do a group session with the guys?” And nope, I did not just say that ’cause I swore my mind flew straight to a much dirtier place than this office. Despite the flush creeping up my neck and super heating my cheeks, I resisted the urge to hide my face.
The quirk of her lips told me she didn’t miss the suggestion, but thankfully, she was way too professional to tease me about it. “Because you’ve been making life decisions and you take their feelings into account on several of these issues. Bringing them in for a session isn’t my way of suggesting something is wrong, but rather another tool in your toolbox of support. You don’t have to bring them…and before you ask me why not bring them one at a time, it’s because this relationship you’ve built rests on the foundation of all five of you, of the friendship you share.”
I put my hands over my mouth as I leaned forward, elbows on my knees. They’d come if I asked them. No doubt existed within me. “Can I think about it?”
“Absolutely, and now, for some homework since I won’t be seeing you next week…”
Oh.
Goody.
Normally, I liked homework.
Chapter Twelve
Pelvic Sorcery and Wicked Ties
Jake
“This isn’t going bowling,” Frankie chastised me from the backseat, and I shot a grin at her over my shoulder before holding a hand out to Bubba.
“Five bucks, pay up.”
He laughed and slapped the cash against my palm. “Jackass.”
“What bet?” Frankie asked.
“I told Bubba you wouldn’t let me get away with it for five minutes, and he thought you’d indulge me for at least fifteen.”
“Oh, I hate you both,” she declared before flopping back in the seat, arms folded.
“Now, Baby Girl, you know you love us.” I grinned, flicking a look at her in the rearview mirror. She stuck her tongue at me, even as her eyes danced when the headlights from traffic illuminated them. The demo class at the club was the first one we’d all been available to attend. “Anyway, Bubba already went over the rules earlier. We’ll be on our best behavior when we get there.”
Before then, everything was fair game. While I might be teasing Bubba, I had no intentions of making her feel bad about anything. It had been a long couple of weeks since our aborted Valentine’s Day date and the wrecked few days that followed. Even after getting the DNA test results, there’d been something infinitely fragile and strained about the air around Frankie and Archie.
We all felt it. Archie had spent nearly every single night with her, and none of us complained. Though Coop, the fucker, had started sliding in there too. I’d managed a couple of nights, and Bubba had gotten one. Most of the time, we slept in the other room, but some nights, I just wanted to be next to her. At the same time, I couldn’t begrudge Archie holding on quite as tightly as he was. The fear of losing her had been real.
The fear of what those fuckers would pull next was also real. That was the other thing, the unspoken thing—since our visit to New York and his mother then his father at the golf course, we hadn’t heard from any of the parents in the equation.
They could have tried to call Frankie, I supposed, but she’d blocked their numbers. At least the numbers we had for them. Considering the Standishes could probably afford a phone company, I doubted those were the only numbers they had.
The court date, however, was in three days. If they were going to do anything, it would probably be then. All of us were blowing off school to go with her. Spring break was right around the corner, and Archie had already made plans. Shocker, right?
“Are you sure they’re meeting us?” Frankie asked from the backseat, and Bubba twisted to glance back at her.
“Yes, Angel, I’m sure. Archie had something he wanted to finish, and Coop was getting in a partial shift before they head over. I made sure they had the address and,” he continued, holding up one finger, “I checked twice.”
“And Archie doesn’t mind?” There it was, that note of worry that crept in. It was almost adorable how much those two worried about each other, as if it wasn’t also brutal for them. I glanced at Bubba, but his expression didn’t tighten or change. If anything, it just relaxed more.
“Not that he told me, Angel. He said he’d come and listen and learn.”
“Okay.”
But that okay lacked