Chapter 2 #5
“Front seat,” he told him. Dropping his backpack to the floor, he climbed in and pulled the door closed. He watched as he held the seatbelt in his hands and frowned. “Your seatbelt is broken.”
“Here. Let me help you.” Lindsey leaned in and helped Oliver buckle up. “Is Sadie okay?” she asked. “Trick messaged that you were picking him up today.”
“She has a really bad headache. I think they’re migraines, but she says they’re not. She laid down for a few minutes and fell asleep. I didn’t want to wake her up.” His gaze went to Oliver sitting in his passenger seat. “You ready?”
“Oh my gosh, yes!” Jed chuckled at the boy’s always enthusiastic, raspy voice. A horn honked behind them, letting him know he was taking too long.
“See ya, Lindsey. Thanks for your help. See ya, Keegan.” He waved at them as he drove off.
He gave it a little gas and watched Oliver’s smile grow even bigger.
As it was, the kid was too short to see out the front window and barely out the side window.
If he did this again, he might have to invest in a booster seat or something.
At the parking lot exit, he maintained the posted speed limit until he cleared the school zone, then he romped on it a couple of times, setting Oliver off in a peal of laughter.
“So, what do you think?”
“Oh my gosh! I want one so bad!” He had his fisted hands up near his chest, vibrating with excitement. His whole face shimmered with delight.
“How was your day?” Jed asked.
“Me and my friends played freeze tag at recess. That was fun.” He stretched to see out the side window.
“That does sound like fun. Anything else?”
“Emily tried to hold my hand in the lunch line, but I jerked it away before anyone could see.” Jed chanced a glance and saw him frowning.
“You know, when you grow up, you’re going to want to hold hands with girls.”
“No. No way.” Oliver looked at him like he thought Jed was nuts and shook his head.
“Yep. And you’ll want to kiss them, too.”
“Oh my gosh! I am never kissing a girl!”
Jed rolled his lips inward to keep from laughing.
He was sure Oliver’s reaction to the news that he was going to grow up and like girls was a universal reaction to all little boys.
And like every little boy before him that turned into a horny teenager, he was going to really, really like girls when he got older.
“Hey, does your Aunt Sadie get a lot of bad headaches?”
“Um. Sometimes. She usually takes some medicine and then a nap, and it goes away.”
“And does she get them often?”
“I think she gets them when she’s really tired or really, really stressed.” He shrugged a shoulder. “At least, that’s what Dad used to say.”
He made a turn into the alley behind Ink Envy and pulled his car in next to Sadie’s. Oliver reached for his seatbelt buckle to release it as Jed said, “Try to be quiet when we go inside in case Sadie is still sleeping.”
They climbed the stairs together, then knocked lightly on the door. Chris let them in and stepped back. “She’s still sleeping,” he volunteered before Jed could ask, then dropped to a squat in front of Oliver and asked, “How did you like riding in Jed’s car?”
“I loved it! I wanna do it again! It’s just like my car.” He raced over to his pile of toy cars and pulled out the one he was talking about to show Chris. “See! It’s just like mine.”
Chris took the car and got a closer look. “You know, it is just like Jed’s. That is so cool.”
“Huh.” Jed accepted the car when he handed it over. “It does look just like my car.” He handed it back to Oliver.
“I’m never giving this car away. I’m keeping it forever.”
The funny thing was, Jed believed him.
After Chris left, Jed got Oliver a snack and turned on a kids' TV show to kill time until Sadie woke up. Around four o’clock, Sadie came rushing down the hall only to pull up short when she saw Oliver playing on the floor. She looked from her nephew to Jed and back again.
“You looked like you needed the sleep, so I went and picked him up. Chris came up and sat with you until we got back.” He didn’t want her to think that he’d completely abandoned her after what occurred in her apartment earlier.
“Oh. Okay. Thank you.” Her hair was a wild mess around her shoulders, but it didn’t look bad. In fact, he imagined it would look something like that if it were sex hair.
“Sadie! You’re up! Guess what?!” He bounced up and down in front of her.
“What?”
“I got to ride in Jed’s car! The one just like mine!” He held up said car for her to see, just in case she couldn’t remember what car he was talking about.
“That’s awesome, honey.” Sadie looked up and pinned Jed to his seat. “Why don’t you go ahead and play with your cars while I talk to Jed in the other room?”
He got up and followed behind her. Surprisingly, she led them to her bedroom. She pushed the door mostly closed, then asked, “How were you able to pick up Oliver?”
“Trick texted Lindsey for me to make sure I was able to pick him up.” He shoved his hands in his pockets.
“Why would you do that?! Why would you go pick him up instead of waking me up so I could go?” Her hands fisted at her sides, and he wondered if she was thinking about hitting him.
Was she mad at him? He didn’t get it. He was trying to do her a favor.
“You had a bad headache and refused to take anything for it when I offered to buy you something. Oliver says they’re really bad when you don’t get enough sleep or you’re under a lot of stress.
Obviously, this morning took its toll on you.
I was trying to be nice by picking up Oliver for you so you could keep sleeping until your headache was gone.
” Was she always this ungrateful when someone tried to help her out?
“I can’t believe the school let you take Oliver.” Her hand went to her forehead as she turned to pace away and back again. “They shouldn’t have let you take him. You’re not on the pick-up list. I thought he would be safe in Redemption. I thought the school wouldn’t let just anyone pick him up.”
She appeared to be working herself up, and if she wasn’t careful, she’d be flat on her back with another headache. “What’s this really about, Sadie? Why are you so upset?”
“That’s how they did it.” Tears pooled in her eyes, but she quickly blinked them away. “That’s how the Phantoms took Oliver away from me.” She turned her head, crossing her arms over her chest.
“Sadie.” She continued to look away from him. “Sadie, honey. Look at me.”
Her teeth were sunk into her bottom lip to the point he was afraid she might draw blood.
He stepped closer, settling his hands on her upper arms. “No one is going to take Oliver away from you. The Sons will never take him away. Do you hear me?” She didn’t say anything for the longest time, until he gave her a little shake. “Honey, do you hear me?”
“Yes. I hear you.”
“Good. Now, let's go back out there before Oliver comes looking for us. Take a deep breath and calm yourself so he doesn’t figure out you’re upset. Okay?”
She nodded her head and took a deep breath, releasing it slowly.
“Good girl. Let’s go.” He pulled the door open and waved her through first. He watched as she went to sit on the floor next to her nephew.
He talked about his ride with Jed in his “super-fast” car.
He told her about freeze tag with his buddies at recess and how Emily tried to hold his hand at lunch.
Then he told her that Jed said one day he was going to grow up and want to hold hands and kiss girls.
Again, he said it like he thought Jed was nuts.
And again, Jed thought about how the boy would change his tune when he got older. He’d want to kiss women. Maybe a lot of them, maybe a few. Only time would tell.
For Jed, there was only one woman right now that he wanted to kiss, and she was looking up at him with gorgeous green eyes and a smile that tripped something in his chest. And on the heels of that thought came another. He was so damn confused when it came to Sadie.
There was no denying he was attracted to her and would love to fuck her, but he was also aware that she wasn’t a one-and-done kind of woman, and he wasn’t sure if he was at that point in his life yet.
He was fucked.