Page 10 of Not Your Romeo
“You really intend to keep those keys.” I had wondered how long he’d tolerate it, but I had to test things where I could.
“Mhm.” He nodded.
“Took you long enough, Sean would have made me pull over before we left the parking lot.” I laughed.
“That's why you gunned it?”
I gave an ‘of course’-style nod and he smiled.
“Girl, you got no business behind the wheel and you know it.”
“I was fucking with you.”
“Mhm.” He sounded highly unconvinced, and his side gaze said as much.
“How old are you?” I laughed, drawing closer to the table, and sitting down beside him.
“You don’t want to know.” He groaned, hauling from his beer, before he offered it out to me.
“I wouldn’t have asked, if I didn’t want to know.” I countered, before taking it from him. When I sipped and he still hadn’t answered, I decided to go another route, “Does this house belong to one of your kids? Is that your grandbaby up there calling out for her father?”
He swerved toward me with his upper body, snagged the beer, and heavily enunciated what I thought would be his only response, “No.”
He killed half that bottle in one swig, before elaborating, “Henny isn’t my son. He is my VP. The kid is his, and the house belongs to her mother who is currently in the hospital with cancer.”
“Be down soon,” Henny called.
“Take your time,” I chimed back, without thinking.
Wyatt shot me a subtle wink.
“So– College huh?” he asked, setting the bottle on the kitchen table, and slowly rolling it.
“Yeah, I'm going to Edwardsville.”
He gave a slow nod, not taking his eye off the label he was peeling from the beer bottle, “Well– Congrats, College Girl. You have gone and married yourself to a forty-year-old veteran. A man who has four adult children, all but one of whom is likely older than you.”
I sensed his eyes on me, and cursed myself, unsure how long I’d been sitting there slack jawed and processing that information dump. The smirk on his face said he’d savored every second of my being off kilter, though.
Chapter Seven
All That Sass
Ziggy
I shouldn’t have enjoyed fucking with her so much, but she was such a sass ass, it was hard not to want to rattle her cage a little. And yeah, maybe I got a little too much satisfaction in having company in my misery.
“I forgot to ask, how do you like it, anyhow?” I quietly murmured, locking my tongue against my back molar to keep my expression relaxed.
Her head snapped toward me, and I started winding the tone and pace of my words like I was coming down off a five-day bender, “I mean– when the time comes— for… titles–”
Her brows pinched with confusion and the sudden spike of pink to her cheeks died down a little.
“I’m just saying, now– are you more of a Grammy or a Granny? This is the kind of shit we gotta talk about in advance, Sunshine.” I grinned and reached for the beer again.
“Shut the fuck up,” she snapped, her voice low and her eyes on the stairs. As soon as she said it, she nearly choked on the next breath trying to blurt out, “Serious? You’re somebody’s fuckin’ grandpop?”
I tucked my head against my arm, unable to keep the laughter at bay.
