Page 29 of Keep Me Never
“I sent Paige a message that I’m not sure I should have.”
They grin, leaning closer.
“Not anything crazy, but maybe a little too…much. I don’t know.”
“And clearly she hasn’t said anything back?” Mason eyes me.
“Nope.”
“The girls are meeting her for a late lunch here in a bit, and I think she’s still driving in from Oceanside. Maybe she hasn’t seen it,” Brady offers with a shrug.
“I sent it at seven this morning.”
Both wince and a low chuckle leaves me.
“Yeah.” I pull a piece of pizza onto my plate, and they follow suit.
“D money, pizza time!” Brady calls Mason’s son over from where he’s been posted on a little step stool the last ten minutes, right in front of the candy claw machine.
The little guy drops to his knees, half his body disappearing into the prize hole as he grabs all his loot in the lip of his shirt, before running over and climbing up beside his dad. “Look at all this stuff!” He smiles, setting it out in a nice and neat little row.
“Dang, little man, you got two Laffy Taffys! You must be really good at that game,” Mase says, playing along.
“Yep! I think I’m the winner!” He nods, reaching out for his apple juice and picking a piece of sausage off his pizza, popping it into his mouth.
Damn, he’s the cutest kid.
“Okay, so back to Paige.” Brady lifts a brow. “Ready to tell us you like her yet?”
“Uncle Chaser, you have crushes on Auntie Paige?” Deaton asks, cheese hanging off his lip.
“No, buddy.” I pin Brady with a glare. “I don’t.”
“She has pretty hair,” D says.
Mason grins, and I can’t help but laugh. “Yeah, she does. Really pretty hair.”
He goes back to ignoring us, taking a couple bites of pizza before tearing the crust off and carrying it with him back to the claw machine.
“Okay, so you may or may not have ‘crushes’ on Paige.” Brady grins, but then it falls. “But talk to us, man. What’s going on? Where you been? You ain’t home all that much, but if it’s not Paige you’re with, then who or what?”
I reach up, rubbing the back of my neck before looking my friends in the eye.
There is no one in my life I trust more than them, but to tell them my bullshit is to mess with their heads like my shit is messing with mine. I won’t be the reason they stay up at night, and if they found out about my financial situation, they would. They would rally and fight for me. I can’t let them do that. I made a lot of mistakes in the past, but I’m trying to be better and that meets protecting them from the hardships that are my own.
But I can give them something. I owe them that much.
I drop my face into my hands, groaning, then look up, unable to meet their stares when I say it, my emotions thick in my throat. “My mom left my dad.”
Silence.
A broken exhale leaves me, and my leg starts bouncing. Shaking my head, I peek at them, both sitting there stunned, but worry and confusion quickly replace their expressions.
“She…met someone online, and one day my dad came home from work, and she was gone. She didn’t even leave him a note. She fucking emailed him, telling him divorce papers would be in the mail soon and that was it.”
What I don’t say is she drained their savings before she left—their savings that included the money that was set aside for my final year of college tuition.
“Holy shit, Chase,” Mason mumbles, his face crestfallen. “Fuck, man, I don’t even know what to say.”
