Unsurprisingly, my mother is camped out at the kitchen table with a mimosa. “Hey, Mom.”
Her bloodshot eyes brighten when she sees me, and guilt pinches my chest. I should visit more for her sake. Just because I can’t stand my father doesn’t mean I don’t love my mother. I lean over to kiss her cheek.
Her eyes are swollen like she’s been crying. “Goodness. I didn’t know you’d be by today.” She pats her hair like she’s worried it’s a mess. My mom is beautiful even though she’s wearing a house dress and slippers.
“Sorry. I should’ve given you a heads-up. Want to head out to grab a bite to eat?”
“Oh, honey. I need to make your dad some lunch. You know how much he hates takeout. He always goes on and on about how bad seed oils are for you.”
“Let him make his own damn sandwich. Come on. My treat. Then we can stop by Grandma’s because I have some things I need to drop off. Actually,” I say, reaching into my backpack, “I have something for you too.”
I pull out a calendar and some glossy black and white photos of me playing football that my friend Charlotte took.
“Billy, these pictures are so good!” She presses her hand to her chest. “You look just like your father at his age.”
The smile on my face falls. More and more, I’m realizing I don’t want to be anything like that asshole.
She flips through the calendar, chuckling when she sees me holding the puppy from the animal rescue. “How sweet. I bet all the girls are crazy about you. Speaking of pretty girls, you’re never going to guess who I just saw. Do you remember Samantha Schilling?”
My mom goes on about some girl I went to high school with.
When it comes to women, my head’s pretty fucked up these days. I used to be a “party hard and fuck harder” kind of guy. Then my best friend Cam and I got outed by a gossip blog for tag-teaming our dates. It was all true. Cam and I shared women. So what? They were more than willing. But the really fucked-up part was that one of the women we hooked up with posted all that shit on the blog.
I guess you could say it scared us straight, and it made me a lot more selective about my hookups.
For the record, Cam and I never crossed swords. That’s always the first question our idiot friends ask. Cam and I aren’t like that, but I’m not uptight about it. I shower in a room full ofnaked dudes. There are dicks swinging everywhere. A body is a body. Cocks don’t do it for me, though.
The part that sucked was how Coach Santos flipped out about the blog post. He sat our asses down and reamed us out for a solid hour. You’d think Cam and I had lit Mother Teresa on fire. I’ve been on Coach’s shit list ever since. Cam’s more chill than I am, so Coach didn’t stay pissed at him for long. Me? I’m another story.
And since Roxy lives for her father’s approval, I’m literally the last guy she’d ever date. She’d rather sleep with Ezra Thomas, Lone Star State’s biggest fuckboy, than me.
The fact that she’s having his kid? Yeah, that gets under my skin, more than I’m comfortable admitting.
When she told me that Ezra had knocked her up? Fuck. It felt like a roundhouse kick to my sternum.
But only two people know she’s pregnant, me and Charlotte. That has to mean something, right?
I shouldn’t be so wrapped up in this drama, but it’s no secret I’m wickedly attracted to Roxy.
Ever since I spotted her flying off the top of that pyramid like some cheerleader goddess at one of our football games last year, I’ve had a thing for her.
Roxy is a beautiful woman. Like if Gina Rodriguez and Zoe Saldana got spliced into a little sister. That’s Rox. Sassy, funny as fuck, and always optimistic. She’ll bend over backwards to help anyone. I love that about her. She’s my favorite person to hang out with, even more so than the guys on my team, and that’s saying something ’cause I love those fuckers.
But I should probably start distancing myself from her because, at the end of the day, nothing good will come from hooking up with Coach’s daughter.
And let’s be honest—I’m only good for hookups.
When my mom’s done flipping through the photos, she stands. “Let me make you some lunch. I’ll feed you and your father, and then you and I can drive over to Grandma’s.”
I toss my backpack on the ground and sit. God forbid the man has to feed himself.
I have no idea why she stays with him. He treats her like his maid, and I have a sneaking suspicion he enjoys the company of his secretaries a little too much.
My parents are the main reason I’ll never get married. I have no clue what a healthy relationship looks like. I had a couple of girlfriends in high school, but they were never serious. I’m not sure I can handle serious.
Maybe it’s better that Roxy and I will never happen.
Because I’m probably the last thing she needs.
