Page 43 of IOU

But the air has shifted. Ainsley James realizes that I’m not as scary as the rumors make me out to be.

Which. Is. A. Fucking. Problem.

I need those rumors. I need fear. My life depends on them.

“Six fucking minutes!”

I know she can hear me over that deranged singing she’s doing.

My watch buzzes. I know, I know. I need to walk away and calm my ass down.

I march through the living room and jerk open the balcony door. Yes, this is precisely what I need—fresh air. A beer would be nice too, but I’ll open one of those later when the guys get here.

I set the timer on my watch for five minutes and take the chance to call Pops.

“Yell-O.”

His old Southern greeting puts a smile on my face. When I was growing up, he didn’t speak this way, he was always so professional on the phone, but since his stroke, words have been harder for him to form—hence the Southern slang he adopted.

“Old man,” I return smoothly.

“Maverick! How you doing, my boy?”

My boy. My father never called me his boy or his son. Only Maverick. “I’m good.”

“School going well?” I wouldn’t know. I haven’t been in a few weeks. “Getting good grades?” I better be, or someone will pay the price.

“Yep. All good up here.”

I can hear the question in his voice before he says it. “Have you been sleeping? You sound tired.”

I take a seat in one of the plastic chairs, pulling the deck of cards from my pocket along with a marker. Checking my watch, I note Ainsley has three minutes. I think that deserves three IOUs just for pushing her luck.

I begin scribbling the letters on the cards with the phone pinched between my shoulder and cheek. “You don’t sound so chipper yourself, old man.”

He grunts. “You didn’t answer my question.”

I shuffle to the next card. “I’m sleeping fine. I just had a late-night studying.” Is it exam time? Maybe I should ask Rowan. I like to take those exams myself.

“Uh-huh,” he says in a tone that tells me he knows I’m lying.

“You know it kills me that even after a massive stroke, you still think you know better than everyone.” I walk back into the house and shove the three cards under the door, feeling better already.

“I do know better than everyone, boy. Especially you and your sneaky brother.”

Oh hell. What did he do this time?

Walking back to the sofa, I plop down, landing on something hard. I dig through the cushions and find not one, but two, stuffed sea lions. Seriously, Ainsley? The least she can do is adequately cover her tracks by stowing her walruses or sea lions—whatever—in her room if she wants to keep pretending she sleeps in there every night.

“He thinks I don’t know what he’s doing when those girls come over for tutoring. They don’t bring books! You need books to study.”

I grin, rolling one of the sea lions over, and spot writing on the tag. Lawrence. She named him? This girl never ceases to shock me.

“I told you, Pops, everything is online. The schools use online books now. As long as the students have a phone or a tablet, they can study.”

True, but not in Cooper’s case. He’s fucking those girls or at least the one, Melissa. His girlfriend. The others probably are there to study for a little while.

“Uh-huh.”

---