Page 67 of Same Difference
At that exact moment, Tabian shoved his bedroom window open and the thing shattered. Glass littered the snowy yard just beneath it.
“Aw ball sack,” Tabian said, sticking his head through the hole to look at the damage.
“Seriously?” Nathan barked.
“Well, now it’s easier to sneak out,” he said.
“Why would you need to sneak out?” Delta asked. “You’re an adult without a curfew. You can just leave through the front door.”
“Oh. Right. Can I borrow your shampoo tonight? I forgot mine at the store, and yours smells like apricots.”
“How do you know what my shampoo smells like?” Delta demanded.
Tabian got this goofy smile on his face and said, “Okay you caught me. I used it to wash a hamster turd off my hands earlier.”
“Wait, did you get a hamster too?” Nathan asked.
“Me and Vic got matching ones.”
“Boys like things that match,” Vic sang, opening his own window. His, thankfully, didn’t shatter.
“You’re paying to fix that,” Nathan said, jamming his finger at the broken one.
“What are we having for dinner?” Vic asked, ignoring him as he hung his head out the window.
“Whatever you want?” Delta guessed, since they were adults.
“Okay, I want that cracker crumb chicken stuff that you and Nory made a few weeks ago,” Vic said.
“Oh, me too,” Tabian agreed. “I want that too. With mashed potatoes.”
“She’s not cooking for you assholes,” Nathan barked out.
Vic and Tabian went still and looked at each other outside of their windows.
“This place sucks,” Vic said, and disappeared back inside.
Delta’s eye twitched. “We’ve made a mistake, haven’t we.”
“A big one.” Nathan’s sigh turned into a growl. “If you two annoy us, you have to sleep outside.”
“No can do, Boss. I can’t abandon my hamster,” Vic called from inside. “Earl needs constant supervision. Sorry.”
Nathan ran his hands roughly over his face. “I’ve got a meeting with Liam. Want to go with me?”
Delta pursed her lips against a smile. Things would never be boring around here, that was for sure and for certain. “Yeah, I’ll go hang out with Nory while you two talk.”
She knew what the meeting was about. Liam had a court date coming up for beating that Jackson guy to a pulp, and Nathan had set up a Zoom call with his lawyer to discuss some strategy. Nory was growing more worried as the court date approached, but Nathan thought he would be in the clear, and Delta had learned to absolutely trust Nathan’s judgement. He did best under fire.
Nathan threw a leg over the seat of the four-wheeler he’d just bought used and offered Delta a hand as she climbed on the seat behind him. She held onto his waist as he turned it on and put it into gear, and they were off, zooming across the clearing toward her best friend’s house.
“Bye mom and dad,” Vic called behind them, and Delta giggled.
Nathan growled and smelled like fur.
Those two were going to annoy the piss out of her mate, she could already tell. Their houses were in the making and scheduled for delivery, she just didn’t know exactly when. Hopefully, for her mate’s sake, it was very soon.
On the other side of Liam and Nory’s home, Dodger’s home had been delivered yesterday. He was still in the process of hauling things from storage, and he offered them a somber-faced greeting nod as Nathan parked in front of Liam’s house.
