First to Fail (Unraveled #3) - Marie Johnston Page 0,21

as fuck.

Jaycee smiled, lines forming in her face mud. “Boring AF.” She always got a kick out of me using her terminology. She’d deemed me “not that ancient” at the ripe old age of thirty-two.

She leaned closer to the screen. “What’s up with your hair?’

“Uh…” I used my free hand to brush it down. My gaze strayed to Natalia. She was pale, like she was slowly dying inside. Damn, I hoped this phone call didn’t ruin things between us. “I was lying on the couch watching a movie when you called.” Not a complete lie.

“Wild, Dad. I can’t even with your Saturday nights.”

I met Natalia’s wary brown gaze and looked back at the phone. “I was doing exactly what I wanted to. How was your day? How’s your mother?”

My whole personal situation would be shittier if Cierra and I didn’t get along as well as we did. We weren’t buddies, but we didn’t hate each other. The first few years had been hard, and I couldn’t blame Cierra for being snippy while going to college and raising a kid. I’d been too hurt by her complete rejection. I’d been an okay rebellion, but she wasn’t going to get stuck with me for life. Her parents had nearly abandoned her but had been afraid it’d make them look bad. I’d done everything short of marrying her to help. She appreciated it now, somewhat. At the time, it had been a different story.

“Mom’s Mom.” Jaycee’s typical answer. She looked to the side and her frown cracked the goop. “She’s engaged.”

“What?” That was a surprise. Jaycee hadn’t mentioned her mother was seeing anyone. Neither had Nana and Papa.

“Yeah. I wasn’t the only one shocked.” She jerked her head toward where the door must be. I didn’t spend a lot of time at her grandparents’ house.

“Nana didn’t know?”

“Nope.” Jaycee shoved a hand through her hair and folded the hand she held the phone with around her knees. Natalia had grabbed her own phone and was scrolling through it to give me a sense of privacy. We were both too afraid for her to move and make noise that’d clue Jaycee in that I wasn’t alone.

“What do you think?” I asked.

“Well, I haven’t met him.” Her tone was heavy with disappointment and betrayal. “I asked if she was going to have more kids.”

I tensed. “What’d she say?”

Jaycee ran her tongue in front of her teeth. Her mask was cracking further from her facial movements. “Probably, but”—Jaycee made air quotes with her free hand— “‘not in the near future.’”

When she was grown and out of the picture, was that what she thought? And how hard would it be for her to watch the mother who’d dumped her on my doorstep have other kids and live happily ever after?

“Having kids in your thirties is different than at eighteen.” Cierra and I hadn’t been much older than Jaycee when Cierra had gotten pregnant. My stomach soured. That time had gone by fast.

“Right?” Jaycee gazed away from the screen, her expression sullen. “It’s not me, it’s her?”

“Basically. But it doesn’t feel like it, huh?”

Her eyes glistened, but she blinked it away. “Just in case she was thinking about having bouncing babies of joy, I told her I got detention this week.”

I stiffened. Please don’t say anything about Ms. Shaw. The same Ms. Shaw who’d just orgasmed in my arms. I recovered and gave her a stern look. “Did you tell her it was over a boy?”

“No, I told her it was over a feminist principal with something to prove. Maybe Nana needs to donate more so I can get out of detention like Dresden.”

I should’ve been mortified, but I was triumphant over finally learning the other kid’s name. “Dresden Wentworth?”

Could Jaycee have hooked up with a wealthier family? The Wentworths had adamantly opposed my run for state senate. Dresden’s dad had been a few years older than me, but he’d taken the bench on the basketball team when I had shown up.

When I chanced a look at Natalia, she’d lowered her phone and her eyes were narrowed on mine. Had Dresden really gotten out of detention, or did Natalia not want him and Jaycee to know?

“Busted,” Jaycee said. “I know you don’t care for his dad.”

“I don’t give a crap about his dad, and he’s not a fan of mine.” It had been a good thing that Cierra’s baby belly hadn’t shown until after graduation, or the Wentworths would have caught wind of the scandal and gunned for me