Page 116 of Not Made to Last

I sigh. “Does your mom know?”

“She thinks I’m staying at your house,” he says, kicking off the ground. He actuallyswings,shifting the entire metal frame. “So, what’s good, motherfuckers?” he asks, just as more lights flick on at the house across the road.

Oscar groans. “Not this fucking Karen.”

“She’s the worst, right?” Dom murmurs.

“Speaking of Karen,” Oscar says, his tone picking up. “She’s coming home this weekend, right?”

Karen’s one of our good friends, and even though many rumors have spread about the two of us, I consider her one of the boys. “Yeah, I think so,” I answer.

Dom pipes up. “Karen Thatcher?”

I turn to him, try to hide my grin. “Yeah, why?”

Dom looks away, attempts to play it cool. “Nothin’.”

“Delgado and Karen, sittin’ in tree…” Oscar sings, and I chuckle under my breath.

“We’re hanging out this weekend—” I start to tell Dominic, but he interrupts me.

“Does my sister know?”

“Yes, she’ll be there too.” I roll my eyes. “So, I take it you don’t want to come with?”

“I never said that,” Dom’s quick to respond, while Oscar continues his song, “f u c k i n g, first comes…” he trails off when a police cruiser pulls up to the curb.

“Oh shit,” Dominic murmurs.

Oscar looks past me and at him. “Are you naked under that blanket?”

The cruiser’s door opens, and even in the darkness, I can make out Curtis’s silhouette. He walks toward us while Dom asks, “Should we bail?”

“Nah,” I tell him.

When Curtis gets close enough to be lit up by the lamp post nearby, he asks, “What’s good, boys?” He takes a seat on the bench next to Dominic, stretching out his arms on the back of it.

“Just chillin’,” I tell him, while Dominic looks at him sideways, and Oscar…

Oscar laughs so loud I’m sure he’s waking the neighborhood. “Aren’t we a bunch of mismatched motherfuckin’ misfits!”

66

Rhys

It’s close to five when I get back into bed, and Liv hisses the moment I touch her, turning in my arms. “What the fuck?” she croaks, half asleep. “Why are you so cold?” She sniffs my bare chest. “And why do you smell like outside?”

“Outside has a smell?” I muse, wrapping her in my arms… and legs. “Warm me up.”

She pulls back, just her head, because I’ve got a pretty tight hold on every other part of her. “Where have you been?”

“At the playground.”

“Doing…?”

“Just hanging out with your brother.”

“Okay.” She twists out of my hold and reaches over me to flick on her lamp. “You were justhanging outwith my brother?”

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