Page 74 of His Custody

“That inconsiderate ass. How could you go out with someone who would commit such a heinous crime?”

“We haven’t gone out.” He waited for it, not stepping on her words. “Yet.”

“Well, be safe when you do.”Remember everything I taught you. Don’t put yourself in danger. Be careful. I’ll die if something happens to you.

“I will, I promise.”

He stomped on the “good girl” trying to weasel its way out of his mouth. If she wanted to go on a date, good. He steered them onto other topics and she told him about her classes, her neighbors.

For a girl who’d done so many filthy things, she sure found the comparatively mild sexual tastes of her fellow co-eds shocking. But he had to remind himself once again: for all the dirty things he’d done to her, she’d been with him and with Gavin and that was it. Hookups wouldn’t make sense to her; sex was not a casual act.

They’d talked about slut-shaming, and how just because her classmates weren’t making the same choices she was didn’t make them wrong. She knew, but she had a hard time imagining what that might be like. It made him want to ruffle her hair and shake her at the same time, but he’d just keep repeating himself and she’d learn to not sound so reflexively judgmental.

She told him she had to go, she had some studying to do before bed.

“I miss you.”

“I miss you, too, Tinker Bell. I’ll talk to you day after tomorrow.”

He waited for the subtle sound that would say she’d disconnected the call, but it didn’t come. “Jasper, promise me you won’t go crazy.”

“Crazy about what?” Even he wasn’t convinced by his faux-innocent tone.

“I know you’re going to start doing background checks or whatever. Please don’t.”

Shit. Well, he couldn’t unsend that email to Deja, but he could send another one telling her not to bother. If he had to. “I just want to make sure he’s not an ax murderer, that’s all. I swear, I won’t look for anything deeper.”

“No, Jasper. Tyler is a nice guy, and you need to let me do this. Without you. I know consent is important to you, and I’m telling you outright: I don’t consent to this.”

One of these days he was going to grind his teeth together so hard they’d crack. Today might be that day. He’d taught his little pixie too well and now she knew all his soft spots.

“Fine. But you’ll let me know if you change your mind.”

“I won’t.”

Yeah, he was well aware of that. He’d never worried she’d regret the tattoo she’d asked to get because she was that stubborn. “Yeah, I know. All right, sweetheart. I love you, and I’ll talk to you Tuesday. Be good.”

***

This was the worst idea in the history of ideas.

“And what do you propose to do with a major in astronomy?”

She winced. That was something she liked about Tyler. He could tell her about the stars, like Gavin had. The more time she spent with him, the more he reminded her of Gavin, actually. Which was maybe disturbing, but not a shock given her previous choices of romantic partners. Another entry in the freak show that was her dating life. If you could even call it that.

“Jasper—”

“No, no,” Tyler chided her, laying his hand over hers and stroking the back of her wrist with his thumb. “It’s a fair question.”

“Fair” was not what Jasper was interested in. A million tiny clues said he was livid though he was trying to keep it under wraps; the twitch of his eyebrow, the vein that pulsed in his temple, the flex of his jaw. And Tyler putting his hand on her... that made it worse. Much worse.

She fisted her free hand in the fabric of her skirt under the table cloth, her eyes darting back and forth between the two of them. This was the weirdest and most uncomfortable thing she’d ever done, and that was saying something.

Tyler shrugged. “My parents always said do what makes you happy until you can’t afford to anymore. I’ve taken a bunch of classes that should get me into business school when I’m done here, but I like astronomy.”

Jasper grunted his begrudging approval. “Keyne said you lost your parents a few years ago. My condolences.”

“Thanks. It’s been rough without them, but you know how it is. A whole table of orphans right here.”

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