Dylan: Home right after school. No practice. Don’t even think about not obeying me.
Luke: WTF?
Dylan: DO IT!
I get in my truck, wake up his phone looking for his home number before hitting send. His mother answers. “Hello?”
“I need your address; I have your son’s phone.” I think the anger in my voice scares her.
“Who is this?” she asks.
“Dylan Monroe. Your son has been dating my sister.”
“Oh, of course, sorry.” She rattles off the address, and I aim my truck there. I don’t have a clue what I’m going to say when I get there and it’s probably not going to be anything good, but he’s not getting out of this.
When I get there, I take a quick second to gain an ounce of control, and it’s precisely that, about an ounce. Nothing promising is coming out of this encounter. I ring the door, and a man answers, and it’s too bad he looks just like his son. I end up losing that ounce, quick. I shove his son’s clothes in his hands, “These belong to your kid.”
He gives me a questioning look, “What are you doing with Brent’s clothes?” We both turn when a car door slams behind, and watch a very pissed off a teenager, in nothing, but the striped boxers he left my sister’s bedroom wearing, walk our way.
“What are you doing at my house,” he directs at me angrily.
Now the little shit wants to grow some balls. And that’s fine by me.
“I brought you the clothes you left lying in my sister’s bedroom; you do remember that don’t you, Brent?” I don’t touch him, but I do get right up in his face. The little shit retreats behind his father. I smirk evilly and eyeball him.
“What the hell is going on here, Brent?” His father asks.
Before he can answer, “Yeah, let me explain. I came home to find your son in nothing but his underwear in bed with my 15 year old sister.” And I’m back to yelling because I just conjured up what I saw in Cassie’s bedroom.
“Son, I thought you said this Cassie was a nice girl. Why would she….” Oh. No. He’s. Not.
“You don’t want to finish that. I won’t hit your son, but I will fuck you up if you think of saying anything else.” I warn. I’m close. I’m seriously almost over the edge at this minute, and before I fuck everything up, I need to go. I look over the man’s shoulder so I can address his son, “You lose my sister’s number, my address, and any fucking memory you have of her. I promise that you never want to see me again.” And I’m back in my truck.
I slam my truck door when I get out causing everyone in the Social Services parking lot to look over at me, and I’m too far gone to care. My next target is inside there, and I’m in full-charge mode. My whole body is a heat-seeking missile, and Brooke Porter is the target it’s aiming for. I spot her immediately standing beside her desk, talking to one of her coworkers. I don’t yell her name, but she spots me. Her eyes widen, and she inclines her head my way causing Brooke to turn and look. “You,” My voice is an angry growl.
She puts her hand out and touches my arm; I guess to calm me, but it doesn’t, “Dylan?” She keeps her voice low, but it’s not steady, and I see the worry on her face.
“I need to speak to you, right now.” My body is tense and vibrating with aggression, and my words match the angry vibe coming from me. She notices it too. She knows I’m not in a panic and that I’m angry.
She turns and grabs her purse off her desk. “I was just heading out for some lunch. Join me and we can talk.” With her hand on my elbow, she heads for the exit. I follow behind with my jaws clenched and hands fisted tightly. I look just like I feel, a badass motherfucker looking for a fight. Luckily no one stops us.
She steers me toward her car motioning toward the passenger side. I have no idea where she’s taking me, but thankfully there won’t be witnesses. Smart girl.
We drive in silence to an apartment complex. After we get arrive, she leads me to a door, opens it, and we go inside. So far nothing's been said, and the tension continues to grow. Inside she lays her purse on a table and turns to me, “Dylan, are you okay?”
“No.” I’m glaring. She continues calmly. I’m fixing to blow that calm.
“Did something happen with one of the kids?”
Here we go, the lid is off.
I look in her eyes, open my mouth, and nothing. Come on, use your words. Cassie, boy, bed, condom. Ahh, there we go.
“I stopped by my house after a meeting today and found Cassie---fuck…..”
