Fallen Crest Alternative Version (Fallen Crest High #2.1)(27)

He was the usual dreamboat to mid forty year old women and I saw him working his magic. Malinda touched his arm. I expected to hear a purr, but when I didn’t, I drew up short and blinked back to focus. Her eyes were twinkling, but there was no real flirtation in her voice.

Oh right. Garrett seemed the opposite of David, who was her real dreamboat.

When he saw me, I could tell that he was surprised by how his sex appeal seemed to bounce off of Mark’s mother.

“Sam.” He gestured for me to come closer.

She touched his arm again and glided away. When she passed me by, she murmured as she touched my arm, “I’ll let you two have some privacy.”

As soon as she rounded the corner, Garrett came inside and shut the door behind him. His eyes raked me over before glancing back towards his house. “I saw you come in here. When you didn’t come out after a while, I figured…” His tone was cautious, but I sensed the disapproval from him.

“You’re mad because I didn’t come home last night?”

A deep breath left him in a rush. “I’m mad because when I came home, your room was empty. There was nothing. No note. No phone call. No text message. Nothing. What if something had happened to you?”

A knot tightened in my gut, but another unraveled at the same time. It put me off balance. “I…I’m sorry. I didn’t—I forgot. I didn’t think about you or that… My mom hasn’t really cared and since we moved out, my dad’s been… Well, you know.”

He jerked his head in a nod and cleared his throat. “I know. I do. Helen pointed that out to me—”

My head went down. “You were with Helen?”

He sucked in his breath. “I…was… We had a date night, but… I called her when I saw you hadn’t gone home last night.”

“And she told you to call Analise?”

“No.” His voice was strained. “She was going to call Mason. I told her not to and that’s when I called Analise.”

I nodded. “And James came down to the room.”

“Yeah…” He pulled the collar of his shirt away from his neck and glanced around. Then he cursed under his breath and his shoulders dropped an inch. “Look, Sam, I know your mom wants to have this family meeting, but I have to go back to Boston.”

Something fluttered in my stomach and I glanced up. I asked in a quiet voice, “To see your wife?”

His face twisted. “Uh, yeah. So…”

“I won’t say anything.”

“Really?” He studied me with an intensity that had me frozen in place.

“I won’t. I don’t even want to deal with that.”

“But if you say anything to Mason…” He looked outside, and I felt the regret from him.

“I won’t.” I reached out and touched his arm. It was tense, enough that it sent my hand away as if I’d been scalded.

“Yeah, okay.” He sounded regretful. “I don’t know, Sam. You shouldn’t have to deal with this, with…”

“I won’t say anything.” My voice grew firm.

“Okay.” His shoulders loosened some more before he jerked me against him. He wrapped both his arms around me and lifted me in the air.

“Oomph.”

He squeezed me harder, tucking his head into my shoulder. “You’re a good kid. I’m damned lucky that I knocked up your mom when I was reckless and stupid.” His voice was gruff, but his lip trembled a tiny bit. “I’m damned lucky, that’s all I gotta say. I’ll see you in a few days. You’re staying, right? I don’t want your mom to swoop in and demand you move back to their home.” He patted my shoulders again as he withdrew. “And I’m taking back that bucket of condoms. Your ass was right. I wasn’t being a father when I did that. It was all a joke, but he was right.”

My lip twitched at that. My ass…

“Okay.” He hugged me again and pressed a kiss to my forehead. “I’ll be back in a few days. Promise. Don’t give your mom too much of a heart attack at that family meeting. I know Mason will, but he’s not my kid. I don’t have much say over what he’s going to do.” He whistled under his breath. Then he was out the door with a final wave.

He muttered all the way as he crossed the street, but I couldn’t hear him anymore.

And then I turned around.

Malinda had come back around the corner. Her eyes were grave and her mouth was flat. She held out another cup of coffee to me. “It ain’t my business, but—”

Mark yelled out, “Mom, stay out of it!”

Her eyes mirrored her mouth. “—I think you’ve got too many adults who aren’t acting like it in your life.”

My heart dropped.

CHAPTER TEN

The rest of my Saturday was spent at Garrett’s house. Mark and Adam knocked on the door later in the afternoon and walked inside. Mark ordered pizza and I showed them the theater. It was later, around seven, when Adam got a text message. He gave me a sheepish look and said that Becky was on her way over. An hour later the doorbell rang again. This time it was Emily, Mark had told her to come over. Slowly, one by one, the entire Elite group was in my theater room. More pizza was ordered. Someone found the beer and wine coolers. They were passed out, and the number of bottles had tripled by midnight.