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“And if I don’t…” he said, letting his words trail off because it was time that they faced reality.

He was screwed.

“You’re not getting your GED and going to work for Uncle Jared,” Mikey said, looking adorably pissed.

“Both of our fathers work for Uncle Jared,” he pointed out, wondering why she was making such a big deal out of this.

His father ended up dropping out of school when he was sixteen and went to work for Uncle Jared. His father had busted his ass to make something of himself. He’d worked hard, saving every penny he could and managed to flip his first house a few years later. He owned several rental properties and flipped several houses every year, but he still worked for Uncle Jared because he loved what he did.

The same could be said for her stepfather. Uncle Reese had been a police officer a few years ago, but it wasn’t a good fit for him. He loved working with his hands and–

“It’s not what you’re meant to do,” Mikey said, shrugging it off.

“Then what am I meant to do?” Sebastian asked, because he would really love an answer.

For the past few years, he’d been wondering when he was finally going to stop screwing up his life and figure everything out, but so far, the only thing that he’d figured out was that he couldn’t keep doing this. He wished that he knew what he wanted. It would make everything a hell of a lot easier, Sebastian thought even as he couldn’t help but wonder if Mikey had any idea just how lucky she was.

She knew exactly what she wanted to do for the rest of her life and…

He was jealous of her, Sebastian admitted to himself, biting back a sigh as he grabbed a fry. God, he was an idiot. He wanted Mikey to be happy and would do whatever it took to make sure that happened, but he just wished that–

“You’re meant for something better,” Mikey said, looking thoughtful.

“Thanks for clearing that up,” he drawled absently as movement across the large cafeteria caught his attention and–

Damn it!

“Looks like it’s time for me to go,” Sebastian said, grabbing his bag off the floor and pulled it back on as he kept his gaze locked on the teacher watching them from across the room.

“What’s wrong?” Mikey asked, following his gaze only to bite out a curse that her mom would probably wring her neck for. “Mr. Jenkins, the vice principal,” she mumbled unhappily.

“Definitely time to go,” Sebastian said, swiping a brownie off the tray as he glanced toward the double doors that led to the hallway and calculated the odds of getting to them before Mr. Jenkins, who was now making his way toward them.

Not good, Sebastian decided as he shifted his attention to his left and damn near sighed with relief when he spotted the open double doors leading outside. He shot Mikey a wink as he stole the second brownie and headed for the door.

“I’ll see you at tryouts?” Mikey asked, making him smile.

He threw over his shoulder, “Maybe,” and with that, he stepped outside and moved to turn to his right only to spot a teacher leaning against the wall, talking on her cell phone. Sebastian quickly turned the other way and made his way toward the back of the building only to take off at a run when he heard someone yell, “Hey, stop right there!”

Knowing just how badly this would end if he did, Sebastian raced toward the parking lot, grabbed his bike and quickly made his way to Aunt Haley’s house. That had been close, too close, Sebastian thought as he got off his bike and leaned it against a tree. He moved to head inside when a chime drew his attention. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and couldn’t help but smile when he saw the message waiting for him, letting him know that Mikey finally got her cell phone back.

You better be there!

God, she was so damn cute sometimes, Sebastian thought as he quickly responded with a, Maybe. Sliding his phone back in his pocket, he headed inside and groaned when he saw the pile of work waiting for him on the kitchen table. Aunt Haley liked to keep him busy, but thankfully, she also liked to keep him fed. With that in mind, he headed to the refrigerator and found the plate of homemade macaroni and cheese and meatloaf that she’d saved for him.

She really was the best, Sebastian thought with a heartfelt sigh as he removed the foil off the plate and placed it in the microwave. While he waited for his food to heat up, he decided to go see if Aunt Haley had anything else that she needed him to do. He headed into the living room and–

“Bastian!”

–found himself smiling when he spotted Hunter standing up in his playpen, holding his arms out to Sebastian with a huge grin on his chocolate-pudding-covered face. It looked like his little cousin managed to hide another chocolate pudding pack in his playpen, Sebastian mused, noting that his cousin was covered from head to toe in chocolate pudding. When he glanced over at the couch and found Aunt Haley fast asleep, he wasn’t exactly surprised.

Hunter was a handful, but thankfully, he was also a really sweet baby and easy to please. Sebastian pressed his finger to his lips and lightly whispered, “Shhhh,” with a pointed look at Aunt Haley. When Hunter nodded, Sebastian reached down and picked his cousin up and settled him on his hip before he reached down and plucked the empty chocolate pudding cup off the floor where his cousin had thrown it in an attempt to get rid of the evidence.

He was definitely a Bradford, Sebastian thought as he carried Hunter into the downstairs bathroom. It took him a half hour to finally get every last drop of chocolate pudding off his cousin, but once he was clean and in a fresh diaper, Sebastian carried Hunter into the kitchen and settled him in his highchair.

“Are you hungry?” Sebastian asked, smiling when Hunter nodded excitedly.

He heated his food up again in the microwave as he made Hunter a bottle. Once the food was done, Sebastian grabbed two spoons and settled in the chair next to Hunter. After he finished feeding Hunter and gave him another bath to get the macaroni and cheese out of his hair, Sebastian grabbed the book that Aunt Haley set out for him and read to Hunter until he fell asleep in his arms.