Chapter Sixteen
“Text your mom when you get to Portland,” Linc told Kash before he left for school the next morning.
“I will.”
“And if you aren’t too engrossed, let us know how things are going too,” Harper said.
“Moooooom. I’m gonna be busy. We have to strategize and make adjustments after each fight,” Kash complained.
Linc smiled at that. Kash might be protective of his mom, but he was also nearly a teenager.
Other things in his life were becoming more important, which he approved of.
A twelve-year-old shouldn’t be worried about their mom every second of the day.
If she was working too hard or getting enough to eat.
He was finally relaxing enough to be a kid. Which Linc thought was healthy.
“I know. Just try to answer when I text, okay?”
“Okay, Mom. Can we go? I’m meeting Abigail and Brad to make a few tweaks to our robot before classes start.”
“Right, we’re going. Give me a second to say bye to Linc.”
Kash rolled his eyes. “Don’t take ten years,” he warned. “You can smooch him when you get home after work.”
“Smart aleck. Go on with you. Go start the car and warm it up,” Harper said with a laugh.
Kash waved to Linc. “Bye, Linc. See you Sunday!”
“Good luck, Bud! Knock ’em dead!”
“That’s the goal,” Kash said with a grin, before snatching the car keys off the counter and heading out the door.
“I wish I didn’t have to work today or tomorrow morning,” Harper said, as soon as Kash was out of earshot.
Linc reached out and grabbed Harper around the waist and pulled her into him.
He didn’t respond verbally, instead kissing the hell out of her.
Every time he put his hands on her felt like the first time.
He still got tingles, and his cock got hard.
Linc wondered if that would ever change . . . maybe in twenty years or so.
When he lifted his head, they were both breathing hard. “I love you. I’ll have dinner waiting for you. And maybe a bath. I can’t wait to have you all to myself starting tomorrow afternoon.”
“You aren’t making it any easier for me to go to work,” Harper complained.
Linc grinned. “Sorry.”
“No, you aren’t,” she countered, but she was laughing while she said it, so Linc knew she wasn’t really upset.
“You sleep all right last night? I didn’t get a chance to ask you this morning.”
“I did,” Linc said. And he wasn’t blowing smoke up her ass either. He didn’t exactly sleep like a rock, like she did, but he’d still gotten a respectable four and a half hours. And the best thing was that he didn’t have any nightmares. He counted that as a win in his book for sure.
He knew she wasn’t a cure for his insomnia and PTSD, but she helped him relax, which in turn helped him sleep. And slowly but surely, the bad memories from his accident were being pushed further and further to the recesses of his brain as new memories, with Harper and Kash, took over.
“Good. I’ll see you around three-thirty when I get home. I thought, since you’re going to be busy installing the floors in here today, maybe we could go to The Lobster Buoy and pick up dinner tonight.”
“You just want to try the lobster-mac-and-cheese-stuffed baked potato Zach said he was putting on the menu for this weekend,” Linc accused.
“No offense, but . . . duh. Your brother is an amazing cook. The things he can do with lobster are amazing.”
“No offense taken, because you’re right. Zach is a fucking genius in the kitchen. Fine. We’ll head out to his shack and get dinner. I’m going to miss you today. I want to spend every second I can with you and only you.”
Harper smiled at him. “I’d like that.”
“Good.”
The horn blared from outside.
Linc chuckled. “Sounds like Kash is getting impatient.”
“I think his teenager years are going to be the death of me,” Harper said with a sigh.
“Enjoy them, because they’ll go by really fast. The next thing we know, he’ll be headed off to college, and who knows when we’ll get the time to hang out with him after that.”
“I know. You’re right, but man, I’m dreading the time when his hormones kick in.”
Linc could only grin. He remembered those days. When he’d discovered girls and how much he liked them.
“Right. I’m going. See you later. Love you,” Harper said, kissing him briefly before pulling away.
Linc would never get tired of hearing those words. “Love you too. Be safe.”
“I will.”
He walked her to the door and watched as she headed to the garage, then backed the minivan out.
He stood at the door, freezing his butt off in the chilly March air as she drove down the driveway.
Only then did he close the door and take a deep breath.
He had a lot to do to finally get the floors down here finished before she arrived home from work that afternoon.
But he did it with a smile and not feeling as if he would fall flat on his face because he hadn’t gotten enough sleep. He was a new man because of Harper. He wouldn’t change his life for anything . . . which wasn’t something he could say a few months ago.
