Page 60 of Newly Tied

Sitting up, not altogether awake, blinking and bleary, I watched as Lang grabbed the shorts I’d been wearing the previous night, pulled out my phone, and answered, which he did all the time. I did the same with his, as we both knew the other’s code.

“What?” he groused at whoever was on the other end. “Why are you blowing up my phone and calling Del when⁠—”

He listened a moment.

“What?”

I tried to focus, but my eyes weren’t doing that yet. I finally got the right one to work, so I closed the left.

“How?” Again he listened. “No, sorry, what I meant to say was, why?”

More listening, and I thought, since he was only talking now and then, maybe I would go on and lay my head back down.

“No,” he ordered, his voice changing, so I knew that was for me. “Get in the shower.”

I shook my head.

“Hold on,” he ordered into the phone, then to me, “I have stuff you can wear, there’s a new toothbrush by the sink on the left, and everything else you need is in there. You’ll smell better than normal.”

I flipped him off.

“There are things I want on your face, on your body—don’t shake your head at me. You are a grown-up,” he scolded. “Sunscreen and you need to be far better acquainted.”

Throwing the covers off, I got out of bed, heading for the bathroom because I needed to pee. “I’ll go home and⁠—”

“Look at me.”

When I turned, he was scowling. “You will not go home.”

“I can meet⁠—”

“My father,” he said flatly.

His father? I was glued to the spot to hear more.

“Yeah. You heard right. I said my father.”

“I’m sorry?” I took a step toward him.

“Apparently, he’s at my mother’s house.”

“Wait.” Was I still asleep? “What?”

“Yeah,” he rushed out. “I guess he rolled up to the front door with his new family and wanted to speak to her.”

“New family?”

Getting out of bed, crossing the room to me, he hit the speaker button. “Del’s here too, T. You got us both.”

“Which I will ask about when I see you, but right now, I’m on my way to Mom’s. Aunt Viola is almost there, and she has Aunt Tracy and Aunt Julie with her.”

Meaning, Etta’s sisters showed up to support her during this surprise visit from her ex. I was happy about that. I didn’t know much about Lang’s father other than the fact that after his parents got divorced, the man was nowhere to be found.

“Why is he there?” I asked Talia. “Did he tell her?”

“I don’t know. All she told me was that he was there with her and to call my brother.”

“Why did she call you and not me?”