“Cassie, what, Dylan? Is she okay?”
“No, goddammit, she….she….”
She squeezes my arm, “Dylan, just breathe and talk to me.”
I let out a harsh breath, “I went to the house after meeting a guy to look at a car. I went to check on Cassie. She went home early because she was sick. She wasn’t upstairs, so I headed to her room, and heard voices inside. Do I need to tell you what happened next?” I ask.
She nods, and waits for me to continue. “She was in bed with that fucking asshat, Brent.” I ground out.
“Oh, no, what were they doing?”
“Really? They were in bed minus lots of clothes, so nothing good. And there was a fucking condom on the table.” Now I’m yelling.
“Oh, so they weren’t just innocently kissing?”
“No, Brooke, they weren’t just innocently kissing. They were under the covers. When the little jackass stood up, he only had on underwear.”
“Okay, calm down. Was Cassie in her underwear too?”
Calm down? What? “I don’t fucking know. She was under the goddamn covers.”
“Let’s sit down, Dylan,” She takes my hand and leads me to the couch. She takes the middle cushion, and I sit down beside her. She turns her body to mine, and bites her bottom lip, deep in thought. I wish she wouldn’t do that. She takes my hand in hers and holds it in her lap. I’m calm. “What happened after you caught them?”
“I told that little fucker to get off my sister and get the hell out of my house, minus his clothes.” She gives me a crazy look.
“And after Brent left, what did you say to Cassie?”
“What do you mean what did I say to her? What could I say? Okay, I left and drove to that little shit’s house to give his clothes to his parents.”
“Dylan,” another crazy look, “Why didn’t you talk to her about this? You didn’t even ask her what she was thinking?” And just like that, I morph back to anger.
“Yeah, Brooke. I asked her. She talked about bullshit feelings and confusion. Oh, and she wanted to talk to you about it last night, but, You. Fucking. Left.”
Brooke’s face transforms to her special brand of pissed, “Don’t yell at me, Dylan Monroe. You can’t blame me for this. This is your responsibility. You need to be at home with her right now.”
“And what? Talk to her about sex? I can’t talk to my 15-year-old sister about sex.”
“She’s not just your sister anymore; you’re her guardian. Dealing with it is part of being her guardian. You don’t just get to walk away from it; you have to handle it like an adult.”
“No fucking way,” I shake my head.
“Yes, Dylan. You have to talk to her today. Don’t sit on this.”
I sigh, frustrated, “What the hell do you want me to say to her?” She looks at me like she’s losing patience with me, and that just ramps me up again, “Oh, hey, how ‘bout I give her pointers for next time. Maybe I should apologize for interrupting.” I couldn’t sound more disgustedly sarcastic if I tried.
And she’s not impressed, she narrows her eyes to little slits before continuing. “Don’t be stupid.” She sucks in a deep breath to calm herself before speaking. “Dylan you don’t have to have a technical conversation about sex. She knows all that.”
“She’s 15 years old. Why would she know about sex?”
“Because her mom pretty much told her all that when she started having periods.”
“Stop, stop, stop. I don’t want to have this conversation.” No
w I’m disgusted.
“Dammit, grow up. You’re 26 years old, and I’m more than sure the facts of life aren’t something new to you. She needs you to guide her through things like this.”
“What about you? Aren’t you supposed to do this? She always goes to you for this shit. If you would stop for a goddamn minute and quit avoiding me all the time, she could have talked to you last night?”
“No, Dylan. That’s now how this works. I stepped out of my role before, and things got out of control. My responsibility is to help you deal with things like this. That’s what I’m doing if you’ll listen to me. Clearly she’s confused about relationships and probably arousal. You remember what it felt like to be in love for the first time, and your hormones are out of control.”
“You have lost your damn mind. I can’t discuss my sex life with my sister,” I tell her disgusted at the idea.
She sighs, and I can tell she’s frustrated. “Obviously, you don’t go into details about your….relationships…but…..”
