Page 42 of Dibs
Before Lisa could ring the doorbell or knock, Gage swung the door open. “Hello,” he clipped.
“Are the boys ready?” she asked.
“They’ve been ready for almost forty-five minutes.”
“We overslept. Sorry,” his ex sassed.
“Get your things,” I said to Jase. He and Dylan went to Dylan’s room, doing what I’d asked.
“Chase?” Lisa asked.
I peered around Gage and gave her a little wave. “Hey, Lisa. Good to see you again.”
Santiago decided to insert himself into the moment. “Matthewson? What are you doing here?”
I could ask you the same thing, I wanted to say. Instead, I replied, “My son stayed the night last night. Just came over to pick him up.”
“You two spend so much time together, I’m going to start thinking you and Gage are fuck buddies,” Santiago mocked.
I stepped around Gage and Lisa and walked down the steps toward the asshole. “I see you’re still a homophobe.”
“So, you are fucking?” he probed.
“It’s none of your fucking business what we do with our personal lives. Our sons are best friends and your girlfriend would know that if she spent more time with her children.” I hadn’t expected to say any of what had come out of my mouth, but Santiago was getting on my fucking nerves.
“Excuse me?” Lisa bellowed.
“Chase.” I heard Gage warn behind me, but I didn’t turn to look.
“What the fuck is your problem?” Santiago asked, puffing his chest.
“You and your fucking unnecessary comments. I dealt with them over Aron and Drew, and now you’re insinuating the same about me and Gage.”
“Aron and Drew were gay.”
“Aregay,” I corrected. “And there’s nothing wrong with that.”
“I’m straight as an arrow. Can you say the same?” Santiago challenged.
Before I could reply, Gage roared, “Enough! Everyone needs to calm down. The boys are ready to go.”
I turned to see Jase, Dylan, and Tyler staring at me and Santiago. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d lost my cool. Even with the shit in the clubhouse I had to deal with, I was always Switzerland, but when it came to Gage Statler, I wanted to protect him.
Or I wanted to protect mine.
“Let’s go,” Lisa ordered.
Tyler and Dylan said goodbye to their dad then walked down the stairs.
I tossed my car keys at Jase. “Go get in the car, buddy. I just need to apologize to Coach.”
Everyone went to the street except me and Gage. Once Lisa drove off, I turned to my former roommate.
“Sorry about that. I don’t know what came over me.”
He took a few steps toward me and lowered his voice. “You just made me so fucking hard. You better go drop your boy off and come right back.”
My eyes met his. “Yeah?”
