“Something’s wrong.”
“With what?”
“You.”
I snorted. “Many things.”
“Ox,” he warned me. “Don’t be flip.”
“I’m not trying to be. Gordo, there’s always something wrong. But nothing more than usual.”
“I need you to tell me, Ox. I can’t help you if you don’t tell me what’s wrong.”
I sighed. “It’s nothing. Okay? I’m just tired. The full moon, work, everything. It happens every now and then. Shit just comes back and piles on. I just need to go to bed early tonight. I’ll be better tomorrow.”
“And you’d tell me, right? If something was wrong.”
Not if it meant keeping him safe. Keeping all of them safe. “Sure, Gordo,” I said, the lie tasting like ash on my tongue.
He watched me for a moment longer, his gaze cool and calculating, before he shook his head. “Fine. Just don’t do that shit to me, Ox. For fuck’s sake, you sounded like you were saying good-bye at dinner. I just—just don’t do that to me.”
“Yeah.” I coughed. “Just tired. All those things come out when I’m tired.”
He rolled his eyes. “Well, go put your feelings all over Joe where they belong. Er—god, I wish I hadn’t said that.”
I laughed, real and true. Gordo tried to push by me to head back to the house, but I grabbed his arm and pulled him into a hug. He let out a grunt of surprise, but his arms wrapped around my back immediately and he gave just as good as he got.
“WHAT DID Gordo want?” Joe asked me as we walked toward the old house.
The sun was almost gone. The stars were coming out above us.
The wind blew through the trees. They swayed back and forth.
“Shop talk,” I said.
“Shop talk,” Joe said. “Sounds exciting.”
“Ass.”
He grinned fondly at me, taking my hand in his. “Just giving you shit.”
“I know.”
“You gotta keep it up, anyway, if I’m going to be your kept boy.”
“That’s a terrible plan. You should just get a job.”
“GED first, Ox,” he said, like we hadn’t talked about it a million times already. “Then online college. Then probably pick up where Dad left off. We don’t need the money right now.”
“I know,” I said. “You’ll do good.”
“Yeah?”
I leaned over and kissed his cheek. His stubble scraped against my lips. “Yeah. Maybe then I could be the kept boy.”
He laughed and shoved me away.
MY PHONE went off.