I’m ready for this argument though. I stare at him until he has to meet my eyes. “The age of consent in Massachusetts is sixteen.”
“The form in my wallet naming me your temporary guardian makes you a minor in my care.”
“It’s not like I was going to put it on Facebook.” First Cael, now Grady. Why did everyone think they knew what kind of relationship I wanted? “We can just—”
“No, we can’t. I can’t.”
It’s not against the law now, so I can’t see what the big deal is. “I’ll be eighteen soon.”
“In two months.”
“What’s the difference? It’s just a number people make a big deal of. I won’t even be able to drink.”
“No, just vote, join the service and buy cigarettes. And don’t even think about taking up smoking.”
“Can I join the Army?”
I say it with a sarcastic sneer, but he looks horrified.
Maybe that’s my opening. “When did you join? The Marines, I mean.”
I know what the answer is because his face goes blank.
“You were probably having sex all the time then too. So why can’t I?”
Grady gets up and pours out a mug of coffee. I didn’t notice it brewing. The burned stink is still strong enough to block out any good smells. He doesn’t offer me some, only sits back at the table with a hand around the Red Sox mug.
The way his fingers block stuff, the tip of the sock looks like the head of a dick and it’s a quick mental slide to the way his dick had looked in his fist. Thick and red and slick. I want to taste him so bad my mouth is watering.
He turns the mug in his hand and the image is just the sports logo again. “Sex with someone your own age is different.”
“So I can fuck everyone on campus but not someone I actually like?” I’d said I love you when we were upstairs, but I’d just come. I don’t think I love Grady, sometimes I’m not even sure I love my parents. As for being in love, that was bullshit for movies. But I think about Grady a lot. A hell of a lot more than I do Cael or anyone else. I know what a crush is. If I had to use a word, I’d say I admire him. Even when I think his rules are stupid.
“That’s not what I’m saying. Pay attention, Trevor.” He snaps that out in his drill sergeant voice. “I’m going to talk and you’re going to listen and not argue. Because this is the way it has to be.”
I want to roll my eyes but don’t. I’m not afraid of him, but the way his voice went rough on those last three words made me wonder if I had a plane trip back to Ohio in the near future.
“I crossed a line. I know we both wanted that to happen but it was wrong, and that’s my fault. I’m the adult. You are my responsibility.” He takes a long swallow on his mug. The coffee seems to put a little warmth in his voice. “I like you too. So I’m going to ask you to give me your word.”
He looks right at me then, light brown eyes holding my gaze. I straighten in my chair, and this time I know I don’t wince.
“I need your word that you’re going to respect that line between us. If you want my attention, ask for it. Don’t do something crazy to get it.”
I start to say again that the burned up noodles were an accident but he cuts me off.
“Don’t push anymore. Can you handle that?”
Saying that I wanted to handle it was not going to get me what I wanted, which was pretty much the same thing it had been when I saw Grady, my how-did-he-get-so-hot godfather at the airport last month. His dick up my ass.
“What consequences are we talking about this time?”
“This isn’t about punishment. You want to be treated like an adult? I’m asking you to give me your word as a man that you’re going to respect these boundaries.”
“Or you’ll send me back home?”
Grady winced. “Let’s try to avoid getting that far.”
So that was a yes. It’s not like my parents could really make me do anything once I turned eighteen. But if I wanted to actually stay in college and not beg in the streets, they kind of could.
“All right.” Like I had a choice.
“That’s not how a man gives his word.”
“Yes, sir.”
Grady looked at me like he was waiting for something.
“I give you my word I won’t push the boundaries.”
For two more months. That was all I was promising.
The Trouble with Trevor (Off Limits Book 1) Page 12
