Chapter Twenty-Seven
Nick returned to the residence to check on the twins, who were feeling much better, thankfully. As he walked toward the family kitchen, he heard chatter that had him smiling.
Alden saw him first. “Nick! Did you hear we’re not sick anymore?”
“I did, and I’m so glad to see you looking much better.” Their cheeks were a little rosier than usual, but otherwise, they seemed to be in good spirits.
“Dr. Harry said we still need a lot of ice cream,” Aubrey said as she delicately dabbed a French toast stick in syrup. “And Nana said we could have French toast sticks anytime we want because they’re soft on our throats.”
“Nana is very wise.” Nick kissed each of them on the top of their blond heads and gave his mother-in-law a smile. “And Dr. Harry is the boss. If he prescribes ice cream, then that’s what we’ll have. How’s Nana holding up?”
“We’re doing much better all around,” Brenda said, “especially since… you know.”
“I do know.” While he, too, was so thankful that Ethan was home safe, he couldn’t think about the murdered young girl without feeling a murderous rage toward the men who’d harmed her.
Brenda’s eyes brimmed with tears that told him she felt the same way, but neither of them wanted the twins to hear about what’d happened to Ethan or Luna, so they forced themselves to move on.
“Is Scotty still at baseball practice?” Nick asked.
“Yep,” Aubrey said. “But he’ll be home soon.”
“Is Sam home?” Alden asked.
“Not right now, but she should be back soon.”
“Can we stay home tomorrow, too?” Alden asked
“You should be all better in time for school.”
“Not fair,” Alden said.
Nick made himself a glass of ice water. “What’s this? You love school.”
“I also love a good sick day.”
Nick laughed and tousled his hair. “Nothing fun about being sick, though.”
“That’s true,” Aubrey said. “My throat hurt bad.”
“How’s Nana feeling?”
Brenda grimaced. “So far, so good. Fingers crossed.”
“Thanks for taking one for the team.”
“I’m very happy to have this time with them.”
“We appreciate it so much, especially after these last couple of weeks.”
“How’s Sam doing?” Brenda asked.
“She’s exhausted. I’m hoping she’ll take some time off as soon as she can get a break in the action.”
“If she gets a break in the action.”
“Right. That’s always a big if.”
“Do you have to work tonight, Nick?” Alden asked.
“For a little while, but not until later.”
“Okay,” Alden said.
“Guess what?” Nick said. “Celia will be home soon.”
That news was greeted with cheers and excitement.
“I’ve missed her so much,” Aubrey said.
“Make sure you tell her that,” Brenda said. “It’ll mean a lot to her.”
“I will.”
Scotty came into the kitchen and went straight for the fridge to grab a bottle of the red Gatorade they kept on hand for him. He wore baseball pants with dirty knees and his team ballcap on backward. “You two are looking better. Did the cooties clear up?”
“We didn’t have cooties,” Aubrey said indignantly. “We had strep.”
“Same thing,” Scotty said, making a grossed-out face.
“Are you still feeling okay, buddy?” Nick asked.
“I’m fine, but if I timed my exposure right, I should be in line for a sick day tomorrow.”
Nick and Brenda laughed. “Nice try.”
“Strep is highly contagious, you know.”
“And you’re robustly healthy, according to Harry.”
“You’re raising a con man, Nick,” Brenda said.
“I’m beginning to think you’re right.”
“If a guy isn’t smart enough, he’s a loser. If he’s too smart, he’s a con man. You can’t win in this world.”
“Take a walk with me,” Nick said.
“Uh-oh. That sounds ominous.”
“Nothing like that.”
Scotty glanced at Brenda. “Send help if I don’t come back.”
“Will do.”
He brought the Gatorade with him when he joined Nick in the hallway. “What’s up? Is Ethan okay?”
“He’s resting at home. I’m sure he’s processing everything that’s happened. Did you hear the news about Luna?”
“I did. It’s so horrible. Do they know who killed her?”
“I think so, and Mom’s team is working on making sure they’re charged.”
“All my friends are talking about it.”
“What’re they saying?”
“Just that no one’s safe anymore, even kids. They know Ethan is my cousin, so they’ve had questions. But don’t worry, I haven’t said anything private. I wouldn’t do that to them.”
“Thank you for being protective of them.”
“They’re our family.”
“That’s right.” Nick led him into the suite he shared with Sam, shut the door and sat next to him on the sofa. “I wanted to ask you if you’ve ever heard of an incel.”
“Oh yeah. Those are guys that can’t get girls.”
Nick was shocked to hear Scotty knew the term and what it meant. “And that’s something kids talk about?”
