Fool Me Once

“Send to Daddy too!” Zane says.

Brenton smiles, but it’s now fake. “I don’t know his number,” he tells him honestly. “But I’m sure your mom will.” Fucker. He better eat this all up because there’s no way he’ll be bringing Zane to the next one. I’m going to make sure of it.

When they leave, I follow them the entire way home, only leaving once I see Blakely open the door and Zane go inside.

As I drive back to Kolton’s place, I call my dad. He picks up on the first ring. “Keegan? Everything okay?”

“No, we need to talk.”

Blakely

It’s been two days since Keegan stormed out of here. No texts. No phone calls. He hasn’t even stopped by to see Zane. When Brenton brought Zane back, he tried to talk to me about Keegan, but I put a halt to it immediately. The two of them want to participate in some ridiculous pissing contest, fine. Piss away, but neither of them will be doing it on my damn leg. I’m dating Keegan—at least I think I still am. And I’m friends with Brenton. They’re both going to have to get used to having each other around. I point blank asked Brenton if he wants to stay friends, and he said he does. So, until he says otherwise, he will be in my life. I made it clear to him that I’m dating Keegan and he said he understood.

And Keegan needs to understand that Brenton has been around for a long time now. He was there when I delivered Zane. He’s been my friend and there for Zane his entire life. I’m not going to rip Brenton away just because Keegan is jealous.

“I need to stop by my brother’s shop,” Brenton says on our way to meet up with our group from our Child Psychology class. We had to create a group of four to complete a project to present to the class. Our topic is nature versus nurture. Since the other two students, Brianne and Willa, live together off campus, we agreed to meet them at their place. Sierra worked the lunch shift, so she’s able to watch Zane for me.

“No problem,” I tell him, checking my phone for the umpteenth time to see if Keegan has called or texted, even though it’s on loud and I would hear it if he did.

“Everything okay?” Brenton asks.

“Yeah,” I tell him, not wanting to give him room to talk shit about Keegan. Maybe I should just text him first. He might be worried I’m mad and he’s giving us both time to cool down. I type out a text, then backspace it. I type out another one, read it several times, then delete it as well. I’m typing my third text, when my phone dings with a text from the man himself.

Keegan: I’m sorry for the way I acted. I should’ve called or texted sooner, but I was being a wuss. Even now I’m texting instead of calling. I’m a wuss. Can I come by so we can talk?

I smile at his text. He was thinking the same thing I was.

Me: I was being a wuss too ;) I would love for you to come over, but I’m not home. I’m with Brenton. We’re going to work on our group project for our Child Psych class. Tomorrow?

Keegan: See you tomorrow.

I stare at his short text, knowing it’s because I mentioned Brenton. I don’t really understand what his deal is, but hopefully we can talk it all out tomorrow.

Me: Okay, miss you xo

I wait for him to text back, but it never comes.

Brenton stops by his brother’s shop, and then says he needs to swing by a customer’s house real quick since it’s on the way. I check a couple emails from my professors and respond to a few online messages on one of the forum boards for a class where the professor requires us to post our written responses online and respond to a minimum of three other students.

Thirty minutes later, we arrive at Brianne and Willa’s house. We spend the next few hours planning and outlining our presentation, assigning parts to each member of the group. By the time we leave, we all know what we need to do and have agreed to meet again next week to check in and hopefully tie up any loose ends before we put it all together.

On our way home, Brenton stops by one other customer’s house, and then we head home. It’s late when I get home, and the house is dark and quiet. I check on Zane, who is sleeping soundly and cuddling with Bear. Since my bedroom is the master with the bathroom—Sierra insisted on it because I had Zane bunking with me for the first several months after he was born and I was breastfeeding—I go straight inside to grab a change of clothes so I can shower. It’s dark in my room, so I flip the switch on. And then I let out a loud screech when I spot a sleeping man in my bed.