[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.“Just because you’re so touchy about being a bastard.”“Shut up,” Brandon said, “or I’ll land you on restriction again.”“The fight was your fault, anyway,” Scott told them.“That guy by the fence last week was Brandon’s dad.I’ve met him.I’ve even ridden on his motorcycle.”“And you think I’m stupid enough to believe that?” Travis rolled his eyes.“You’d say anything, Torrin.You’re his best friend.”“Scott isn’t lying,” Brandon insisted, cutting the other two boys off just as they exited the school.The rest of the children continued to flow around them, rushing off to catch their rides home, but Brandon wasn’t in any hurry to meet up with his grandfather.He was tired of Theo and Travis’s taunts and the snickering they’d done earlier in class, when they kept whispering the “b” word at him.He wanted to shut them up once and for all.After everything that had happened at home, getting suspended a second time seemed like the least of his problems.“You’d better quit bothering me,” he said.“Or what?” Travis said.“You’ll fall and get a bloody nose again?”Theo started laughing and Brandon shucked off his backpack.“Don’t,” Scott warned him, grabbing his arm.“Come on, school’s out.Let’s go home and see if my mom’ll take us miniature golfing.”“I don’t want to go miniature golfing,” Brandon said, jerking away.“I want to make these guys mind their own business.”“Ooh, I’m scared,” Theo said.“You think you can do that, Worthington?” Travis asked.“I’m ready to try,” he replied and drew back to give Theo a bloody nose this time, but a large male hand cupped his fist and stopped its forward motion.“What’s going on here?”It was his father.Brandon immediately recognized the voice and blinked up at Harley in surprise, then dropped his fist to his side.“Dad, what are you doing here?”“I came to give you a ride home on the bike.”“But Grandpa—”“Gave his permission.So did Lauren.Only I don’t like what I’m seeing.This looks like another fight about to happen.”“It wasn’t Brandon’s fault,” Scott volunteered.“They were calling him a bastard again, just like before.”Eyes widening, Theo and Travis took a step backward.“We didn’t mean it,” they said.“We were just having fun.”“Fun?” his father echoed, disgust apparent on his face.“So, you think it would be fun if Brandon called you names?”They shook their heads.“No, sir.”“And they said you weren’t Brandon’s father, that a guy like you wouldn’t want Brandon for a son,” Scott piped up.Brandon stared down and scuffed his tennis shoe against the cement.Some of the last stragglers leaving the school were hanging around, hoping to find out what was going on; Melissa Hayes was one of them.He didn’t want her to see him getting in trouble again, didn’t want her to hear what Travis and Theo had been calling him.But he was penned in on all sides and couldn’t think of a quick escape.“Well, now we know these guys don’t have a clue about anything,” his father was saying as he put a hand on Brandon’s shoulder.“Because Brandon’s about the best son a guy like me could have.”“Sorry,” Travis mumbled.“We didn’t mean anything by it,” Theo added.And when Brandon said goodbye to Scott and climbed onto the back of his father’s bike a few minutes later, Melissa waved at him.BRANDON FELT BETTER than he had in a long time.He’d known he would, if only he could be with Lauren.It felt pretty great that his dad was there, too.And the fact that Lauren wasn’t making him do his homework right away didn’t hurt, either.“It’s your turn,” his aunt said as she tossed a nine of spades onto the middle of the bed they were sitting on in her hotel room.“Don’t forget that the queen isn’t out yet.”Brandon checked his cards.The queen wasn’t out because he was holding it, on purpose.They’d played three hands already, and he’d lost all three, but he was only losing by twenty points.If he could shoot the moon he’d win the game.He frowned, wondering if his hand was good enough.He didn’t have a lot of high cards, but he did have the ace and the king of hearts.The rest was mostly one suit, which improved his chances…“Brandon?” his father prompted.Fortunately, Harley was just learning the game.Because he didn’t really know all the rules, there was a possibility he might not realize what Brandon was trying to do until it was too late.What the heck, he thought.He’d go for it.He threw one of his lowest spades on the pile to get rid of it before any of the point cards came out, and his father took the trick and led with a five of clubs.Then it was Lauren’s turn, but she was looking at him in a funny way, as though she wasn’t really paying attention to the game, and Brandon wasn’t sure he liked that.It made him nervous to see her preoccupied.Come to think of it, she’d been acting strange all afternoon….“Is something wrong?” he asked.“No, why?” she said.“Because you keep looking at my dad, and he keeps looking at you, and you sort of smile when he does, and…I don’t know.Something’s different.”His aunt glanced at Harley again, who nodded for her to continue, and she put her cards facedown in front of her.“Brandon, your father and I have something we want to tell you.”Oh, no.He’d asked for it.What now? “What is it? Is it time to go home already?” he asked, knowing by the tone of her voice that it wouldn’t be so simple.He just didn’t want to hear anything upsetting.“No.”“Then what? Is Grandpa mad at us? Did he and Grandma really give us permission to be together?”“That’s not it, either,” she said.“They gave us permission.As a matter of fact, they’ve given their permission for us to be together from now on.”This came as a surprise.Finally Brandon folded his own cards and forgot all about the strategy he’d been planning to use later in the game.“So they’re going to let us move to California?”Lauren nodded.“That was quick.I thought you said it would take a while.”“It would have, if Grandpa and Grandma hadn’t agreed.Fortunately for all of us, they did.But there’s been one…small change to what we talked about.”Brandon felt his stomach tense.What kind of change? Most of the changes lately hadn’t been good ones.“What’s that?” he asked hesitantly.“Your father and I are going to get married.”“Married?” he echoed, looking from one to the other.“Is that okay with you?” Lauren asked [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]