Page 98 of Double Dare
I laugh. “Yeah. Thanks for calling them.”
“When the hell were you going to tell me, Lake? I mean, I sort of guessed, but you know you can come to me about anything.”
“I’m sorry.” Tears prick the back of my throat. “It’s just…who the fuck has two boyfriends?” I let out a hysterical laugh.
“You do,” he scoffs and laughs together.
“It’s so…weird, though, right? Does it make me selfish? I don’t know, I guess I was just…embarrassed you’d think less of me or something.”
“Don’t insult me by assuming to know my thoughts,” Dad gruffs. “I love you, no matter what you do or who you love. You know that.”
I do know that, which makes me the asshole for assuming he couldn’t handle it. “I’m sorry.”
“Do you love them?”
“Yes.”
“Both of them equally?”
“Yes.”
“And they treat you right? You’re happy with them, Laken?” Oh, the full name means he’s being serious.
“They treat me…they respect me, and it feels right. I’m happy, even though it’s confusing and sometimes hard.” Not the relationship itself, although I’m sure it will be hard at times. Mostly, it’s the judgment and viewpoint of others that I’m anticipating being hard. New Year’s Eve was proof of that, and it sucks that those types of confrontations will be in our future, but I guess that’s expected when delving into unchartered territories. I mean, poly relationships aren’t that taboo; it’s the brother factor that makes it less than conventional.
“Then treat them right, too. Don’t hide them from your dad.” Facts; he’s good at laying them out. “And stop worrying so much about what anyone else thinks. You’ve got a future of that, so there’s no point in letting it get you down every time it happens, right?”
He makes a damn good point. “I wish you were here.”
“I can come.”
I sigh. “Soon. Let me clean up this mess first.”
Dad curses the world for what happened with my business account, but at the end of the day, he’s right. We have a future of this to contend with, and this might be extreme and malicious, but we’ll get through it.
“I always knew there was something up with that younger one anyway,” he says as if he doesn’t know Kade’s name, which makes me laugh. “I could tell he loved ya right from that first time I came up to visit ya there.”
“I didn’t know it then.”
“Maybe not, but you felt something for him, too. Jed’s cool with this?”
“Yeah. It’s taking some getting used to on all our parts, but…yeah.”
“Well, no more secrets, okay? Definitely keep the details of your…love life a secret because I don’t need to know more than what I’ve seen today, but if any more boyfriends or a dead body spring up, call me right away.”
My dad has always been my whole life, and once again, he’s fixed me just by being himself.
Chapter 38
Watching Hardin get absolutely laid into about knocking Freya up has cheered me right up. There’s nothing quite as mood-lifting as a good berating, as long as you aren’t the one being berated.
Mom was so shocked, then so happy, and then a mix of both, that she ended up crying and yelling at all of us for witnessing it. We taunted the shit out of her for it, but she didn’t care. She was getting a grandbaby, because apparently they’d talked it over and agreed on keeping the baby and starting a family together. Freya, in true fashion and much like Mom, got emotional and then also reamed us all out for witnessing it. Unlike Mom, we didn’t mock Freya for it. Hardin had given us a quick shake of the head to ward it off, and I guess we listened when it came to a hormonal new mom.
But throughout the whole thing, Freya was welcomed into the family where she’s always belonged, and the loving insults flew freely. I’m honestly kind of looking forward to having a niece or nephew because I think I’d be pretty fucking badass at shaping a child that wasn’t mine. That kid is going to be a Dare through and through, and if it gets even half of Freya’s fire, it’s set for life.
As much as I’m worrying about Laken, she was right. This is their night, and I’m glad we didn’t overshadow it with our shit.
“Isaac kick your ass yet, Har?” Bass casually asks.