight back. Tell me I’m an ass. Demand I tell the truth. Throw it in my face that you know I’m lying to you.
Jess would never do those things, and what kind of asshole gets annoyed that his girlfriend is too sweet and accepting?
She simply places a palm on my cheek when I drop her off, and uncertainty paints her smile. “Call me?”
“Of course,” I reply and watch her move up her walk before putting the truck back in gear. I notice her father standing in the window, wearing a scowl on his face that could be seen from space. The man hates me, and it’s palpable at this moment.
Right now, I hate myself.
I swing by the shop before I go home to check in with Gord—the man who has been more of a father to me than my own. He agreed to cover for me while I watched Jet’s horse, but I owe him so much more than that.
Gord has bailed me out of my own bullshit almost as much as my brothers. Trips to the drunk tank, patching up cuts and bruises. I’m not a fighter like Jet, and I don’t have a temper like Xan but I ended up hurt a lot. I do a lot of stupid shit because I give things basically zero thought before I do them. Tabby says my risk meter is broken.
The familiar buzz of the front door reminds me of Nova, and I shake my head and the memory of the first time she walked in here. Her beach waves and pouty, full lips. The way she stopped when she saw me. Like actuallystopped, her shoes screeching on the concrete floor.
I have to admit her reaction did a lot for my confidence that day.
Today, Gord is leaning on the desk, looking over his glasses, glaring at the computer screen. When he ran the place, everything was done on paper. When I took over, the first thing I did was get computers in here. Gord hates it and regularly tells me so.
“Hey, man,” I say, moving to the back counter to grab a cup of thick coffee.
“Hey, kid. Some girl came in here looking for you today.” Gord looks at me with a stern glare as I lift the cup to my lips. “So do I congratulate you or knock you in the mouth and ask you what the hell you were thinking?”
I choke on my coffee, spraying it across the desk, and wipe my face with my hand. Through the lack of ability to use my face muscles, I stare slack-jawed. How?
“I ain’t no fool, Ezekiel Stryker. That girl came in here asking for you, rubbin’ on her belly with those big eyes and pink cheeks. She had the aura of a mama clinging all over her. You forget I’ve had a few of the little shits myself. I know a pregnant woman when I see one.”
My hands shake, forcing me to put down the coffee, and I grip the counter and take a big breath. Gord patiently glares at me over his thick glasses.
“You better start talking, boy,” he grunts, tapping his pen on the pad of paper lying in front of him.
“I’m not sure what there is to talk about. She came to town a few months ago. We hooked up. She’s pregnant.”
“Protection?” Gord squints at me, and I recoil at the word coming from him. This might have been the level of weirdness I’d have felt if Jason had been a proper dad and talked to me about this stuff.
“We used it. Must have broke or something.” I hide my embarrassment behind my coffee mug and take a long drink.
“So, what’s your plan?”
“We’re meeting tomorrow to talk about what we’re going to do. I have to go tell my brother.” I run my hand through my hair and scratch the back of my neck. Xan is going to fucking flip out.
Gord snickers and goes back to his chart. “Good luck with that. Should be punishment enough for your boneheaded mistake.”
My heart thumps as I text Xan to see if he’s home on my way to the front door. The twenty-minute drive out to his place up the Lorry road will give me time to think.
I can’t go to my house. The second my sisters see me, they’ll instantly know something is up. I won’t hear the end of it.
“Zeke,” Gord calls, and I pause to look back with my palm on the door. “You step up for that girl. Be a man, you hear me?”
I swallow lead and razor blades, but nod quickly before jumping in my truck and heading toward Lorry Road. My phone buzzes as Xan gets back to me.
Xan: Throwing at the field with Millie and Sarah. Swing by?
Shit. That’s not what I was hoping. I course-correct and head to the school baseball field.
Baseball was a huge part of both my brothers’ lives. Xan went to college on scholarship for a while, and Jet was tracking for the same path, but injured himself and then got expelled. I was better than both of them, but I hate this field. I hate the game.