Page 9 of Jake and Conner
"Is something wrong?" Laurence asked me, making me wonder if my thoughts were showing on my face.
"Nothing," I said.
"I bet he's thinking about work," Raph said.
"Either that or some book he's read," Nathan quipped.
"You could all stand to read a few more books," I said in my defense.
"Too busy," Aaron stated. "You try having twins and a newborn in the house."
"I don't think I'm ready for that," I turned down that suggestion.
"And you don't have the right man for it either," Raph pointed out. "Or are you still seeing that cop?" He nearly laughed as he said this.
"What cop?" I asked, but then I remembered. He'd seen me with Dave once. God, that had been embarrassing--and utterly pointless too. I was never really into Dave, and he wasn't into me either. "I'm not seeing anyone."
"Really?" Raph tilted his head at me. "You can tell us. Your secret is safe with us."
I opened my mouth to tell him to back off, but before I could speak, Laurence did.
"Don't tell him any secrets," he advised. "He'll just tell Mrs. Rosewood. They're best buddies now."
"Tell me about it," Nathan muttered.
"I'm only being nice to my grandma," Raph protested. "It's my duty as a good great-grandson in law."
"It's not your duty to gang up on me with my great-grandmother," Nathan said.
"Don't be so dramatic, turtle. We're not ganging up on you."
"Yeah, you do. Remember that time you took all the underwear out of my dresser and replaced it with--" Nathan stopped himself from finishing that sentence, glancing at the children who had settled in a corner with the family dogs.
"What did he replace them with?" Aaron wanted to know.
"Nothing," Nathan said.
"Anyway," Raph started, trying to turn the conversation back around. He looked at me. "If you're not sleeping with that cop or whatever, maybe we should go out next weekend. I promised to show you some tricks, remember?"
I shook my head at Raph. "I really don't need your help." If I wasn't seeing anyone, it wasn't because I was incapable of attracting an alpha's attention. Maybe I was happy being alone. Was that really such an alien concept?
"Don't tell me that you need to work," Raph said. "C'mon, it'll be fun."
"I'm spending Saturday with my sisters."
"All right. Friday evening then. We'll go out into the city. I'm not gonna force you to do anything you don't want, but we haven't hung out in too long, man."
"Fine," I relented because he was probably right. It had been a long time since we'd done anything together. And finally, the conversation moved on to a different topic, which I was glad for. I hadn't come here to discuss my love life after all. I'd only wanted to hang out with my friends and meet the adorable little cutie that Aaron and Laurence had created together.
The next two hours passed by quickly. We ate, we talked, we laughed a lot.
It wasn't until I was about to leave that the day took a turn for the worse.
I was about to put on my shoes when Laurence pulled me aside. "You got a minute?"
"Sure," I said, cautiously. I could tell by the look on Laurence's face that he had something serious he wanted to talk about, though I couldn't begin to guess at what.
He led me to the empty family room. "I just wanted to ask if you've heard from Jake recently."
