Page 368 of Forbidden Billionaires: Vol. 11
“I don’t know what you thinkthingsmeans in this scenario.” She lowered her voice even more. “Are you talking about penises?”
“Mom! No! Ew! I’m talking about mistakes.”
She laughed. “Well, that was very unclear.”
“How are my girls doing,” my dad said as he walked into the kitchen.
I jumped.
And my mom pushed the shopping bag into my chest so my dad couldn’t see inside of it.
My dad laughed. “Are you okay, pumpkin? You look scared.”
“Yeah,” I said. “I am. I just saw a scary movie with Jacob.”
“Well, let me know if you need any snuggies.”
I didn’t need snuggies with my dad. I was 17. “Mhm.”
“What’s in the bag?”
“Ellen went out and grabbed Scarlett those pajamas you requested,” my mom said.
Was she throwing our housekeeper under the bus right now? I held back my laugh.
“Oh, let’s see,” my dad said.
My mom stepped behind my dad’s back so he couldn’t see her. She started pointing to the bag and gesturing.
I was pretty sure she was telling me to just show him the flannel pajamas. Which I was already going to do. I wasn’t an insane person. I pulled out the thick top. It had a collar and buttons all the way down. And it looked two sizes too big. I glanced at the tag. Yup. It was.
“Those are cute,” my dad said.
We had very different definitions of cute. “Mhm.”
“Want to try them on for us?”
I didn’t want to take the matching pants out. That might let him see what was beneath them. “Maybe later. I have a pop quiz tostudy for.” It wasn’t until next week, but it was the first thing that had popped into my head.
My dad lowered his eyebrows. “Aren’t pop quizzes supposed to be a surprise?”
I shrugged. “Yeah, but Mr. Halifax likes me.”Ah! No! Why did I say that?!
“What do you mean by that?” my dad asked.
Of course my dad would hear about a teacher liking me and assume the worst. “I’m one of the best students in calc, Dad. Get your head out of the gutter. Just because you banged one of your students...”
My dad held up his hand so I’d stop talking. “Point taken.”
“He’s just a really good teacher. He’d never do anything inappropriate.” I needed to stop talking about Mr. Halifax immediately. The more I said the more suspicious it sounded.
“Great. Go study then.” He turned to my mom. “I’m all done with those assignments.” He put his hands on her waist and pulled her close. “Now what should I do to preoccupy the rest of my evening?”
I pretended to throw up and ran out of the kitchen. I made my way through the living room, but paused. I’d left my red panda stuffed animal upstairs. And I needed him if I was going to survive the night and not get eaten by terrifying zombies. I really hated scary movies.
I hurried upstairs and into my old room. I grabbed my stuffed animal, but instead of heading back downstairs, I sat on my bed. Being downstairs alone felt scarier than being up here with my family. If a zombie came in through the front door he’d probably sniff me out first, down there all alone. I shivered.
I just needed to stop thinking about the movie. I pulled out my phone and stared at my kiss thief’s last text. I responded: “No sleepovers, no matter how much I need one tonight. My dad has very strict rules about no boys in my room.”
