Guess that’s out.
I honestly did not see this plot twist coming.
Then again, we haven’t had Lucas at home very much lately. Not even every other weekend. Maybe every third or fourth weekend.
Zoey had refused to pressure Lucas, not wanting to put him in the middle.
I kept my mouth shut because I didn’t want to upset Zoey.
Maybe this is for the best, while Lucas is still young enough we can all heal from the rift and move forward as a family.
And maybe this development will make it easier on us to reveal to him the truth about our relationship.
Because I’m not staying in the closet another two years and denying my heart just because Bill’s a homophobic asshole.
I watch as Lucas gets the plates and silverware and glasses out of the cabinets and carries everything into the dining room to set the table, leaving the three of us standing in the kitchen.
Nolan arches an eyebrow at me, another silent question, because he tips his head toward the doorway to the dining room.
I nod and motion for him to go on.
Because I can tell Zo is about to bust a gut laughing.
Fair enough, because so am I.
Don’t get me wrong—we are not making light of our child’s emotional trauma at the hand of a narcissistic douchewad.
We are, however, going to appreciate and enjoy this irony to its fullest extent.
Then we’ll have to regroup and figure out our next step. If Lucas is going to be living with us full-time now, that means we need to sit him down for a talk.
I’m not giving up Nolan, and neither will Zoey. We shouldn’t have to. We’ve waited more than long enough for him to be a permanent part of our lives. This move is long overdue.
Lucas will have to accept it, and us, the way we are. Just like we’ll accept and love him the way he is.
I pull Zoey into my arms and she presses her face tightly against my shoulder. Her body trembles from the laughter she’s struggling to hold back.
“Holy shit,” I mutter against the top of her head. “Who fricking knew it’s be that easy to get Bill out of our lives?”
“Right?” she mumbles against my shoulder.
Finally, she takes a deep breath and looks up at me. “We’re still doing it,” she softly says, and not as a question.
I nod, glad we’re on the same page. “Yeah, we are.”
“Okay. Good. You’ll take point with Nolan?”
“I will.” I know how to soothe our guy’s skittish nerves. I think having Lucas living with us will make life easier, in some ways. Because Nolan’s ex, Jerilyn, will be less likely to give us a hassle about Nolan living with us.
Katie’s only six. That means twelve more fucking years of dealing with Jerilyn.
That bitch.
That’s the kindest thing I have to say about her, too. The only good thing about that woman, in my opinion, is that she had Katie, and Katie is Nolan’s world. He’s a fantastic dad.
But I hate that we were so close to achieving this perfection a long time ago, then lost Nolan for a couple of years because Jerilyn manipulated him. That we almost lost him to her for good.
Thankfully, he saw through her bullshit—finally—and divorced her.
Jerilyn never did like me. If she’d known the full extent of my relationship with Nolan—and Zoey’s—she would have really hated both of us.
Meanwhile, Katie’s our bonus daughter.
Zoey ducks out of the kitchen and back to our bedroom to put on some actual clothes before Lucas thinks to ask why she’s running around in a bathrobe. At least I grabbed a T-shirt for myself from our bedroom during one of my trips down to Lucas’ room with an armload of his things.
I’m still astounded at the new low Bill has sunk to. Just when I thought his douchebaggery had bottomed out, he grabs a shovel and starts digging.
Asshole.
Maybe now—not tonight, obviously—we’ll finally get answers to what the fuck happened two years ago.
First, we need to get through dinner, and then tomorrow morning.
If it was up to me, I’d drive over at Bill’s house right now with Nolan and empty everything Lucas has out of there. I can only hope Bill doesn’t change his mind before tomorrow and somehow works on Lucas to win him back.
I retrieve glasses from the cabinet and start loading them with ice. I don’t need to ask Nolan or Zoey what they want to drink—iced tea for both of them, while I’ll take water.
Another reason we need to talk to Lucas sooner rather than later. Little things like this factoid right here, knowing what we each like in a way that’s more intimate than just friends, will trip us up. Or it’ll only be a matter of time before he catches us kissing, or something.
