friends, which specifically means ‘no Kaylee’.”
I pulled my head back to my shoulder blades, squinting against the fluorescent lights. “Yes, Master,” I answered in a tight voice.
Mom laughed, lightening the conversation. “Thanks, son. Hopefully, I’ll be home before you go to bed. Be good to each other, please. I love you.”
“Love ya, too. Bye.” I held the phone out to the disgruntled government employee still glaring with dagger eyes. “What? You want the phone or not?”
She rose from her desk and snatched it from my hand, trading it for a tardy excuse.
“Back to class Mr. Martin.” My hand barely touched the doorknob when she vocalized her next threat, “And turn off that iPod, or I’ll have it confiscated.”
The door slammed loud enough to rattle the glass insert when I walked out.
**
Dirk was my parents’ dream child. Jaxson and I were switched in the hospital, according to Dad. Someone else had their real children. If I didn’t look so much like my mom and Jax the spitting image of my father in his teens, I might have believed him.
After unloading the dishwasher, Dirk’s one and only chore, he settled at the kitchen table with his spelling book, copying his word list—the one I’d have to quiz him on later. He’d wait however, until I became engrossed in my favorite TV program, or worse, when I’d be attempting to convince Kaylee phone sex would have to work tonight because I had to babysit .
Pizza arrived promptly at 7:03, two minutes before it would be a “freebie” according to the stupid advertisement. I decided both of Dirk’s legs were hollow when I lost the fight for the last piece of pizza. He managed to inhale almost all twelve inches of cheese and pepperoni.
“Dirk, you’re such a pig.”
“You’re a bigger pig. A humongous, gigantor pig dork,” he laughed, spitting Oreo cookie crumbs across the table.”
“Yell, well this pig dork is Master and you are my slave. Get your butt in the shower while I clean up the gross mess you made.”
“I took a shower last night,” Dirk argued, snatching another cookie before I could grab the bag.
“Really?” I turned my nose up, sniffing dramatically. “Then why do you stink?”
“I don’t stink.”
“Sure you do. You smell like a wet dog. A dead wet dog. One covered in maggots…disgusting, rotting flesh smell—”
“Stop before I puke!” he screeched, holding his hands over his ears.
I scooped him under my arm in a football hold. “You hurl, you lick it up.” Fighting to keep his squirming body in my grip, I carried him up the stairs and dropped him in front of the bathroom door.
“I hate you, Riley.”
“Yeah, well the way you smell, I hate being around you. Ass in the shower.”
He slammed the bathroom door and I swear I heard him call me a name worthy of a week’s grounding, but I didn’t push it. I had a more urgent agenda. Once I heard the water turn on, I barreled down the stairs to take advantage of ten minutes of privacy alone with my cell phone. It would have to be speed phone sex.
Kaylee sounded sleepy when she answered and my heart sank, as well as other body parts with the realization my fantasy might not come true.
“Hey baby. How’s your head?”
“Sore,” she answered through a long yawn. “How’s Jaxson?”
Her question threw me and I couldn’t hide the irritation in my voice. “ Jaxson ? What about Jaxson?”
“Oh…uh,” she stammered, making me suspicious, “I heard he got in an accident. Practically everyone in town knows. You know how fast gossip travels.”
True, except the details of the accident, especially those involved, hadn’t been released. No one at school said anything either, but the neighbors may have spread rumors based on Jaxson’s previous antics and the crumpled car hanging off the wrecker.
As much as I wanted to tell Kaylee about what happened this morning, I couldn’t. What I overheard remained confidential and Dad probably already
I pulled my head back to my shoulder blades, squinting against the fluorescent lights. “Yes, Master,” I answered in a tight voice.
Mom laughed, lightening the conversation. “Thanks, son. Hopefully, I’ll be home before you go to bed. Be good to each other, please. I love you.”
“Love ya, too. Bye.” I held the phone out to the disgruntled government employee still glaring with dagger eyes. “What? You want the phone or not?”
She rose from her desk and snatched it from my hand, trading it for a tardy excuse.
“Back to class Mr. Martin.” My hand barely touched the doorknob when she vocalized her next threat, “And turn off that iPod, or I’ll have it confiscated.”
The door slammed loud enough to rattle the glass insert when I walked out.
**
Dirk was my parents’ dream child. Jaxson and I were switched in the hospital, according to Dad. Someone else had their real children. If I didn’t look so much like my mom and Jax the spitting image of my father in his teens, I might have believed him.
After unloading the dishwasher, Dirk’s one and only chore, he settled at the kitchen table with his spelling book, copying his word list—the one I’d have to quiz him on later. He’d wait however, until I became engrossed in my favorite TV program, or worse, when I’d be attempting to convince Kaylee phone sex would have to work tonight because I had to babysit .
Pizza arrived promptly at 7:03, two minutes before it would be a “freebie” according to the stupid advertisement. I decided both of Dirk’s legs were hollow when I lost the fight for the last piece of pizza. He managed to inhale almost all twelve inches of cheese and pepperoni.
“Dirk, you’re such a pig.”
“You’re a bigger pig. A humongous, gigantor pig dork,” he laughed, spitting Oreo cookie crumbs across the table.”
“Yell, well this pig dork is Master and you are my slave. Get your butt in the shower while I clean up the gross mess you made.”
“I took a shower last night,” Dirk argued, snatching another cookie before I could grab the bag.
“Really?” I turned my nose up, sniffing dramatically. “Then why do you stink?”
“I don’t stink.”
“Sure you do. You smell like a wet dog. A dead wet dog. One covered in maggots…disgusting, rotting flesh smell—”
“Stop before I puke!” he screeched, holding his hands over his ears.
I scooped him under my arm in a football hold. “You hurl, you lick it up.” Fighting to keep his squirming body in my grip, I carried him up the stairs and dropped him in front of the bathroom door.
“I hate you, Riley.”
“Yeah, well the way you smell, I hate being around you. Ass in the shower.”
He slammed the bathroom door and I swear I heard him call me a name worthy of a week’s grounding, but I didn’t push it. I had a more urgent agenda. Once I heard the water turn on, I barreled down the stairs to take advantage of ten minutes of privacy alone with my cell phone. It would have to be speed phone sex.
Kaylee sounded sleepy when she answered and my heart sank, as well as other body parts with the realization my fantasy might not come true.
“Hey baby. How’s your head?”
“Sore,” she answered through a long yawn. “How’s Jaxson?”
Her question threw me and I couldn’t hide the irritation in my voice. “ Jaxson ? What about Jaxson?”
“Oh…uh,” she stammered, making me suspicious, “I heard he got in an accident. Practically everyone in town knows. You know how fast gossip travels.”
True, except the details of the accident, especially those involved, hadn’t been released. No one at school said anything either, but the neighbors may have spread rumors based on Jaxson’s previous antics and the crumpled car hanging off the wrecker.
As much as I wanted to tell Kaylee about what happened this morning, I couldn’t. What I overheard remained confidential and Dad probably already
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