CHAPTER FIFTEEN

 

“Sorry, Dad.  I’m not sure I understand.  Curtis is going to be doing what?” 

My father looked up from the sketch he was working on absently while he talked.  Five minutes ago he’d called me into his office because he said he had something to talk to me about. 

“Staying with us,” he said. 

“Like in our house?”

My dad shrugged.  “I guess I could ask him to sleep outside on the patio furniture.”

“I don’t get it.”   

He sighed and set his sketch down.  “He and his brother need a place to crash for a few weeks.” 

“What brother?  I didn’t know he had a brother.” 

“He has two.  They’re minors and he’s been their guardian ever since their mother was arrested and then fled the country while she was out on bail.  The seventeen year old ran off the other day but Deck is asking around to see if he can track him down.  The youngest, Brecken, is only thirteen.  They were living in a cruddy motel but the place got shot up last night and I found them in the parking lot this morning.” 

“Oh,” I said.  I stared down at my hands, trying to match this new version of Curtis the caregiver with Curtis the former gang member. 

“Cassie?”

“Yeah, Dad?”

The expression on his face was sad and serious.  “It’s just for a few weeks, just until they can move into their new apartment. These boys have had a really rough time and Curtis is doing the best he can but I can tell he’s ready to break.  They don’t have anyone else. Your mom and I feel like we ought to help since we’re able.” 

I grimaced as I recalled the sarcastic comments I’d made to Curtis about partying all night when he arrived in the morning looking exhausted.  Of course he was exhausted.  He was all alone and trying to provide for two young boys. 

“I get the impression you and Curtis haven’t exactly hit it off,” my dad said.  “But do you think you can make an effort to get along with him while he and Brecken are staying with us?” 

“Of course, Daddy,” I said quietly.   

He smiled.  “Thanks, honey.” 

My mind was still racing to catch up with this unexpected turn of events and I thought of something else.  “Where exactly are they going to stay?” 

“I figure one of them can stay in Cadence’s room since she’s not using it this summer. You know Cadence, she won’t mind.  And then the couch in the family room is a pullout so we’ll make it work.” 

“Okay.”  I stood up.  “Let me know if there’s anything I can do to help.” 

He peered up at me.  “I guess Conway got your car all fixed up?”

“Yes.  He was nice enough to drop it off right after you and Mom left this morning.  He said it was the alternator.” 

“Yeah, he texted me.  Mentioned you were sitting with a guy when he pulled up with the tow truck last night.” 

I rolled my eyes.  “Oh my god.  I’m not fourteen, Dad.  It was just some guy from my class who didn’t want me waiting alone in a dark parking lot.” 

He nodded approvingly.  “Well then, I guess I like him already.” 

I knew his opinion would change in a ferocious hurry if I mentioned the name ‘Parker Neely’ so I left that piece of information out.  Anyway I really hadn’t given Parker any thought since last night.  The sound of his name no longer set my teeth on edge and Parker had been nothing but friendly and respectful since I found him sitting there in class nearly five years after he decimated my life.  But he wasn’t someone I would ever think about as I drifted off to sleep at night. 

No, the guy I was always thinking about instead was someone I shouldn’t be thinking about at all.  Especially not now that he was going to be moving into my house.

The idea that Curtis was going to be crashing on the couch where I lounged around watching television made me feel a little weird.  He would never need to know that though.  He didn’t need to know that any more than he needed to know that I’d thought of him once or twice while putting my vibrator to good use.     

“So I hear we’re going to be roomies,” I said to Curtis when I found him getting a cup of water in the break room. 

He looked at me a little blankly and then tossed the cup into the garbage.  “I won’t get in your way, Cassie.” 

I leaned against the wall beside the water cooler.  “Come on, I didn’t mean it like that.  I just meant that, well, I’m sorry I didn’t know what you were going through before.” 

Curtis rubbed his neck and winced.  “How could you have known?”

“I don’t know.  But I feel like I didn’t give you the benefit of the doubt and I should have.”

He stared at me for so long I started to wonder if I’d managed to offend him somehow.  I felt compelled to do something to fill the silence so I started talking again. 

“Curtis, I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that I’m probably not your favorite person here but I hope we can find a way to be friends.  Maybe.  Or something like that.”  I dug my nails into my palms in the hopes it would make me stop talking.  That way I could stop cringing over the dumb words that kept pouring out of my mouth.    

He raised an eyebrow.  “Why do you think that?”

“That we can be friends?  I didn’t mean to assume-“

“No.  That you’re not my favorite person here.” 

I shrugged.  “I guess because it seems like we argue a lot.” 

“Are we arguing now?”

“I don’t think so.” 

“I don’t think so either.”  Curtis leaned a few inches closer, like he was trying not to be overheard by anyone outside this room.  “You’re not my least favorite of anything, Cassie.  I’m always happy to see you.” 

Then he left, which was a good thing because I was probably blushing up a storm.  Worse than that, a shock of electric desire was still surging through my core and left me flattened against the wall for support. 

“I’m always happy to see you.” 

He didn’t mean anything, at least nothing more than civility.  I wasn’t even sure I wanted him to mean anything more than that.  Sure, I’d caught him looking at me a few times but I was used being checked out by men. He obviously wasn’t planning to do anything about it. Besides, getting involved with Curtis Mulligan was out of the question, especially if he was going to be staying at my house.  The fact that he had turned out to be much more than careless party animal made the idea even more impossible.  Curtis had a world of responsibilities that I couldn’t relate to.  Plus we worked together. Being with him would turn messy for a variety of reasons. I’d avoided that kind of drama for so long. I’d avoided everything for so long; hookups, dating, sex of any kind. Curtis wasn’t the guy to wade into those complicated waters with. 

And yet I knew that if I kept my vibrator in my purse I would absolutely be excusing myself and heading to the ladies’ room to do something constructive about the ache between my legs. 

Instead I returned to the front desk and tried to look like a girl who wasn’t fighting the urge to run to the bathroom and have a masturbatory fantasy about the man who would be sleeping on her parents’ couch tonight. 

I thought I did a pretty adequate job. 

But I felt like a damn idiot.