“—listening to me?” he was asking Will.
I approached him, repeating, “Bohannan.”
I shot a sympathetic look to Will as I stopped at Bohannan’s side.
Will watched me lift Celeste’s phone then he turned his face away.
I hit play and whispered, “It’s made the rounds.”
Bohannan’s head cocked down, and he watched the video of Sarah Pulaski fucking Dale Pulaski, her fingers in his hair, pulling back his head so there was no mistaking him, or missing a thing as he took it on his elbows and knees. The angle on the action and focus was exceptional. The intent of the video crystal clear.
But Bohannan didn’t wait for the money shot at the end.
He reached out and touched the screen to stop it and looked back to Will.
Before he could say anything, Will said, “I wasn’t shouting at her. I was just shouting.”
“Take a second and take a breath,” Bohannan demanded.
“I’d never hurt her. I’m just so sick of their shit,” Will said.
I did not blame him.
Not about shouting at Celeste, but if there were extenuating circumstances for anyone, no matter the age, there were here.
But he was only seventeen.
So there was that.
“That’s my mom and dad, Mr. Bohannan,” he spat. “I mean, that’s sick.”
Before Bohannan could reply, Will’s phone rang, he pulled it out of his front pocket, his face twisted, he took the call and said into it, “Like I said, fuck you! Fuck you now and fuck you forever. I’m never coming home. I never wanna look at you again.”
He then ended the call, jabbed his screen with his finger repeatedly, and at a guess, blocked his mom and/or dad.
“Your dad?” Bohannan asked.
“Mom,” Will clipped. “I already blocked my sickfuck of a dad.” He looked up from his phone. “Who would have thought the only non-fucked-up one would be fucking Audrey?”
Hmm.
“Right, Jace is going to take you to his place, and you’re gonna get yourself together,” Bohannan said. “You can stay there tonight. I’m gonna have a conversation with your parents.”
“I’m not going back to them, Mr. Bohannan. Neither of them,” Will declared.
“Let’s just get through tonight,” Bohannan returned. “You can have dinner with us, but I don’t want you alone with my daughter when you’re in this state.”
“She’s the only person that gives a shit about me,” Will replied.
“That isn’t true, even though I figure you think it is. But if it was, I’d kick you off my land.”
Will’s body jerked as that hadn’t occurred to him until Bohannan pointed it out.
Which made it clear that, probably since Alice was taken, and maybe even before that, the adults in his life had been so enmeshed in all their chaos, they hadn’t had a thought about him.
And frankly, the fact they hadn’t broke my heart.
Not only for Will.
But also for Alice.
Bohannan took a breath and a step toward Will, but he didn’t push it.
“I get it,” he said. “You’re learning too many lessons about how shit life can be. I hate that for you, but bottom line, Will, life can be shit. Now, you can either boss up and deal, or you can lose yourself in it. You got some time to figure that out, here with us, where you got space to think. But I’ll warn you, I’ll only accept that first choice when it comes to who spends time with my daughter.”
Will looked to Celeste, back to Bohannan and then to me.
“I’m sorry I got in your face, Ms. Larue.”
I didn’t exonerate him verbally, but I nodded.
“I’m sorry, babe,” he said, quieter to Celeste.
“It’s okay, Will,” Celeste said sweetly.
“Jace, show him his space for tonight,” Bohannan ordered then looked to me. “What time’s dinner, baby?”
I had no idea. We ate when I was done cooking.
I preferred to eat later, and since I was doing all the cooking, that was when we ate, whether it was just Celeste and me, or all of us.
But I figured Celeste and Will wouldn’t be able to wait that long, so I said, “Five thirty.”
Bohannan’s beard moved in an upward motion because he knew my gambit, but he turned to Will.
“Come on over at five and you can help Larue if she needs anything.”
Will nodded.
He and Jace walked off.
“Thanks, Daddy,” Celeste said.
I’d never heard her call him that, but it was cute.
“He’s gonna need you, honey, so get in there and do your homework so you can have your head clear when he comes over,” Bohannan advised.
She made to take off, but he stopped her by calling her name.
She turned back.
“You okay with…what you saw?” he asked.
What was this I was seeing?
Bohannan…uncomfortable?
“I’m grossed out because…gross,” she answered.
Bohannan’s attention slid to me.
It shot back to his girl when she went on, “But I’m more worried about Will.”
“Okay, you got any questions about that kind of thing…uh…you know…”
Oh my God.
I was loving this.
“I won’t, Dad,” she replied very, very promptly.
“Right,” he muttered.
I bit my lip.
“Go on,” he urged.
She sent a curious look my way before she dashed off, her bookbag bouncing. So desirous of fleeing, she left her phone with me.
I turned to Bohannan.
“You’re ridiculously cute.”
“I wanna kill myself.”
I started laughing and got close to him.
He slid an arm around my waist.
“Have you talked to her about the birds and the bees?”
He nodded, paling, actually paling, under his tan at the memory.
“And her periods. And STDs. And condoms and birth control. So also pregnancy and the consequences of an unwanted one. It was not my finest hour. We both hated it. But we also both thought it was over.”
“Hell hath no fury,” I quoted.
“You got no idea,” he said, pulled out his phone, let it read his face, then he held it up so we both could see.
And I learned that a man, who could only be Dwayne, didn’t like pain.
He liked pain.
Bohannan thumbed the screen.
And I saw that Bobby didn’t like dick up his ass.
He liked big dick, and he didn’t want just any ole delivery system. The guy he picked wasn’t only hung, he was built and gorgeous.
Another thumb swipe and there it had to be Jay, his ass very red, his dick very swollen, his teacher with her glasses perched on the tip of her nose very determined to punish her naughty boy.
“Yikes,” I said.
“I hadn’t seen Dale and Sarah’s. I didn’t think. With Alice…”
He didn’t finish that.
He said something else.
“Those videos were texted wide throughout the day. This kicks that vengeance club up a few solid notches,” he said. “Wendy left Dwayne this weekend. Word on the street is that Lana’s the ringleader. Apparently, her defecting from Bobby meant the gloves could finally come off.”