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Truth was, going to church hadn’t been as bad as he’d thought it would be. And it made his kid happy, and wasn’t that what it was all about?
“Whatever the reason, thank you,” his dad said. “Your mom keeps saying how different you’ve been recently.”
Pres had no idea what to say to that. One thing for sure – he wasn’t going to tell them that one of the reasons for his difference had been screaming his name beneath him last night.
Thankfully, Hendrix’s phone started vibrating, taking the attention off Pres. Marley looked over at the screen and smirked. “Who’s Mollie?” he asked.
“Shut the hell up.” Hendrix accepted the call and jumped up from the sofa. “Hey, give me a sec. I’m with my asshole brothers.”
“Less of the asshole,” Pres said, lifting a brow.
“Sorry, I’m with my big brothers. Who are pains in my ass.” He wrinkled his nose at Pres and walked through the door to the stairway.
“He’s in love again,” their dad said, shaking his head. “He’s always moody when there’s a girl around.”
“Who isn’t?” Marley asked. “You’ve seen Pres around Cassie, right? He’s moody as hell.”
Their dad turned to look at Pres. “You and she a thing now?”
Thanks Marley.
He swallowed hard. “It’s complicated.” Not that he wanted to explain it to his father, anyway.
“So what, you were just at her place last night to do her plumbing or something?” Marley asked, grinning.
“How do you know I was at her place last night. You tracking me now?”
“Nope.” Marley shrugged. “I drove past early this morning. Had to pick something up from the station. Your car was still there.”
Well shit. That’s what he got for letting his horndog ways override his common sense. He could have at least parked down the road. If Marley noticed, that meant half the town had.
“She seems like a nice girl,” his dad said.
“Too nice for Pres,” Marley teased.
“At least I’m not yearning after somebody I can’t have,” Pres said, finally getting annoyed with the focus being on him.
Their dad blinked and turned his attention to Marley. “Who are you yearning for?” he asked, and then he shook his head. “Actually, scrap that, it’s probably better that I don’t know. Your mom will squeeze it out of me and then she’ll hunt you down for all the juicy details.”
“There are no juicy details because I’m not yearning for anybody,” Marley replied, shooting Pres a dirty look.
Yeah, sure. And that’s why he hadn’t been on a date for a year. But that wasn’t Pres’ problem. If his brother wanted to break his own heart by wanting somebody he couldn’t have, that was Marley’s problem.
As for Pres, well he didn’t have any problems. Yeah, it was awkward seeing Sadie at the gig knowing he’d finally slept with somebody for the first time since Jade died.
But she’d been kind. Sent him a message saying she’d enjoyed the show and would hopefully catch another.
But it was one thing feeling more relaxed about finally seeing somebody. Another thing having his entire family knowing. And his dad was right. Once you told one member of the family, you told them all.
And he had a damn big family. Sometimes it felt like he was related to half of Hartson’s Creek.
“Anybody want a beer?” their dad asked, just as Hendrix walked back in, looking a little flushed.
“I’ll take one,” Hendrix said. Marley nodded.
“I’m driving. I’ll take a non–alcoholic, please,” Pres said.
His dad gave him a pleased nod and grabbed four bottles, carrying them over to the sofas.
