Total pages in book: 169
Estimated words: 156808 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 784(@200wpm)___ 627(@250wpm)___ 523(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 156808 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 784(@200wpm)___ 627(@250wpm)___ 523(@300wpm)
“All right. You’ve all had your fun. He’s getting me back because I made him pay for that suite.” Arik took the phone from Kellus and handed it over to his laughing father. Actually, they were all laughing, passing the phones between them.
“You dated him?” Kellus leaned in and asked quietly, unable to let it go.
“Absolutely not. I never took him out one time,” Arik said adamantly.
“For someone who never dated, he was sure attached to your arm when you entered the resort,” Gage quipped, proudly supplying that tidbit as he crossed his arms over his chest. Kellus could only stare at Arik who reached out to wrap an arm around his waist and draw him closer.
The girls busted back through the patio door, and people from the living room filtered into the kitchen, no doubt to see what everyone was laughing about. They were still handing the phone back and forth, adding to the comedy of the picture and the situation, when a woman came in from the other side of the room holding both her back and her stomach as she walked toward the group. She drew lots of attention away from the phones being passed around, but Kellus didn’t care about any of that. His surprise—more like shock—must have registered on his face, because Arik leaned in to his ear.
“It’s not like that. Honest. I’ll explain later,” he whispered, but still, Kellus couldn’t let it go.
“He was wearing a big fur coat in Texas? This was recently, wasn’t it? Because, the background looks like the inside lobby of your resort here,” Kellus pointed out. The guy had worn thigh-high boots for God’s sake.
Gage just busted out laughing, clearly listening to their quiet conversation.
“Shh, please, I’ll explain later,” Arik implored in a hushed tone.
“Honey, how are you feeling?” Gage’s mother asked the woman holding her stomach and back.
“Aunty Crazy, are you sick again?” Em asked.
“I never liked that name,” she said to Em, rubbing a hand down the girl’s long dark hair as she went for the chair at the table.
“Kellus, Arik, this is our surrogate and a good friend of the family, Sophia or Aunty Crazy,” Trent said, threading his way around the family to stand next to her.
She lifted a hand in their direction, but dropped it a second later, putting her head in her hand, growing paler by the second.
“Here, try this to get your tummy settled. It’s ginger ale,” Connie said.
“Oh God,” Arik groaned.
Arik’s uncle moved the trash can closer to Sophia. Arik wrapped an arm around his waist, drawing him back out the door. “No time to be watching anyone throw up.”
Seconds later, he heard those telltale sounds. Aunty Crazy was clearly not quiet when she got sick.
“See?” Arik said, shutting the door behind him. Even with that distraction, Kellus was still stuck on the pretty boy in the fur coat.
“They care,” he managed to say, trying not to ask any of the millions of questions forming inside his head.
“They do this kind of thing all the time. No one can have a private life. That poor woman’s throwing up with all those people gathered around, making it worse by trying to help,” Arik stated as he started to walk around the house in the direction they’d come.
“My family was kind of like that. It’s sweet, Arik.”
“No, it’s not,” Arik said and flung an arm out dramatically toward the kitchen, making him smile. “No one else on the planet acts that crazy.”
“He’s right about the crazy. They are. Just give it to him,” Trent said, walking toward them from a different direction. “I pushed Gage in the middle and ducked out through the garage.”
“That’s my kind of man,” Arik said, raising a fist for a knuckle bump. “Are you really letting Aunt Connie drive Em back and forth?” The concern in Arik’s words caused Kellus to take a closer look. He hadn’t seen this side of Arik, but he seemed genuinely upset.
“Sometimes, but Rhonny, the kids’ nanny and Gary’s fiancée, is hiring someone. We live too far to make that an easy commute for them,” Trent said, tucking his hands in his front slacks pockets.
“Smartest thing you ever did,” Arik said to Trent then turned back to Kellus. “When we settle down, there’s no way I’m moving out to Westlake near any of them,” Arik informed him in no uncertain terms.
He tossed out those kinds of declarations so casually and matter-of-factly all the time now. Arik seemed so sure about their future.
“I forgot. Sorry,” Arik said, his tone making it clear he wasn’t sorry at all. “We’re still in the first stages of dating or so Kellus reminds me. We made an appearance. Can we leave or will you be offended?” Arik asked directly, looking toward Trent.
“No skin off my nose. Can I come with you?” Trent asked.