“Lucas, what do you want to drink, buddy?” I call out.
“Water, please.”
I fill the fourth glass and carry his and mine out first. “Is Caine okay?” I finally think to ask. “Bill didn’t hurt him, did he?” I feel somewhat guilty I didn’t think to ask sooner.
In my mind, I also now refuse to refer to Bill as Lucas’ “dad.” No true father would throw his son out for being gay.
Lucas shakes his head. “No. He took off when Dad arrived and started screaming at us. He begged me to leave with him, but I thought maybe I could calm Dad down.”
Note to self—buy Caine an Amazon gift card or something for being stand-up. “Do you need to call him and check on him?”
“I can’t. Dad took my phone.”
Fuck. Well, that’s something else we’ll need to do tomorrow. It’s starting to look like our play weekend is completely shot to hell.
“You have everything backed up like I taught you?” Nolan asks him.
“Yeah. At least I have that. I didn’t lose any pictures or contacts or anything. And he doesn’t have my passwords for my online accounts. I logged out of everything before I gave him the phone back, and I changed the passcode on it.” He smiles. “He was too angry to even see I did that. He just grabbed it from me.”
“Quick thinking,” Nolan says. Then he looks at me. “You still have your old phone from a couple of months ago? We can run out and get him a new SIM card tonight and add him to your account.”
I wearily sigh. “I’d rather keep that as a backup for the next one Zo kills.”
Nolan grins as Zoey calls out from the bedroom, “I heard that, Arlo!”
Even Lucas smiles a little.
That’s progress, at least.
“We’ll go out tomorrow and get him a new one,” I say. “Will you go with us?” I haaaaate dealing with tech. Nolan is our go-to guy for all of that. Mechanical stuff is my forte. Nolan damn near killed himself last time he tried to change a tire on his own.
Nolan’s gaze focuses on mine. “Of course. Do we need to rent a truck tomorrow morning?”
“Yeah. I’d rather do that than make multiple trips. Less chance of trouble with Bill. After dinner, I’ll go online and reserve one. We might need to move stuff around in the garage, too.”
Lucas walks over and hugs me, then Nolan. Nolan and I exchange another glance over the poor kid’s head.
“Thank you,” Lucas softly says, sounding like the boy who used to slip all the time and call me “Dad.”
Before two years ago, when his father poisoned his mind.
“We need to talk tonight, okay?” I gently say.
“Yeah.” Lucas sniffles and releases me so he can sit at his usual spot.
“Part of that’s going to be uncomfortable,” Nolan adds. “We need to talk about condoms and all sorts of stuff beyond what I know you got with the first sex talk.”
“We haven’t actually…” Lucas blushes. “We haven’t done it yet. Just…oral and hands and stuff.”
“You can still pass stuff even like that,” I say.
Lucas gives me a look that lets me know he’s already wondering why I’m jumping in right now.
Zoey walks in, with the other two glasses i
n hand, and sets them on the table in front of her plate and Nolan’s. “Oh, we are going to have one humdinger of a talk,” she says, glancing at me, then at Nolan. “Did I hear correctly that you don’t have a phone now?” she asks Lucas.
“Yeah.”
“Do you know Caine’s number off the top of your head?”
He nods.
She hands him her phone from her back pocket. She must have retrieved it when she changed clothes. “Five minutes, then back out here for dinner. Ask him if he wants to come over for dinner tomorrow night.”
Lucas’ face literally lights up. “Really?”
“Really. Tell him you’ll call him again tomorrow after we get you a new phone.”
“Thanks, Mommy!” He kisses her cheek and practically runs down the hall.
Uh-oh.
I see the smile on her face, and it’s one that’s been missing for the better part of two years.
Even during the otherwise best of times between the three of us.
That’s the look of a contented mom.
Nolan’s mind is apparently tracking the same direction as mine. He walks over to her and keeps his voice low. “Hon, please don’t get your hopes up this high this fast.”
“Bill threw him out!”
