Series: Fever Falls Series by Riley Hart
Total pages in book: 101
Estimated words: 96922 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 485(@200wpm)___ 388(@250wpm)___ 323(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96922 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 485(@200wpm)___ 388(@250wpm)___ 323(@300wpm)
I continued toward Nance, knowing we needed to have this conversation. I would have called, but this was something I preferred to handle face-to-face with the people who were most important to me.
I entered the kitchen, and Keegan eyed me as he sat on the table, iPhone in hand, about as incapable of hiding his surprise as Nance.
“Dude,” Keegan said, “Are you—”
“—wanting us to make some lunch?” Nance interjected. “I can make sandwiches, or we could go out. Unless you don’t want to go out, then—”
“You guys, we can go ahead and get this conversation out of the way,” I said, trying to set them at ease. “I figured someone had probably mentioned it to you. That’s why I headed over.”
Nance breathed a sigh of relief.
“Apparently, I’m bisexual.”
“That’s fine,” Keegan said. “You could be just about anything other than a Dodgers fan and I’d be cool with you.”
“Keegan!” Nance said severely. “You would need to learn to see past your brother’s love of the Dodgers.”
“Call me ignorant, but no. God didn’t make anyone a Dodgers fan.” His lips curled into a smirk, and we all shared a laugh.
“But seriously,” Nance added. “You know we love you, no matter who you want to be with. Are you okay? I hear there are some pretty scandalous pictures online. I haven’t seen them, but—”
“I saw them,” Keegan said.
Nance turned to him. “I told you not to look at them.”
“Oh, is it a crime for me to see what everyone in this town is looking at?” He turned his attention to me, adding with a thumbs-up, “Lookin’ good, bro,” and making me laugh.
“Thanks, Keeg.”
“You guys,” Nance said, rolling her eyes. “So you’re not feeling horribly exploited or disgusting…or like you hate the world right now?”
“No more than usual.”
“Whew. Now I guess I can take off my mothering hat. I was so nervous. Barb Kenmore called me after she read the article…”
Keegan made like he was about to vomit.
“…you remember her from when we were co-presidents of the PTA. Well, she must’ve figured it was something I should have been worried about. And she was asking me what our friends would think about my parenting and allowing you to be corrupted by Hollywood.”
“In your defense,” Keegan said, “in those pics it was hard to tell who was corrupting who.”
“Be serious, Keegan,” Nance followed up. “But Barb kept on like that, and I finally had to tell her to go F herself.”
“You used the F-word?”
“I said, ‘Go F yourself.’”
I was in stitches. “You didn’t have to do that on my behalf, but the support means a lot, and I guess that means we don’t have to put up with Barb at any barbecues.”
“Absolutely not!”
“I’m sorry if it causes you guys any issues, though. Figure it’s gonna be the talk of Fever Falls for a bit.”
“We’ll be just fine,” Nance insisted. “Don’t give a thought to that.”
“What are you guys talking about?” Keegan asked. “I’m going to be in college next year. I already get made fun of for this gap in my front teeth and because sometimes I forget to wear matching socks.” He looked so serious as he said the words, but then quickly batted his hand in front of him and rolled his eyes. “Come on. You think I give any more shits than you do about what they say?”
“Keegan, don’t say that word,” Nance chastised.
He sighed like he was exasperated. “Sorry,” he murmured.
Nance smiled and shook her head.
She made us sandwiches for lunch, and I chilled around the house through dinner, responding to texts from surprised and concerned friends and a call from Ash and Beau, who gave me a few opportunities to crack jokes about the whole thing. Mads even texted to say, Well, well, Jace Kruse really is the perfect man now. ;-)
Keegan and I eventually headed out front and shot some hoops for a bit.
I found myself continually checking my phone to the point where Keegan asked, “Waiting for your boyfriend to text?”
He was kidding, but it was kind of true.
Not that Dax was my boyfriend, but I was hoping he would message me.
I didn’t know him as well as I wanted to, but I knew enough to know he didn’t open up much. I’d caught him in a moment of vulnerability, where he’d offered up so much about his past…so much he’d clearly wanted to keep from everyone, including me. So many of the missing pieces to the puzzle that was Dax Munro started to fit right into place, make so much fucking sense. Behind all that bravado and charm was a kid terrified of losing his mother. And what he was only willing to cop to slightly—behind those hazel irises was a man who tried to help others navigate the destructive world he’d been thrust into on his own far too soon.