Page 53 of Spring Fling
But then the bombshell dropped. Nathan’s fork and knife hit his plate as he turned to stare at me the second the words fell from Mom’s mouth.
“The same goes for Joe. You know that, don’t you, Aiden?”
Chapter 34
Joe
Ishould have waited until tomorrow. It didn’t change the fact that all I could do was picture Aiden’s face lighting up the second he opened the door. Except, when I approached the front door to the Grant house, I could hear muffled yelling inside.
There was a shiny red Toyota in the driveway, and I pinched my eyes closed.
Nathan.
What the fuck was he doing there and why the hell was he so upset? Against my better judgment, I lifted my hand and knocked on the door. The yelling quieted, but it took a few minutes before someone came to see who was at the front door.
“Joe?”
Aiden’s big brown eyes widened when he saw me. He immediately backed me onto the stoop and away from the entrance to the house.
“Hey, sweetheart. What’s going on?”
He looked around, then double checked to make sure the door had closed behind him. “This might not be the besttime.”
“What do you mean?” My eyebrows shot to my hairline, but my question didn’t remain unanswered for long when the front door swung open and Nathan stood there. Steam practically billowed from his nostrils.
“What the fuck are you doing here, man?”
“Hey, Nathan.” I raised my hand in a wave. Maybe if I acted like nothing weird was going on, he’d calm the fuck down. I was over him acting like an overprotective jackass.
Nathan’s eyes narrowed to slits. “Why does my mom seem to think something is going on between you and my brother?”
I heaved a large sigh. “I don’t know, dude. You’re always working or doing shit with Chase. Yeah, I’ve been hanging out with Aiden. Is it so terrible that I made new friends?”
That seemed to make Nathan feel guilty as fuck. His shoulders drooped as he looked around the yard before finally meeting my eyes again.
“You’re right. Shit. Sorry, man. I just want to keep my brother out of trouble.”
I looked at Aiden. “Have I gotten you into any trouble?”
Aiden shook his head vigorously, eyes wide the entire time. “Not once. I think Nathan does more to get me in trouble than you do.”
And he wasn’t wrong. Nathan was notorious for taking his brother to parties thrown by our friends and letting him drink. Even I had done that, and Shawn even jokingly called himdelinquent because of it. We’d all contributed to Aiden causing a little trouble over the last year... if not longer.
Since the hostility seemed to be set aside for the time being, Nathan stepped aside and let us into the house. The second we walked through the door, Casey froze in the hallway leading toward the back of the house.
“Oh. Hello, Joseph. It’s so good to see you.” An awkward and strained laugh fell past her lips and I knew it was because of whatever argument had been going on before I knocked.
“Mrs. G,” I greeted, giving a mock salute before following Aiden to his room.
Once the door was closed, he leaned against it, his eyes wide in panic. “Jesus fucking Christ. I am so sorry about all of that.”
“What exactly happened?”
Aiden explained how Mrs. Grant had been talking at dinner about having her kids at the table. She’d made a point of letting Nathan know Chase was always welcome and then all hell had broken loose when she’d told Aiden the same courtesy fell to me as well.
“Do you think she knows?” I asked, fidgeting for a moment. I’d come over to finally tell Aiden about the video I had from Mexico. The longer we talked about everything else, it was like a ten-ton weight in my pocket and only growing heavier.
“Honestly, I don’t think so. Maybe? She’s probably just making assumptions because I spend so much timewith you now.”
