Page 78 of Bull's Boy

Bull frowned and glanced toward the kitchen, where Malcolm, Dahlia, and their moms were making a spaghetti dinner for all of them. Emmett’s boyfriend, Rooster, would be there in less than twenty minutes, having just gotten off his shift and gone home to change.

“Are you sure, man?”

“Yeah, I have something I need to do,” Marv said distractedly. He hollered a goodbye to their moms and Malcolm, rubbed a hand through Emmett’s hair on his way past, and then he was gone.

“That was kind of weird,” Emmett said absently, running fingers through his hair to fix it, then going back to petting both of the cats curled up on his legs.

“Good, glad it wasn’t just me who thought that,” Becca said, cradling Blanche like a baby. She’d coaxed him out of his hiding spot and had been showering him with affection ever since.

Bull couldn’t help but smile at the sight of them. Sophia was still MIA, and had been since his moms arrived that morning, but Rose and Dorothylovedall the attention Emmett was giving them. He had a feeling he’d be seeing the sweet boy more often.

“A little,” he admitted, scratching each cat’s head. “I’m sure he’ll be okay though.”

He wandered into the kitchen to see if he could help and found Ma putting a second large pot of water on the stove and turning the burner on beneath it. He glanced at Malcolm, who waved his phone at him and then tucked it in his pocket.

“Ollie just texted me,” Malcolm said. “He said he and Six would be over shortly because, and I quote, ‘they wanted some damn spaghetti too.’”

“Whoops, sorry,” Emmett called from the living room, not sounding apologetic in the least.

“It’s alright, sweetie,” Ma called back. “We have plenty of pasta to go around.”

“I don’t know,” Dahlia called from the dining room where she was laying out plates. “I can eat alotof pasta.”

“If we run out, I’ll go to the store,” Bull said when he noticed Malcolm eyeing the ingredients on the counter.

He smiled gratefully at Bull.

“You know, sometime I’d like to come over for dinner and not cook the meal,” Ma said, throwing a wink over her shoulder at him when Malcolm sputtered.

“I said I could handle the spaghetti!”

“I know, dear.”

“I really could have,” Malcolm huffed.

“Of course, but with the extra mouths, it’s better that you have the help.”

“What extra mouths?” Sally asked, appearing next to Bull. She hip checked him and added, “I watered your flowers, but I think the begonias are getting too much sun.”

“Thanks.” He didn’t even know what a begonia was. “I’ll help you replant it.”

She rolled her eyes. “It’s in a pot. I just need your muscles to move it, but it can wait.”

“The extra mouths are Ollie and Six,” Malcolm told her, emptying jars of sauce into a pan. “They’ll be here in a little bit.”

“Oh, good,” she said, grabbing a stack of paper plates and silverware. “I want to ask them about these sex parties I’ve apparently been banned from talking about.”

“WHAT?” Dahlia yelled, dropping the plate in her hand. Thankfully, it was paper.

“Mom,” Bull groaned, rubbing at his face. Ma cackled and pulled open the oven to check on the meatballs, their familiar heavenly scent beginning to fill the whole house. “Tomas told you?—”

“Yeah, yeah. Discretion. Invite-only. Public relations nightmare.”

He stared at her as she went in to help Dahlia in the dining room, the two of them immediately whispering to each other, and then decided it wasn’t his fight to have with her.

Following Malcolm to the fridge, he asked, “Do you think it’ll just be them?”

He wanted to snag a beer before going out to the living room and relaxing, maybe turning the baseball game on to check the score before the others arrived and the food was ready.

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