Page 13 of Bolo's Curveball
He studied me. “You actually like her.” It wasn’t a question, but was said with a little amazement.
“Yeah, I do.”
“Huh.”
“What?”
He shook his head. “Never thought you’d be the first to settle down. Figured that would be Isaac.” I gave him a questioning look. “Figured some weirdo chick would just corner him one day and he wouldn’t argue.”
That was more probable than him securing a family on his own really.
“I always thought it’d be you.” At least until everything had happened and he’d changed.
He snorted. “I have issues.”
“So?”
“Women don’t like issues,” he said with a shrug.
I scoffed. “You fucking kidding me?” Both his eyebrows kicked up at that. “Women love issues. Especially your kind.”
He didn’t look convinced.
“They love that dark, brooding, slightly psychotic demeanor you have going on. The only thing more exciting than a puppy, is a broken puppy that might also eat the neighbors.”
“Slightly?” he asked with another smirk.
“Yeah, alright, completely demented. Whatever. They eat that shit up.”
He shook his head. “Maybe. Doesn’t matter. I’m not interested in anything more. I’ll leave the wife and kids to you.”
I chuckled and shrugged when he stared at me with curiosity. “Keep telling yourself that, Relay. It’s going to hit you upside the head one day.”
“Why the fuck did you just say that?” he growled. “Don’t curse me with that shit.”
“Made me feel better,” I told him. “A lot better, in fact. Thanks, Bro.” I stood up and started heading out of the room. I wanted to find Mom, tell her goodnight, and go call Devyn.
“You never said what the plan was,” Relay pointed out as I walked past.
“Fuck if I know.”
He was quiet for long enough that I almost made it out of the room.
“You should talk to Ruck.”
I paused at the start of the hallway. “Ruck? Why?”
He shrugged. “He’s good with planning shit.”
He was. Our president had impressive skills. Somehow he managed to maneuver each of us and keep us all happy and alive. Maybe Relay was right. Ruck could probably give me some good advice on how to handle Devyn. Not that I wanted to manipulate her. Not at all. I just wanted to know how to keep from fucking this up.
“Good idea, thanks.” I walked down the hall to find my mom.
There was too much on the line now to wing this. Too much at stake. This wasn’t just about us. We had another person to consider and we hardly even knew each other. We needed to come up with a game plan, and quickly. But she was mistrusting and scared. And I often put my huge ass foot in my mouth. It was time to start taking advice from people who knew more about this shit than me.
Mom and Dad would be great for information about relationships. Ruck was perfect for strategic planning. I’d track him down as soon as I could. In the meantime, I planned to stay the course and just keep inserting myself into Devyn’s days, and hopefully nights, as much as possible.
Couldn’t hurt. Right?
