Bait (Wake, #1)(28)

I opened up our message thread and smiled.

Me: I got the job. Cheers!

Then before I thought too much about it, I snapped a quick selfie with my beer and sent it.

I watched my phone and waited, hoping that he'd reply quickly. Nothing happened and then my dad was handing me my second draught.

“Thanks,” I said.

“You're welcome.”

We watched the game, cheering on my dad's beloved Mariners. They had been in a bit of a slump that season, but seemed to be pulling it together that afternoon.

“Go! Go home!” he yelled as Beltre rounded the last base and continued down the home baseline. My dad had stopped drinking, but I continued.

I felt the vibration in my lap and looked down to see a reply from Casey.

Casey: That's great. Where are you? Beer looks cold.

Me: Ballgame with my Dad. It is cold.

My cell alerted me to an incoming picture message. I tapped it to download what he'd sent. It was Casey holding up a bottle of water, an awesome view of the Golden Gate Bridge behind him.

Casey: Cheers. No beer with me right now or I'd have one with you. I'm with my sisters.

Me: Where are you?

Casey: Bike ride.

Me: No helmet? Couldn't find one big enough to cover that hair?

Casey: ha ha You ride?

Me: No. I was terrible at riding bikes when we were kids. Haven't been on one since I was little.

Casey: You never forget how. Like blow jobs.

I shouted, “Ahhh!” after reading the message and laughed really hard.

My dad noticed and asked, “What's so funny? Let me see?” When he leaned over my shoulder to look, I flipped it face-down and placed my hand on it.

“No.”

“Well, well. Okay. I won't look.” He chuckled. “I'm old. I get it.” He played hurt.

“No, it's not that. It's just…you won't think it was funny, is all.”

“Is that Grant? I'll get it out of him later.” He popped his collar. “I'm still pretty cool, you know.”

I had a great buzz and my dad really was cool, but I was confident he didn't want to see a text to his little girl referencing oral sex.

I didn't want him to mention it to Grant though. He wouldn't know what my crazy dad was talking about. I actually hadn't heard anything out of Grant that day.

“It's not Grant. It's just a friend.”

His face looked curiously at me. “A friend?”

“Yeah, you should know about those. You're so cool, remember?” I said playfully and knocked into him.

“A guy friend?” he asked diverting his eyes back to the game and taking a drink from his lemonade.

I'd never lied to my dad. I didn’t think any of us ever had. Sure, with mom we'd bend the truth, but Shane, Reggie and I could always talk to our father. He wasn't a judging man. He had a vastly open mind when it came to most things. When we were teenagers, he’d spoken candidly about his own life experiences, both good ones and not so good ones. I think it made us feel like we could tell him the truth about anything.

“Yeah. It's a guy friend.”

“Hmm. Good guy?” he asked still not meeting my eyes. Pretending to watch the game, he leaned back into his seat to hear me as best as he could with Mariners’ fans whooping and hollering around us.

“I don't really know. I don't know him that well. We met at Micah's graduation. Well, the night before.”

He thought for a while, quietly.

I couldn't resist looking back at my phone. It had buzzed twice while I was talking to Dad.

Casey: Hey. Where'd ya go?

Casey: Are you trying to remember bike riding or blow jobs? Send another picture.

I quickly thumbed back.

Me: I'm with my dad. No blow job texts. No more pictures for you.

Me: I'll text you later. Have a fun ride.

I pocketed my phone and decided that the combination of beer, my dad, and Casey were not good. The three were a little difficult to manage at once. I settled for beer and Dad at the moment. Casey later.

“So what's—” my dad paused, waiting for me to fill in the blank with Casey's name.

“My friend.” He cocked his head at me and gave me a cut-the-shit look. “All right, Casey. His name is Casey.”

“Casey. So what's this Casey-friend like?”

I puckered my lips off to one side in contemplation. I didn't know a lot of things about him, just the basics.

“He's a twin. Micah's boyfriend Cory's twin actually. It's weird. Their identical, but they don't look that much alike.”

He didn't understand what I was saying.

“They look different. They have different styles and hair. He has crazy hair. It's all over the place. Big curls. Messy.” I considered showing him the picture. Then, decided what the hell.

I fished my phone back out and tapped the picture from the text so that only the picture could be viewed.

“See?”

My dad studied it and then smiled. “That's some hair.”

I took my phone back, taking a minute to look at the picture of him smiling brightly. His bicep was flexed holding the water slightly above his head. He was wearing a sleeveless T-shirt and the lime green aviator sunglasses he'd bought when I was with him. He was hot.