Kash had gotten good at avoiding Donny and his jerk friends. He’d learned that if he got to the cafeteria at the very beginning of his lunch period, he could get in before Donny got there, get his food, then leave and eat lunch in the robotics club’s meeting room.
Today, he had a question for his Spanish teacher after class, which meant a late start for lunch. He knew without a doubt that he’d have a run-in with Donny as a result. But . . . that was okay. Because surprisingly, it was becoming a little easier every day to just ignore the bully’s taunts.
Maybe it was because he’d found a group of people he enjoyed hanging out with, who didn’t judge him for liking science and other so-called “nerdy” things.
Maybe it was because he knew without a doubt that Linc liked him exactly the way he was.
That he didn’t wish he was more athletic or “manly.” Maybe it was because his mom was so happy now, and it made everything around him seem not quite so . . . dire.
Whatever the reason, Kash walked to the cafeteria with his head held high. He decided he wasn’t going to let Donny get to him anymore. He wasn’t going to provoke the kid, he wasn’t that stupid, but he was done skulking around and going out of his way to avoid him.
He walked into the cafeteria and looked around for his robotics club friends. He didn’t see them, so he headed for the line to get his food.
Except he didn’t make it to the line. Owen and Scott waylaid him. They came up beside him, each taking one of his arms and turning him back the way he’d just come.
“Hey! Let go of me!” Kash exclaimed, trying to pull his arms out of their grasp, but they simply tightened their grips enough that it hurt—a lot.
And since they were taller and heavier than he was, there wasn’t much Kash could do.
The last thing he wanted was to make a scene.
Bringing attention to yourself at school was never a good thing, so he kept quiet and went where the two boys led him .
. . occasionally trying to jerk his arms free.
The next thing Kash knew, they were headed for the door that led out into the courtyard between the high school and middle school.
“Donny wants a word with you,” Owen told him.
“Why? I haven’t done anything to him. Let me go!” Kash said, deciding his earlier decision not to make a scene was dumb. He writhed, trying to twist out of the bullies’ grips, with no luck.
“Calm down!” Scott growled, as he struggled to hold on to a squirming Kash.
He was sure he was going to be taken to one of the restrooms in the high school and given that swirly he’d joked about with his mom, but instead of heading toward the building, Owen and Scott headed away from both schools.
Before he knew it, they’d left the property and were walking into one of the small neighborhoods that surrounded the schools.
His heart was in his throat, and his mouth was dry as dust. He was also cold, because it wasn’t as if he had his coat with him. Owen and Scott hadn’t exactly stopped to let him grab it from his locker.
All he had was the backpack with his schoolbooks.
He found it easier to carry them around all day, rather than go back and forth to his locker before and after every class.
Since his last name started with a B, and the lockers were assigned in alphabetical order, his was all the way at one end of the school. So, he carried his books with him.
Donny had made fun of him for that, along with what seemed like a hundred other things, but Kash didn’t care. His backpack made his life easier, and he wasn’t going to suffer simply because someone didn’t think it was “cool” to carry it around.
Realizing his mind was wandering, Kash blinked and found they’d cut across a few lawns and were approaching a house that looked as if it hadn’t had anyone living there for quite a while.
Owen and Scott pulled him around back—and Kash’s hopes fell even further when he saw Ginger and Donny already there, standing under a dilapidated deck.
“I’m serious, Donny, give it back,” Ginger ordered, hands on her hips. “I need my phone!”
“And I’ll give it back, I just—oh, finally. Took you long enough to get here.” Donny had turned when his friends appeared with Kash.
Ginger looked annoyed . . . and confused. “What’s going on? Why is he here? All I want is my phone. Give it back, and I’ll leave you guys to do whatever stupid thing you’re planning on doing.”
“Oh, but we need you to make what we’re planning work,” Donny said with a smirk. Then he moved fast, grabbing Ginger’s upper arm much the same way Owen and Scott were holding Kash.
“Ow! Stop it! Let go!”
“Nope. I gave you a chance to come back to me, to get whatever bug you had up your ass out and come to your senses. But you didn’t.
And now I hear you’re dating Alistair? He’s in the fucking band!
What a joke! So . . . I decided since you humiliated me, and you seem to like nerds, I’d let you spend some quality time with the biggest nerd at school—Kash Bates. ”