Harper walked my parents to the door and Shane flopped down into his wife’s chair, letting out a long sigh of relief. “Thank gods that’s over. Five more minutes and I would have tossed her out the window.”
Jenna giggled, a delightful sound that always reminded me of our childhood. “I promise I would have helped. She can’t stand that Nat has her own life now and that it has nothing to do with her.” The giggles stopped and she grimaced. “I can’t wait to get out of that house. I’m going to miss Dad, but Mom not so much. And I still haven’t told her that I’m applying to a few West Coast colleges.”
“But I thought you were going to come to New York and attend NYU?” I pouted at her. “You love Shane more than you love me.”
Jenna rolled her eyes at me. “I love you all the same. And it isn’t about being closer to Shane, although it will be a plus,” she rushed to assure our brother when he made a pained sound. “Harris asked me to since he wants to attend UCLA when he graduates in two years. We’ve even talked about getting an apartment together off campus.”
“You and Harris Cutter?” Shane shook his head at the very idea of our sister with the sixteen-year-old. “I just don’t see you two together, Jen.”
Jenna snorted. “We aren’t and we never will be. Harris and I are simply really good friends. Nothing more, I swear.”
I didn’t question her sincerity. Jenna would never go for Harris because she was a lesbian. Something that only Harris and I knew, since Jenna had told Harris about her sexual preference during our Christmas on the West Coast.
“If you say so,” Shane said with a teasing light in his eyes.
“Say what?” Harper asked as she returned from the front door with Ranger at her heels. She sat down on Shane’s lap and Ranger put his head in her lap, wanting his ears scratched.
“Jenna and Harris are going to get an apartment together and attend UCLA together. But they’re just friends.”
Harper ignored her husband’s disbelieving tone and grinned at Jenna. “Hey, that sounds like a great plan. And we will get to hang out more. I’ll take you shopping and we can decorate your apartment together.” She clapped her hands together excitedly. “Yay, I can’t wait.”
Jenna laughed at our sister-in-law’s excitement. “Not so fast. I still have to get accepted to UCLA and then there is Mom and Dad…”
“Don’t worry about those two,” Shane assured her. “I’ll take care of paying for school. And UCLA would be stupid not to accept you, Jen. You’re a straight-A student.”
“No, Shane. I’m not going to let you pay for my tuition. That isn’t your place,” Jenna protested. “You and Drake have done enough with the trust fund you two set up for me. I can take care of paying for college on my own.”
Shane didn’t argue further, but I could tell by the way his jaw was set and the light in his eyes that he wasn’t arguing simply because he would do what he wanted whether Jenna wanted him to or not.
Devlin
“Dad!”
I groaned and turned over in bed, pulling the extra pillow over my head to shield out the light peeking through the curtains and the sound of Harris’s voice. Whatever he might have needed wasn’t life or death, I was sure, so I could just go back to sleep. Five more hours, that wasn’t asking too much.
“Dad!” The yelling of my name was now followed by the pounding of his fist on my bedroom door. “Wake the hell up, old man. Jenna is here and I want to go out and meet her.”
I didn’t give two shits about Jenna being in town. Natalie’s little sister was just another fucking chick to bust my balls. That little spitfire might only be seventeen but she had acted a whole hell of a lot older when she’d point blank told me she hoped I rotted in hell for treating her sister like some chew toy. To my face. On Christmas Fucking Eve.
“Go away,” I called out. After last night I was going to follow Natalie’s example and hide from being an actual adult. Just for a little while. Having a kid wouldn’t allow me to spend more than a day acting like the real world didn’t exist, though.
I heard the click of the door opening even through the pillow I still held over my head. “Natalie’s with Jenna and they are going to meet me downtown in half an hour. Get your old ass out of bed and let’s go.”
“Fuck Natalie,” I muttered when Harris pulled the pillow off my head and threw it across the room.
“Don’t say things you’ll regret later,” my son warned, glaring down at me. “Shower, Dad, and then we can go find your girl.”
“Nah, dude. You go on. I’ll be fine. Having me along will just ruin your time because all Nat and I will do is argue.” I couldn’t deal with her today anyway. Not after the fuck-tastic night that last night had been.
Harris shrugged. “Okay. But I’m pretty sure that Jenna said that Rhett Tomlinson was going to be with them, too. I heard he’s been spending a lot of time at Nat’s apartment lately. But whatever. It might not be Nat he’s sniffing around. Probably Marissa.”
I threw back the rest of my covers and jumped out of bed. No fucking way. I wasn’t letting my girl spend the afternoon with some fucking little prick. Not without me there to make sure he kept his fucking hands to himself. I grabbed a pair of jeans out of my suitcase and pulled them on before pulling out a T-shirt. I was just pulling it over my head when I left the bedroom and walked into the living room of the hotel’s only penthouse.
My kid knew me well and was waiting by the elevator with his key card in hand when I walked out. The smirk on his face was so much like my own at times that I just wanted to punch him in the mouth. “Damn smartass.”
“You raised me, old man, so what does that say about you?”
I pushed him into the elevator when the doors slid open. “It says I’m a fuckup as a parent. And stop calling me ‘old man’. I’m not over the hill yet, dude.”
Harris shrugged. “Maybe, maybe not.”
I shot him a hard glare as the elevator slowly descended, fisting my hands at my sides so I wouldn’t punch him. I had to remember that he was only sixteen, even if he did look like he was twenty-one. Yeah, he was my spitting image. In everything from looks to attitude. I both loved and hated it.
In the lobby I wasn’t surprised to find Jesse standing there with Lucy. The big, bald man didn’t look happy to see Harris when he spotted us but he relaxed a little when he saw that I was with my son. When Harris saw his best friend his entire face lit up and I grimaced. Lucy might only be eleven but she looked like she was sixteen. If the curves she had at present were anything to go by, she was going to be a very voluptuous woman. Just like Layla. Fuck.