Page 59 of Fake Shot

“Because I haven’t told them,” I say, swallowing roughly.

“Has he contacted either of them?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Would you know if he did?”

“Yeah.”

“And why’s that?” He’s led me straight to the point I don’t want to let him make. I know exactly why my dad only ever approaches me.

“Because if he had, either of them would have told him to fuck off, and then told the rest of us about it.”

“So why haven’t you done that?” He’s got one arm loosely gripping the top of the steering wheel, and the ends of his sandy hair curl up from under his backward ball cap. Outwardly, he’s relaxed, but I can tell just by the line of questioning that he’s not.

“What do you want me to say, Colt? That I feel bad for him, and that despite the fact that he left us, I feel some obligation to help him?”

“That’s a start. Does your therapist know you’ve helped him out in the past?”

“You’re jumping to a lot of conclusions for someone who heard, like, five seconds of our conversation.”

“The kitchen window was open, Jules. That’s how I knew he was out there in the first place. It’s not like I’d haverecognized him if I hadn’t heard your conversation and known it was your dad.”

It’s true that my dad is barely recognizable. I remember when I was still very young, back when Jameson was in high school and my parents were happily married—Dad used to look so much like my brother looks now, but without the dark eyes. Jameson got those from his own mom, but otherwise, they’re practically twins. Their personalities couldn’t be more different, though. Where Jameson is fiercely loyal, staunchly determined, and completely disciplined in all aspects of his life, Dad’s a loose cannon of bad decisions. It’s why I try so hard to be more like my brother—I don’t want to end up like my dad.

“No,” I say finally. “My therapist doesn’t know about my dad.”

“And why not?”

“I don’t know, Colt,” I say, sarcasm heavy in my tone. “Because I have so many other issues to talk to her about that this one hasn’t come up yet?”

Besides, I’m well aware that just about every issue in my life stems from my father in the first place. There’s a reason they call them “daddy issues.”

“So how about this,” he says. “When you talk to her tomorrow morning, let’s tell her about what’s happening with your dad, and see what she says. Or, I can tell your brother.”

My incredulous laugh comes out sounding an awful lot like a snort. “Are you fucking giving me an ultimatum? We haven’t been together long enough for that. And also, what do you meanlet’stalk to her about it. Are you planning to join my therapy session?”

“I’d like to,” he says. His eyes flick from the road to me quickly before he refocuses them straight ahead. “If you’re open to it.”

Is he even for real right now? “Why in the world would I be open to that?”

“I just want to be there when you tell her what happened. Then I’ll leave.”

I genuinely laugh at that. “No, you won’t. Because she’s going to have a lot of questions for you, Colt.”

“For me?”

“Yeah. Like she’s going to ask why you keep jumping in to save me in situations I can clearly handle by myself. And why your first instinct was to say we’re engaged. And why you have probably hundreds of former hookups in your contact list and haven’t slept with anyone in half a year, but you can’t keep your hands off me.”

His lips curve up into what I can only imagine is a classic Colt smirk, but I can’t tell for sure since I can only see his profile. “You sure those aren’t the questionsyouwant to ask?”

“I think those are the questions thatanyonewho knew about our situation would have,” I say, hoping he doesn’t glance over here and see how my face is heating up. He hit the nail right on the head, because those are exactly the questions I want answers to. “Besides, I canceled tomorrow’s appointment already.”

“Why would you do that? You could have still had a video call with her.”

“I didn’t know what our plans would be, or if I’d have a private place to take the call.”

“Jules, those appointments are important. We could havemoved plans around and made sure you had space so that you could have been on that call.”

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