Page 37 of Kylo
Kylo’s lips twitched at that.
“That is Dixon,” he told her.
“Dixon!” Barbie repeated, shooting Loretta aTold you solook.
“His last name is Cider,” he added.
There was a beat before all four women broke off in delighted laughter.
“What?” I asked, looking at my grandmother.
“Oh, my dear,” she said, reaching under her glasses to wipe a stray tear away. “Put it together.”
“Put what together.”
“Dicks,” she said, spelling it out for me, “inside… her.”
“Oh.Oh,” I said, feeling my cheeks immediately heat.
Kylo shot me a bemused look before adding, “His brother’s name is Caymen.”
“Now you’re pulling our legs!” Barbie said with a bark of a laugh.
“I’m not. On their birth certificates and everything,” Kylo said, clearly loving their reactions.
“Wow, well, look at the time,” my grandmother said, checking her invisible wristwatch as she hopped out of her chair and reached to immediately fold it. “Ladies, we have business to attend to.”
“What buis—“ Loretta started to ask, only to get an elbow to the ribs from Barbie as she too got up. “Oh, right. Business. Very important business.” Loretta and Katherine both rushed to gather their things.
“Ernest said he wants to stay with Grammy again tonight,” my grandmother declared, tugging him along with her. “Have fun catching up with your… friend.”
I watched them—and the social buffer they provided—disappear before I turned back to Kylo.
My stomach seemed to be attempting to tie itself into as many knots as possible as I forced my gaze up to meet his.
“I was here to pick up my dog. She refused to give him back last night. I caught them all out here being creeps to Dixon.”
“Between the two of us, Dixon gets a kick out of the attention. Why else would he be putting down mulch so late in the day… shirtless?”
“Oh, well that’s a relief. So, you live here?” I asked, hoping my tone came out as casual as I was trying for.No peeping in your windows or making soup out of your beloved pet here.
“I do. I can’t believe that your grandmother lives here of all places. I’ve probably seen her a dozen times already.”
“Yeah, I’m sorry about them. It turns out the elderly are a lot more, uh, I’m trying to think of a nice way of putting it—”
“Horny,” he supplied, eyes warming at the little bark of laughter that escaped me.
“Yeah, actually.”
“Yeah, we were shocked too. It’s not just the little viewing party here,” he said, waving toward where the women had been parked, the grass still pressed down from their chairs. “A couple of the men keep coming over to the clubhouse to hang out.”
“What? No way.”
“It’s our own fault. The first time one came over to complain about the music, he may or may not have seen one of my friends chasing a topless woman around the house. As a game,” he specified.
“Yeah, that’ll do it. So, you live with your friends? I thought you had your own place?”
“I do. I stay here too,” he said. Was there a false note in his voice? I couldn’t tell. Even if there was, I couldn’t imagine why he would want to lie about something silly like that.