“It’s one of the things they like to say when they’re talking shit about their friends. No one takes it seriously, though. None of us can get girls at our age.”
Nick didn’t want to laugh, but a chuckle escaped nonetheless. Scotty was just so freaking cute.
“Why do you want to know about that?” Scotty asked.
“I heard that word for the first time recently, and I found out there’s a lot of unsavory things attached to it. Most of it happens on the internet, and I wondered if you’ve seen stuff about it online or heard about something called the manosphere.”
“I haven’t heard of that, but I’ve seen people talking about incels. Girls like to toss that word around when they’re rejecting us. According to them, me and all my friends are incels.”
Alarmed by their use of a word fraught with violence and hatred, Nick said, “You know I always try to keep it real with you, right?”
“Yeah, why?”
“No one should be tossing that word around casually. There’s an entire subculture devoted to it online, full of rejected men sharing their grievances toward women and plotting ways to exact revenge.”
“Really?”
“Unfortunately, yes. It’s a dangerous word to throw around.”
“Okay. Should I tell the other guys that?”
“You could possibly suggest another word to tease each other with besides that one.”
“Should I tell them you said it’s not a good word to use?”
“You could say, ‘My dad doesn’t like me using that word casually. He said it has dangerous undertones.’”
He knit his brows. “Do I have to say ‘undertones’? The guys will have no idea what that means.”
Nick laughed. “Just say it’s a dangerous word to throw around casually.”
“I can do that.”
“Do me a favor?”
“Sure.”
“Stay away from the dark corners of the web where they talk about stuff like this.”
“I have no interest in dark corners.”
“I know you don’t, but I need you to promise me that if we continue to give you full access to the internet, you’ll handle it responsibly.”
“I promise. I mostly follow my friends and my favorite teams and athletes.”
“If you stumble upon something that scares you, or someone tries to get you to do something you know is wrong, will you come to me with that?”
“I will. Does this have something to do with what happened to Ethan?”
Nick hesitated, but only for a second. At fourteen, Scotty was old enough to know the truth about what’d happened—and Nick wanted that info to come from him, not online sources or friends.
“It does. The man who took him and the other kids is well-known in the incel culture. Mom and the police believe he used Ethan and Tomas to lure Luna out so they could hurt her for rejecting the man’s son. ”
Scotty’s eyes got bigger with every word Nick said. “So they killed her because she didn’t want to date his son?”
“That’s the theory.”
“But she was thirteen! She probably didn’t want to date anyone. I’m a year older than her, and I’m not into that stuff yet. I mean…” His eyes filled. “We’re still kids.”
Nick reached for him and pulled him into a tight hug.
“We’re just kids.”
“I know, buddy. It’s horrifying, and I hate that you have to be aware of this kind of stuff when you’re just a kid.
But unfortunately, we live in a world where people prey on kids, and I want you to keep you safe.
That means staying away from anything that reeks of toxic masculinity. Do you know what that means?”
“Guys who hate women?”
“That’s part of it, but it goes much deeper than that. Women owe us nothing, but not every guy thinks that way, and they become dangerous when they start to feel entitled to things they have no right to. Do you understand what I mean?”
Scotty pulled back. “We’re talking about sex here, right?”
His facial expressions were priceless. “Among other things.”
“You don’t need to worry about me growing up to be the kind of guy who thinks women—or the world—owe him anything. I know I have to work for anything I want, because that’s what you and Mom had to do. Just because you ended up in the Oval Office doesn’t mean you think you deserve it or anything.”
“That’s right. No one ‘deserves’ anything. It’s all about hard work and dedication, and with girls and women, it’s about treating them with kindness and respect, never with a sense of entitlement.”
“I get it.”
“I know you do, and I’m enormously proud of the young man you’re growing up to be.”
“That means a lot to me. That you’re proud of me.”
“Oh, buddy, I’m so proud. I look at you every day and can’t believe I got lucky enough to have such an amazing son.”
“I’m the lucky one. I still think about that day we met, when you came to where I was living in Virginia… That was the best day of my life up to then. It’s only gotten better since.”
“Same goes, pal. That was right up there as one of the best days of my life, too. And I’m glad you think it’s gotten better despite being under Secret Service protection and having to live in the White House.”
“Are you kidding? I’m the coolest kid in school because my dad is the president and my mom is the butt-kicking FLOTUS cop. Everyone wants to be me cuz their parents are boring compared to mine.”
“Is that right?” Nick asked, endlessly amused by him.
“Oh yeah. There are a lot of advantages to being the president’s kid. For one thing, everyone thinks I’m smart because you are.”
“I hadn’t thought of that.”