“I don’t have relationships.” I interrupt her. I’m trying to get out of this, but it’s backfiring by the look on Brooke’s face.
“You have to relate to her somehow on this. You were her age once. You can’t tell me there wasn’t, at least, one girl who you had some feelings for.”
I shake my head. Today has been one hell of a day, and I don’t want to relive my teenage years. I think about what she says for a second. And then Brooke adds, “And do not lie to her. She’s smart and will smell your bullshit a mile away.”
I smile at her, and it feels foreign to my face because it’s been a long time. She smiles back and asks, “What?”
“So I can’t tell her that I waited until I was twenty-five?”
She laughs slightly. “Yeah, no, don’t do that. Just be honest with her. Of course, it won’t hurt to remind her about condoms and preventing pregnancy. But she’s a girl Dylan, and you need to make sure you get across to her the emotional aspect of sex.”
“See, now you’ve lost me again. I’m going to be totally honest with you, sex for me is not an emotional thing. It’s physical, period. No cuddling, holding, kissing, or promises to call her later. It’s a release.”
She looks a little shocked. Maybe that was too much honesty. “You can’t sit there and tell me you’ve never been with a girl, and it wasn’t just about sex.”
I laugh a little because I’m so out of my element. I’ve never had anything or anyone that rattles me like this. I’m so freaked out right now it’s laughable. I look up when I hear her laugh. “What’s so funny?”
She shakes her head, “Nothing.”
“Really? Because it sounds like, you’re laughing at me.”
“I’m not. I’m sorry, I’m just thinking….” She trails off like she doesn’t want to continue.
“About.” I prompt her to continue.
She stares at me for a second and gives me a sweet smile, “How much Cassie can shake you up, make you lose your cool.”
“Yeah, she’s my little sister, and if you’d seen what I did you would be freaked out too.”
She laughs again, and it’s infectious, I love this girl’s laugh it draws me to her. I look down at our entangled hands. Releasing my hand from hers, I bring my other up to cup her face, then lean into her. We’re close enough that we’re sharing our breaths. “Brooke.” I touch my lips to hers for the first time and just feel. When she parts her lips on a sigh, I take the kiss from zero to sixty, and she hangs on for the ride. I can feel her grip on my t-shirt, stretching it to draw me closer, so I move in closer pushing her back to the couch.
If this is the only moment I get, I’m making it count. I search her sweet mouth with my tongue. I explore every groove and crevice I can reach, and she does the same. I hold her head in one hand and slide the other down her side, feeling her curves. I’m going to make her understand how much I want her….
“Dylan. Stop. We have to stop.” Her hands have changed direction. She’s no longer pulling me close; now she’s pushing me away. “We can’t do this. Please, please, please understand. We can’t do this.”
I lift my head and look down into her beautiful face before lowering my forehead to hers, “Impossible.” I kiss her lips briefly one last time before getting up.
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, but this is serious, Dylan. I crossed a line.”
“Right, this is a serious matter. Two people want each other so badly they hurt with it, but because of circumstances they can’t be together.” I bark out a harsh laugh.
“It’s not just circumstances. It’s my career. My life.”
“I get it, Brooke. Terrible timing for us. A terrible situation.” Enough. “Okay, um, I should probably get back home to Cassie. Time for that “talk.” I shake my head because I, Dylan Monroe, am retreating. Fuuuuuck.
“Dylan, I’ll try to be around more, okay. I’m sorry I wasn’t there for Cass last night. I’m so sorry for the distance, but it’s hard for me too. You aren’t in this situation alone. I can’t just risk my career because of….hormones.”
Seriously, she thinks this is hormones. Is it? Great now I’m confused again.
“Well, it’s certainly been a hormonally fucked up day in my world.”
“Don’t be sarcastic, Dylan. Put yourself in my place. I’ve worked six years to get to this place in my life. To have a job in the field I’ve sweated blood and tears to get.”
I’m tired of this ride. “Thank you for your help, Brooke. Seriously I appreciate it.”
