Chapter 34
Hadley
“Tell me again why I had to come?”
“Because you told the world you’re my girlfriend, and my mom has the internet.”
I looked out the window. We hadn’t gone far from campus, and I had a three-hour drive with Dustin ahead of me. There and back, and I was very aware of what had happened the last time he and I were in this car. “Uh-huh, but tell me why I had to come?”
“Because my mom said so, and you’re my ho.”
I slapped his chest. “I am not your ho.”
He grinned. “The stain on my leather would say otherwise.”
I hit him again. “Your leather seat is fine, and if there was a mark there, it isn’t mine!”
He shrugged. “There’s not a mark,” he conceded. “But it would be yours; the only other girl who’s been in my car is my sister.”
I turned to face him. “I’m the only one you’ve had sex with in here?”
“Don’t let it go to your head.”
I smirked and snuck a peek at him; he was smiling too. “I think I need to make it a hashtag . . .” I held my arms out. “Or put it in lights, maybe. Only Peterson’s ass was bare on my leather.”
Dustin laughed out loud. “I might actually pay for that to happen.”
“They can post as many dick pics as they want if we share that.” I turned to face him more. “How come you haven’t had dick pics posted before?”
“Because I don’t send pictures of my anatomy to people.”
“Huh.” I thought about it. “I didn’t expect that.”
“So you’re saying I’m the kind of guy who sends pictures of his dick to girls?” He shook his head, then cast me a sly glance. “I’d need a bigger camera.”
I threw my head back and laughed. So did he. The whole three-hour drive was pretty much the same thing. Us messing around and talking shit. It was one of the better car journeys of my life.
When we got to Cardinal, I started to get nervous. “What if they hate me?”
“Do you care?” he asked skeptically.
“Yes! I might see them again.” When he looked at me with doubt in his eyes, I teased him. “You know, at the wedding.”
Dustin laughed. I checked my hair and reapplied my lipstick. I wasn’t a vain person, and even if it was fake, I was still meeting the parents. As my mom used to say, you only get one chance to make a first impression.
When I focused on what was around us, I saw big driveways and even bigger houses. “Are you rich?”
“No.”
I gaped out the window again, my nose almost pressed against the glass. “Dude . . . these are not the houses of the working class.”
Dustin made a sound of disgust. “My dad works nearly every hour of every day, you want to tell him he isn’t working class?”
“That’s not what that means, and you know it.”
“It’s just a house, Hadley. Calm down.” He drove up the driveway of one of the smaller houses, but it was still huge. To me.
When we parked, he looked over at me. “Can you do this?”
I nodded, feeling apprehensive. “I can.” I bit my lip. “Can you?”
His hand came up to my face, warm and steady, thumb brushing across my cheek like he was checking I was really there. “Hey,” he murmured, voice low, calm. “Breathe.”
I exhaled, shaky and uneven, and before I could speak, he leaned in and pressed a kiss to my lips.
It was gentle. Unrushed. Nothing like the ones that made my knees weak and my thoughts scatter. This one was soft — a quiet promise instead of a challenge.
He kissed me as if he was trying to anchor me, wanting me to feel steady again. His lips stayed just long enough to slow my heartbeat and remind me that I wasn’t alone in this, that the world wouldn’t cave in if I made a mistake.
It didn’t feel strange to me that he kissed me when no one was watching. We shared plenty of hand-holding and kisses in public, but he kissed me now when it was just the two of us. Like yesterday in his kitchen.
It hadn’t been for anyone’s benefit except ours.
He walked me home afterward, holding my hand, and up to my apartment door.
He kissed me there for a good while before I asked him if he wanted to come in.
He said maybe another time, and I wasn’t pissed off and didn’t feel rejected.
It was more like he wasn’t rushing this.
We’d had sex. Now it was as if he were trying to get to know me. And I liked it.
When he pulled back, his forehead rested against mine. “Okay?” he asked simply.
I noticed movement at the corner of my eye and squeaked. I actually squeaked. Dustin grinned.
“You saw my mom?”
“Her first impression of me is making out with her only son in his car,” I hissed at him.
“At least it’s not the picture of your lips inches from my dick.” He pecked me on the lips. “Come on, Peterson, let’s go meet my family.”
I got out of the car, smoothing down my black slacks and hoping Savannah was right, and that slacks and a sweater were the casual but smart look I needed for Sunday lunch with my fake boyfriend’s parents.
Jesus Christ. This was going to be a disaster.
Dustin took me by the hand and led me up the four steps to his house. He dropped my hand and wrapped his mom in a bear hug. She screamed with delight as her son picked her up and basically swung her around like a rag doll.
“Dustin put me down!”
