Page 79 of Punked By the Playmaker
Flipping the pages, it didn’t take long to find the spice.
“Maisie,” I sighed. “I need you to appreciate how uncomfortable it is for me to ask this, but did you know there was sex in this book?”
Eyes cast downward, she nodded.
I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Honey, I get that you wanted to read about a love story, but this might be a little too adult for you. I bet if we asked Arizona, she could point you in thedirection of some young adult books that focus on a romantic relationship without getting graphic about the physical aspect.”
When she peeked up at me, my daughter’s eyes were wet. “I’m sorry. A friend from school lent it to me and I—I—I—” Her chest heaved as she began to sob.
Dropping onto the couch beside her, I gave her a squeeze. “I’m not mad, sweetheart. But I will ask that you return the book to your ‘friend’ tomorrow.”
Maisie sniffled. “Okay. I need to get the one back from Austin.”
My eyes widened. “Austin is reading a romance book with sex?”
“Yeah.” She began putting on her prosthetic leg. “He got excited when he saw a gun on the cover.”
Uh-oh.
“Stay here. I need to have a chat with Austin.”
I found the fourteen-year-old at the kitchen island, and sure enough, he was devouring the book in his hands, turning the pages as if he couldn’t read them fast enough.
“Holy shit,” he whispered, blue eyes bulging.
Casually, I dropped onto the stool across from him. “Whatcha reading?”
Caught by surprise, the kid levitated from his seat. But when he saw who’d joined him, his guilty expression morphed into a sly grin. “Dude, you’ll neverbelievewhere this guy stuck his gun.”
I could venture an educated guess, but still asked, “Where?”
“You know.” Austin widened his eyes. “Down there.”
An unimpressed grunt was pulled from my chest. “If you’re not old enough to say it out loud, you’re not old enough to be reading anything that references the penetration—inanimate object or otherwise—of female reproductive organs.”
“Please,” he huffed. “I watch porn all the time.”
My mouth dropped open. “What? Where the hell are you getting porn?”
The teen lifted one shoulder. “On my phone.”
“Jesus.” I dragged a hand down my face. Back when I was growing up, people had a shared family computer, so you didn’t dare pull up porn for fear of someone walking in on you jerking off. Parents had it far easier before every kid had a freaking computer in their back pocket.
“I don’t know why you’re making such a big deal out of this. I don’t have a dad, so how else am I supposed to figure out sex?”
A sound of pure disbelief slipped past my lips. “Okay, one, you’re fourteen, so let’s pump the brakes on you needing to know how to perform in bed. And two, if you have questions about sex, I’d much rather you come to me than go down the rabbit hole of porn on the internet, where you’re not going to learn jack shit about consent, how to protect yourself and your partner against STIs, or better yet, how to prevent pregnancy.”
He thought it over for a minute, then nodded. “All right.” Grimacing, he added, “You’re not gonna tell Arizona, right?”
That woman was stressed to the max on a normal day—the only time she unclenched was when she was mid-orgasm—so unless I wanted to give her a stroke, it was probably wise to keep my mouth shut.
“I think we can keep this just between us guys.” I pointed a stern finger in his direction. “So long as you promise to cool it on the porn.”
Austin’s head bobbed on a vigorous nod. “Yeah. You’ve got a deal.”
Jeez, just when I thought I was getting a grip on this parenting gig, these kids went out of their way to throw me a curveball.
Maybe someday it would get easier.