“Anytime. And if you need anything, even if it’s to talk to Cass, just let me know. You have this, and you’ll do just fine. But it’s important, Dylan, so please don’t blow it off to fix itself.”
“Yes, ma’am. I’ll talk to her as soon as I get home, and I’ll tell her she can call you, only if she needs to. I don’t want her bothering you as much as she was before.”
She slips around me and picks up her purse so we can go back to her office building. The ride is silent, but comfortably so. After she parks I open my door, “See ya Tuesday?”
“Of course. Same as always.”
“But no cooking?”
“No.” She looks at me contemplating something for a second. “I could hang out and help with homework….or….something, you know, hang out with the kids a little.”
“They’d like that. They miss you.”
“Okay, Tuesday it is then.” We get out the car, and I head to my truck while she heads to her career. And yes, I know I sound like a petulant little ass.
At home, I walk into the middle of a 16-year old with a great, big, bad attitude. “What the hell, you asshole. I had to miss practice to come and sit here with Gabby and Michael because something crawled up Cassie’s ass? That right there is some bullshit.”
“Drop it, Luke. I’ll explain to your coach there was an emergency at home. One practice isn’t going to hurt. I’m going to be down talking to Cass. Why don’t you order some pizza for dinner tonight because I don’t know how long this is going to take?” I go downstairs to take care of things down there.
I knock, “Cass, it’s me. I’m coming in.” I push the door open. She’s leaning back against her headboard watching some crap movie on her tablet. “Can you put that down so we can talk a minute?”
I’m still not sure what I’m going to say, but at least, my talk with Brooke gave me some ideas. I’m not at all comfortable with this. Can I actually talk honestly about sex and relationships with my kid sister? This is so fucking strange, and it’s something I never thought I would have to deal with. Better to get it over with, so here it goes. She still hasn’t said anything. “Cassie, we have to talk about what happened.”
She gives me a scared look, “I know I messed up.”
“Yeah, that doesn’t even begin to describe it, but we need to talk about this. We can’t just sweep it under the rug.” She nods, so I continue. “I just want to understand how you can think this is okay. You lied to your teachers, ski
pped school and cheerleading practice, and then had him come over. What were you thinking?”
“Oh, don’t tell me you never did anything like that, Dylan. I remember some of what you got in trouble for.”
“Do not turn this around on me. This is about you right now. I’m trying to teach you from my mistakes. You could get kicked out of school for this or get kicked off the cheerleading team, something. But every stunt like this has its repercussions. Did you tell the teachers you were sick?”
“No, I had a note to leave early and miss cheer.”
“A note from who?”
She grabs her teddy bear and hugs it close before giving me a guilty look, “Um, you?”
I pinch the bridge of my nose in frustration, “Explain.”
“Brent kind of wrote a note saying you needed me at home for Gabby.”
“That little shit forged my signature?”
“No, he didn’t. You signed it this morning?”
“What are you talking about? I never signed a note for you.” I think back to this morning when I tried rushing everyone out the door. I remember her handing me a note about going to the game on Friday. She said it was a permission slip to ride the bus. Fuck! I didn’t even take the time to read it before just signing it like a dumbass. “Cassie, who cooked up this plan?”
“Brent suggested it and told me how we could pull it off so we could be alone.”
I knew this had to be Brent’s idea. This shit is opposite of Cassie’s character. “You’re telling me the truth, it was Brent’s scheme, and you just thought it would be smart and bring him back here?”
“Yes,” she says in a small voice.
She looks nervous. I knew she couldn’t have come up with something like this. I decide to try Brooke’s approach, “Cass, you’re young, and I know that you want to have a boyfriend and want to please him, but you have to listen to your gut too. I know there’s no way you felt comfortable with this scheme, and it worries me that he was able to talk you into it. If you don’t feel comfortable with something you have to speak up.”
“I really like him, Dylan!”
Stay calm.
“I understand that, but I don’t want you to make bad decisions for the first boy who shows you attention.”
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