I also keep my voice down. “Yeah, and tomorrow morning, Bill could show up here waving car keys at Lucas or something.” We each take one of her hands and press it against our chest, our thing with her. “Please, just…keep in mind he’s still a kid, and he’s in pain.”
Determination doesn’t even scratch the surface of the look I see in her grey eyes. “This time is different,” she insists. “And we can use Caine, too.”
“How?” Nolan asks.
She smiles as her fingers curl around our hands. “Well, obviously Bill isn’t going to be Caine’s favorite person right now. We show Caine that we welcome him in our home—because we absolutely do—and I think that’ll go a long way with him helping us gut-check Lucas if Bill tries to woo him back.”
I can’t fault her logic there but I still don’t want her getting her hopes up.
Lucas returns a couple of minutes later, while Zoey’s getting dinner on the table, without us even having to give him a time reminder.
Damn. Kid really is shook.
He returns her phone and hugs her again. “Thank you. He said yes, and thank you.” He buries his face against Zo’s shoulder. “I love you.”
Zoey looks damned triumphant as she hugs him. “Love you, too, baby. Always. All three of us do.”
We settle into our usual spots at the table and after we all have food on our plates, Zoey charges right into the center of the battle without any warm-up at all, and without warning us first. “There’s something you need to know about us, honey. I don’t want there to be any big secrets. We know yours now. But you can’t tell anyone ours.”
He scowls, and light flashes off the ring in his right eyebrow. Damn, I hate that fricking thing. It looks stupid and painful, but I agree with Zoey, it’s his eyebrow. Unless it gets infected or something, I’m not going to harass him over it. There are far more important battles to wage.
“Why not?” he asks.
“That will soon be apparent,” she says.
Nolan looks vaguely terrified, which I totally understand, believe me.
Lucas looks from her to me, then to Nolan. Back to Zoey. “What’s going on?” he asks.
“Nolan isn’t here this weekend because his apartment’s being sprayed,” she says. “He’s here because the three of us are in a relationship together. We’re poly.”
When I watch Nolan, who’s sitting to my right, I see his gaze dip to his plate, the way his jaw tightens.
The way his throat works as he swallows.
I reach over and squeeze Nolan’s left hand, my pulse once again racing when he looks up at me and squeezes my hand back. I hate that there’s so much fear in his brown gaze right now.
Haaaaaate it.
Except Zoey’s right—we have to tell Lucas. Trying to keep this a secret with him living here isn’t going to work.
I can only pray the kid won’t fuck us over again.
Chapter Three
Nolan
Motherfucker.
Bill Motherfucking Webb.
God, I hate that motherfucker.
I know Arlo and Zoey aren’t fond of my ex-wife, Jerilyn.
That’s also a massive understatement.
But as much as they hate Jerilyn, I despise Bill Motherfucking Webb at least twenty times more.
I hated Bill even before I’d ever laid eyes on him. When Ar told me how the fucker tried to step into my guy’s face not long after Arlo and Zoey started dating, I wanted Arlo to take me over there with them so I could meet Bill right then.
My hatred for Bill Webb only grew when I found out he’d put hands on Zoey.
Right now, however, my stomach’s knotted so tightly that I’m close to puking. Lucas doesn’t exactly have the best track record when it comes to being reliable in terms of trusting him. If he decides to say something to or around Jerilyn—or to or around his father—I could possibly lose custody of Katie, if Jerilyn comes after me.
While things have smoothed out between me and my ex lately, I don’t want anything rocking that boat more than necessary. She makes way more money than I do, and the only reason I could afford my divorce attorney was because I went to high school with him and he let me make payments.
If she decides to come after me again, I’d be hosed. I already had to make a massive withdrawal from my retirement account as it was.
I wish I could trust the kid. I do. I love Lucas like a son.
But I do not trust Lucas. Not yet. Plus he hurt Arlo, and devastated Zoey, which is an additional hill for him to climb, in my opinion, before he totally wins me back as a friend.
Lucas made her cry.
He broke her fricking heart.
