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I cleared my throat and tried to skirt around the elephant. “How old is he?”

“Twenty-one.”

They were both so young. He must have been nineteen when Tyson’s parents died. I couldn’t imagine being nineteen and having to be the guardian to a fifteen-year-old.

“You’re awfully close in age for him to be your Uncle.”

“My grandpa liked women. Lots and lots of women. Thankfully, he only managed to knock up two of them. Quinton was my dad’s baby brother but my dad treated him more like a son. And my dad was the only real dad Quint ever had. My grandpa never gave a shit about his kids so it hit Quint just as hard as it hit me when my parents died.”

At least they knew who their biological dads were. That was more than I had going for me.

“Where’s your dad?”

Of course he had to ask me that. “I don’t know. I never knew who he was. My mother has been a stripper for as long as I can remember and there have always been a ton of guys around. I asked her once who my dad was, if he was one of the guys who came around on a regular basis. She refused to tell me, then she got angry.”

“Sorry, sweetheart,” he whispered. “Sucks.”

I shrugged. I didn’t know if it sucked or not because I had never had a dad to miss so I had never really known what I was missing out on.

The car fell quiet after that and Tyson pulled up to a drive thru. He ordered for us and when I tried to give him money he gave me a dirty look. I let it go. If he wanted to buy me breakfast what did I care.

He got our bag of food and set it aside. He drove to the school and parked in the student parking lot. We ate in the car while we watched the parking lot slowly fill up.

After finishing his last breakfast sandwich, he asked me, “So, Ariel Kimber, what do you think the fourth day of school will bring us?”

It was only the fourth day of school? I groaned. It felt like weeks had already passed us by.

“I don’t know,” I told him honestly. Then I joked, “Maybe Chucky will realize he’s gay and madly in love with both of the twins and will never, ever look my way again.”

“The twins aren’t gay, Ariel,” he chuckled.

“I didn’t suggest that they were, Tyson. I just thought it would be fun to watch Chucky try to flirt with them.”

He laughed. “It would definitely be fun to watch and they’d deserve it.”

What woul

d be better than watching that would be having Chucky leaving me alone. Tyson made no comment on that.

We were getting out of the car when the twins pulled their abnormally large black truck into the parking spot next to Tyson’s Audi.

I hadn’t noticed before how similar the twins dressed. Abel had on a tight, long-sleeved grey Henley, dark blue jeans and black boots. Addison wore a tight, black long-sleeved Henley, dark blue jeans and black boots. They both wore matching black belts with silver belt buckles. The only difference in their clothes was the color of their Henley’s. I wondered if they shared clothes. They were exactly the same size. Both boys wore black cords around their necks with silver, half-moons dangling from them.

“You ready for this?” Abel asked me in greeting as we headed towards the school building.

I shrugged. “Day four and the possibilities are endless.” I smirked at Tyson and winked, thinking about how awesome it would be if Chucky set his sights on the twins instead of me. Tyson laughed quietly from beside me.

“Where were you coming from this morning?” Addison asked Tyson.

“Ariel’s,” Tyson replied casually, like it wasn’t a big deal he’d spent the better part of the night at my house. “Her folks left in the middle of the night because Mr. Cole’s brother got into a bad car wreck and she didn’t want to be home alone.”

I wasn’t smirking anymore. I wanted to hit him and I wanted to hit him hard. I hadn’t actually come out and said I didn’t want to be home alone. He made me sound like a baby. I mean, I didn’t want to be alone but still… he didn’t need to come out and say it to the others.

“She can stay with us tonight,” Abel said, making my mouth drop open. He caught the surprised look on my face and added quickly, “There’s plenty of room, pretty girl, and no one will mind you being there.”

I shook my head and, without a word or a glance back, I headed off to first hour. I hoped day four didn’t suck as hard as day one and day three had. Day two hadn’t been so bad. I could really use a repeat.

Chapter Fifteen