When she was on her feet, she turned to me, pressing her hair with her hand. “And you must be Hadley.”
“Hi.” I extended my hand, and she shook it. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Slater.”
I saw the quick sweep of her glance, and she smiled, but it was the smile of a woman reserving judgment.
“Dad inside?” Dustin took my hand and pulled me through the door. “Is Naya here? That squirt better be here,” he yelled up the stairs.
Conscious that he’d pulled me past his mom, I looked back to apologize, but she had her back to me and was closing the door. I took in my surroundings as I was led to the kitchen. His house was opulent but also homey. I liked it.
A tall man with salt-and-pepper hair was drinking what looked like a scotch. He grinned when he saw Dustin. “My boy.”
They embraced, and I noticed how relaxed Dustin was with his family. He was always kind of loose, but he was just so at ease within a few minutes of being inside; it was nice.
“Mr. Slater,” I shook his hand.
“Marvin,” he corrected me. “We’re relaxed here.”
His wife made a sound behind me, and I didn’t comment that Mrs. Slater hadn’t offered me the same courtesy.
Footsteps thundered on the stairs, and then a girl came rushing into the kitchen. I realized I recognized her from the bar the night I met Dustin again. She stopped suddenly when she saw me.
“Oh my fuck, you are fucking beautiful.”
“Naya Slater!”
Naya ignored her mom. She looked me up and down. “Wow. You are . . .” She looked at Dustin. “Him? Seriously?”
I couldn’t hold back my laughter. “Yeah. Afraid so.”
Naya assessed her brother. “But he’s Dustin.”
“Shut up.” Dustin smacked her across the back of the head. “Just because you’re an ugly duckling.”
“Mom!”
I blinked against the noise level. Dustin leaned into me. “You look like you owe me an apology,” he said smugly.
“You could have mentioned she was your sister,” I hissed back.
“Why?” He leaned back with a wink. “You can make it up to me, Peterson.”
When we turned back, his family was watching us.
“What?” Dustin said, leaning over and taking a drink from his dad’s glass. “You look like you’ve never seen a girl before.”
“We’ve never seen you with a woman before,” Naya corrected. “Not a sober one anyway.” She turned to me. “Blink twice if you need help.”
I did.
Everyone laughed, even their mom. I could do this. I could fake my way through a family lunch. Even if every second more I spent with him, I wasn’t sure I was faking anymore.
“Do you need help, Mrs. Slater?” I offered.
“My wife’s name is Jemima. Mrs. Slater is my mother, God rest her soul.”
I waited. There was no way on this green earth that I was calling her Jemima unless she told me to.
She read me like a book. I saw the gleam in her eye; whatever test she set for me, I must have passed it. “You can call me Jem, Hadley.”
I needed a drink. “Ma’am.” I took my coat off and handed it to Dustin. “Can I help?”
“You can.”
Damn it.
Dustin took a seat on a barstool, his little sister draped over him, as she told him all about the drama at her school and how her boyfriend was a giant dick.
Their dad offered his opinion of whether her boyfriend was worth the trouble, and I slowly migrated over to his mom as I witnessed the openness of their family.
“You look surprised,” she murmured, handing me an apron.
“I . . .” I had nothing. “I’m not used to, um—”
“Communication?” she guessed. “You have brothers or sisters?”
I shook my head. “Just me.”
“Parents?”
“Happily married schoolteachers.”
“Still together.” She started to peel carrots, and I picked up a knife and helped.
“Every second of the day.”
She gave me a small knowing smile. “Ah.” She looked over at Dustin, who was laughing at something his sister said. “Does he make you happy?”
“So far? Yes, he does.”
I didn’t even have to lie. I hadn’t planned to say it that way; it came out true before I could pretend to myself it was part of the performance.
* * *
Lunch had been fun. I hadn’t had to fake it.
Dustin was attentive and fully immersed in being with his family.
His mom talked to me like an old friend, his sister accused me of looking too much like a vampire’s love interest, to which Dustin high-fived her and said “thank you,” and I had an interesting discussion with his dad on current affairs and politics.
It was easy.
It was so easy, I had a moment of doubt and wondered if he’d told them in advance just to mess with my head.
His mom was making coffee, his dad had gone outside to smoke, and Naya had gone upstairs to text her friend about me. I turned to Dustin.
“So?” He pulled a strand of my hair through his fingers. “What do you think?”
“They’re pretty awesome.”
“Like me?” he teased, his dark eyes gleaming.
“No. Nothing like you at all,” I said with a smile. “Are you adopted?”
“Witch.” He kissed me.
I fell into his body easily. His mouth moving over mine with increasing intensity. God, I wanted him. I pressed into him further, my hand at the nape of his neck, pulling him down.