It was me and Arlo comforting her after Lucas changed his mind and decided to live with Bill full-time. The gut-wrenching way her sobs shook her as she cried in our arms makes me understandably bitter. I’ll never be able to erase that sound from my memory.
“What do you mean by that?” Lucas finally asks Zoey after digesting her admission for a long, heart-stopping moment. “What’s poly mean?”
“First, do you promise not to say anything to or around Jerilyn, or around Katie, when she’s here? This is serious, honey.”
Lucas nods. “No offense, but I don’t like Jerilyn, anyway. I think she’s a stuck-up bi—eh, witch.”
Zoey smirks. “She is a stuck-up bitch, but that’s another rule: no bad-mouthing her around Katie. Understand?”
He nods. “Sure.” He glances at Arlo, then to me, and back to her. “But what do you mean? What’s poly?”
“Arlo and Nolan are both bisexual. They had a relationship when they were in high school and college. Then life happened, deep closets happened, and then…” She sighs. “Then Arlo and I met. Their previous relationship wasn’t a secret to me. Arlo told me about it when we started dating. And I really liked Nolan, too. But you now understand at least a little of his fear. About why this has to stay a secret, yeah?”
Lucas nods but doesn’t interrupt, so she continues.
“Nolan ended up meeting and dating Jerilyn before we could really talk him into trying to date both of us. When they broke up, we approached him and told him we wanted him in our lives. But then Jerilyn sucked him back in again and got pregnant.”
Lucas looks from Arlo to me. “Sooo…the three of you are together?”
“Yeah,” Arlo says. “We are. Since he divorced Jerilyn. We love each other and want to spend the rest of our lives together. And this week, we started talking about building a house on the Nokomis property and moving in together.”
Lucas studies the food on his plate for a moment. “What about Katie?” he asks.
“The plan was to build it with a split layout,” Arlo says. “We were going to tell you guys N
olan had his own bedroom next to ours, and you’d both each have your own bedroom. Since we’d be at the opposite end of the house, we figured it wouldn’t be an issue, as long as we were careful when you guys were home.”
Although even on the weeks I don’t have Katie, I usually end up picking her up from school at least two or three days a week because of last-minute calls from Jerilyn asking me to get Katie and bring her to Jerilyn’s office.
Lucas appears deep in thought, so the three of us let the silence sit for a moment while he works stuff out in his head.
Then he slowly nods. “Can I ask for something?”
“Depends on what it is,” Zoey says.
“Can we finally have a pool?” he asks.
“I was kind of hoping that myself.” Zoey smiles. “We hadn’t even got that far.”
Yeah, pool sex is on my wish list, too. And a hot tub.
“And can we have an extra guest room so Caine can spend the night sometimes?” Lucas asks.
I want to erupt in nervous laughter but I keep silent.
“Sure,” Arlo says. “He’s got to promise to keep this quiet from Katie, too. And from Jerilyn. And, preferably, from his parents. Our private life isn’t their business, anyway.”
I can almost read Arlo’s thoughts, that we damn well know Caine wouldn’t be sleeping in his guest bed if he was spending the night. At least, not all night, probably.
I’m damn sure not going to stop the two of them. They’re both sixteen. Caine’s turning seventeen in a month or two, if I’m not mistaken.
“What are we going to tell Jerilyn about why Nolan’s living with us?” Lucas looks at me when he asks it.
Again, I don’t dare to hope. Before the shit hit the fan two years ago, I would have thought we were tight. He seemed to enjoy doing things with the three of us.
“That’s up to Nolan,” Arlo says, also looking at me.
I’m such a damned sucker for Arlo’s blue fricking eyes.
I always have been.
Taking a sip of tea to buy myself a little time, I think about it. It’s something that’s been running through my head ever since Arlo and I had lunch on Wednesday. “The partial truth,” I finally say. “That it doesn’t make sense for me to pay for an apartment. Arlo and Zoey and I are friends. We’ll have a contract regarding the house. That if something ever happens, I could buy them out, or they could buy me out.
Poly Page 3
