Page 8 of Eggnog and Edging
“It wasn’t my best moment.” Cullen cups a hand over his mouth. “I’ll set it straight, but you’re not the only one who wants her.”
“So you’re going to lie to her?”
“I panicked.”
I motion loosely toward her room. “Then go tell her the truth.”
He looks down the hallway, at my dad, at the floor… anywhere but at me. “You haven’t told her?”
“I didn’t want to deprive you of the chance to face her fury.”
“The auction argument really blew up, caught us all off guard.” Cullen shoves his hands in his pockets, exhales hard, and nods.“I’ve been trying to figure out how to do this, but I need to talk to you about her… about us…”
I wait, but he doesn’t finish. “Us? How do you mean?”
“Fuck man, I can’t believe I’m even considering this.” He meets my gaze. “I see the way she looks at you. I see how much you care for her. I don’t want to deprive either of you.”
Is he trying to say what I think? In my peripheral vision, I notice Dad checking the key rack.
“Shit! Your sister—”
“I took them.” I pull her keys out of my pocket.
“Good thinking, Son. I know I can count on you. She needs to get her head out of the clouds. Meet a nice boy her age who will take care of her."
I'm only five years older than her, but I don't think this is the time to point that out.
“No daughter of mine is going to be a prostitute.”
“It’s not prostitution.” Why do I clarify that?
"Your sister wants to sell herself to the highest bidder. Explain to me what that is."
Cullen waves his hands. "Let's not do this. We caught her in time to keep her from making a huge mistake. We'll just make sure she doesn't leave tonight."
Dad steps into the hallway toward her bedroom. “I already hear the pots and pans. Good on you, Ryker, for building her that kitchen suite off her bedroom. At least we don't have to listen to all that banging during our poker match.”
Poker proceeds as normal. Starla pops out of her room a couple of times. Stories are told while the cards are shuffled.
Something holds Dad’s attention out the front window, but from my angle I can’t see anything.
After a few more rounds, Cullen says, "I'll be right back."
He heads down the hallway to the bathroom. Nothing abnormal, except that it’s also the way to Starla’s room. If Iwasn't paying attention, I wouldn't notice that the bathroom door doesn't shut as soon as I expect it to. There’s a definite pause. It's too long. I lean over, questioning if I need to confirm whether he went to the bathroom or to Starla's room, but just before I get up, I hear the bathroom door shut.
Maybe he just listened to make sure she's still in her room. The pause didn't seem long enough for him to have actually gone in and said anything to her.
He's rubbing his stomach when he returns. "I'm not feeling so good. I'm going to call it a night."
The hair on the back of my neck raises. He won't meet my gaze.
“I must have caught the stomach bug that’s going around.”
I haven't heard of any bugs going around, but no one else seems to think this is weird. Everyone waves him off, a few verbal jabs insinuate he wants to cut his losses.
But something's not adding up. He wants to be sure she doesn’t try to go to the auction so he wouldn’t leave while Starla’s still home. My gut tells me his leaving has to do with the auction. Is she gone?
Cullen already has his keys in his hand and is heading to the door, which, in his defense, if he's not feeling well, he might do. He leaves quickly, the squeal of his tires perfectly in sync with him saying he needs to get home, or to the sex club.
