41. Lucas
41
LUCAS
Jayden and Kyle were sitting on the front porch when I pulled up on Saturday afternoon. That would make things easier, since they both would be interested in what I had to say. Tori would be too, but I didn’t see her, and for once, that felt like a good thing.
Ever since Kyle revealed that he hadn’t slept with Natalie, things between us had been better but also awkward. I couldn’t quite wrap my head around how he’d taken the blame for Natalie, even though he’d had nothing to do with it. And he let me rage at him for all this time.
But he’d been no angel—I was under no illusions about that. Still, I wished I hadn’t given him so much grief for the one actually selfless thing he’d done.
It was a weird dynamic. But at least I’d be able to give him some news today that he needed.
“There’s more beer in the fridge,” Jayden said by way of greeting. Maybe that was why I had so few male friends. My first thought was always on schoolwork. So many of my peers were obsessed with drinking, partying, and women.
Kyle sure was—though maybe things were changing now.
He and Jayden were in the only two chairs that fit out here on the porch, so I sat on the front step. “I found out something.”
Kyle straightened up in his chair. “About the recording?”
“Yes,” I said. Kyle had already been cleared of cheating, but I didn’t blame him for wanting to know who’d targeted him like this.
“What’d you find out?” Jayden asked.
“A buddy met me in the computer lab today and we did some analysis. And we also were able to see who else used the equipment there.”
“Who was it?” There was murder in Kyle’s voice.
“It could be one of few people.” I rattled off a few names, none of which seemed to mean anything to Kyle. But knowing what I did about his lifestyle, I was fairly certain the next one would. “Then there’s a young woman who’s minoring in Blockchain Development, and in the past couple of weeks, she’s?—”
“Fuck. Is it Jasmine?” Kyle interrupted.
“Yes. She’s on the short list.”
He slumped back in his chair. “It’s her.”
“A vindictive ex?” Jayden asked. Apparently, he had no more trouble believing that possibility than I did.
“Something like that. We were hooking up before I got interested in my hot new writing tutor.” He sighed heavily. “I knew Jasmine was jealous, and she’s been blowing up my phone, but I never thought she’d do that.”
“You could turn the tables on her,” Jayden said. “She accused you of cheating, but she’s the one who’s violated the Langley code of conduct by fabricating that.”
Kyle shook his head. “No, I don’t want to do that.” Then he sat up again and looked at me. “But you’ll keep all the evidence, right? Just in case something else happens?”
“Right.”
“Good.” His shoulders relaxed. “Thanks.”
We were silent for a minute or two, and then Jayden spoke up. “Speaking of non-crazy, non-vindictive women, we’re on for tonight.”
My stomach did a little flip as I stared at him. “Tori said yes?”
Jayden nodded. “She wants to give it a shot.”
“Told ya,” Kyle said. Then he paused. “I don’t mean that as in I told you so… I just think she’ll like this. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be participating.”
“Me either,” Jayden said. Then he looked at me. “Are you okay with this?”
I wasn’t entirely sure how to answer that. “If it’s what she wants.” I didn’t understand it, but I could at least see how she’d gotten closer to all three of us. And how maybe we all had different things to offer her.
“You know, if you say you have a problem with it, she’ll call it off,” Jayden said.
“I know.”
Silence fell again, and I kind of wished I had a beer or three to distract me from my thoughts. This wasn’t what I wanted for her… but what mattered was what she wanted. And if she wanted me to be a part of this, then I would.
But that was tonight’s concern. For right now, I wanted to talk about something else. So I brought up something that had recently occurred to me. “I’ve been thinking.” I directed my words to Kyle, but it was Jayden who answered.
“You’re always thinking.”
“Maybe we could build a deck out back. Nothing fancy, just a space for a table and chairs and a grill.”
Kyle cocked his head. As co-homeowner, it was his call as much as mine. “We could probably knock that out in a couple of days if we used Jay as slave labor.”
Jayden raised his beer to that. “It would be nice to grill out there.”
Kyle nodded, then looked at me. “Maybe you can find out what your mom puts in her barbecue sauce. That stuff is fucking amazing.”
I agreed with what he said, but at the same time, I was pretty shocked that he was saying something nice about my mom. Not that he hated her, but as he’d recently pointed out, becoming a blended family had been hard on both of us. And until very recently, I’d been too involved in my own pain to think much about his.
“Yeah, I can do that.” A small smile formed on my face. “Her barbecue sauce is the best.”