Page 87 of Roan

Amberly slaps Tiller upside the head.

Camden, who’d been here all along, smiles and says, “Dude, what if Scarlet’s pregnant?”

And Shade scrunches his brow, looks at Roan, the closed bathroom door, and then Camden. He scratches the side of his head. “Did I miss something?”

He really has no idea.

Maybe I should have stayed in the desert because judging by the scene at the house, it looks a whole hell of a lot better than this.

Setting the bags from In-N-Out on the counter, I smile at Ophelia. “Miss me?”

She smiles widely, but it’s more of a teasing manner. “You have no idea.”

I lean in with my hands on the counter and nod to Shade, who’s now trying to get Scarlet out of the bathroom and talking quietly through the door. “What’s that about?”

Tiller approaches, no shirt on, and then hits my shoulder with his in passing. “Shade knocked Northwest up.”

“Really?” I look to Ophelia. “Is she?”

Shrugging, she picks at the fries I hand her. “We don’t know yet. She hasn’t taken the test, that I know of.”

I shove Tiller. “Dude, where the fuck were you? You were supposed to meet up with us earlier.”

Looking around the room with fear, he notices Amberly is now in the other room with River and sighs. “Yeah, about that.” With a mouthful of hamburger, he gestures to River. “I found her on the fucking roof earlier. Turned my back for a second and she straight up jungle booked it off the roof with the rope swing right into the pool.”

“Shit man,” I gasp. “That’s insane.”

“I know, right? She smacked her chin on the diving board but missed the cactus.”

Ophelia looks at Tiller with disgust. “You shouldn’t be around children.”

Tiller shrugs carelessly. “I know that, but people keep bringing them around me.”

“Cam-man, ya hungry?” I ask, pointing to the food on the island.

“Tiller.” Camden approaches, smiling at Tiller. “What are you going to do if Amberly gets pregnant?”

Tiller’s face adopts concern, and then he grins. “Nah, fuck that. I bag it up.”

Camden scrunches up his face, as if he’s both disgusted and perplexed. “Bag it up means using a condom, right?”

Tiller rolls his eyes. “You’ve been around us long enough we shouldn’t have to explain this to you.”

Camden laughs it off, his eyes watchful of where Shade and Scarlet are standing in the foyer. Scarlet bursts into tears, runs up the stairs and Shade groans. “What’d I say now?”

Shade ends up following her upstairs and Camden still looks confused. Ophelia disappears with her dad outside, says something about needing to talk to him. That leaves me alone with Tiller and Camden.

“How old do you have to be to have sex?” Camden asks, to our complete surprise.

Do you notice the looks on our faces? It’s something between amusement, pride, and nervousness.

Tiller looks over at Camden. “How old are you now?”

“I’ll be fourteen in a few weeks.”

“Ya beatin’ your meat yet?”

Camden’s face reddens and he shrugs, yanking his hat down over his eyes.

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