Page 9 of Restrictions

“I have a lot to learn.” Asher nods over to Sebastian. “Who else better to teach me than my cool nephew?”

Sebastian is grinning wide. “I’m gonna teach you how to swim.”

Asher nods his head, playing along effortlessly. “Yeah, you are. And you’re gonna teach me how to play catch too, right?”

“I already taught you that.” Sebastian places his little hand over his face, so playfully irritated with Ash.

“Oh yeah, that’s right. Well you might have to teach me again.”

“Okay. That’s fine.” Sebastian shrugs and goes about eating his pizza. I lock eyes with Asher. He winks, and I smile because his love for Sebastian is palpable, and I’ll never stop being grateful for that.

We have a week before classes start, but I’m already feeling that familiar crushing feeling inside.

I don’t want to fail.

5

ASHER

“Can we go swimming?” Sebastian runs to me and jumps on my lap when I’m sitting on the couch in the living room with my friend, Sawyer.

Sawyer and I have known each other for a long time. We went to the same private school and now are attending the same college.

“You gotta ask your mom, buddy.”

He sulks and pushes his bottom lip out. Sawyer laughs. “Oh man, he knows how to use his cuteness.”

“No kidding.” I lift Baz above my head, and he giggles. “Go ask your mom.”

He continues giggling. “Nooooooo.”

He lets his little arms out as he flies in the air, trusting me fully. “Yes!”

“No!” he yells through another goofy giggle.

“Ask mom what?” Viv walks into the living room from the kitchen, hands on her hips, wearing long black dress slacks and some silky blue blouse with sleeves that go to her elbows. Fuck Viv, it’s summer.

I tickle Baz’s sides, and he giggles more as I look to Viv. “He wants to go swimming.”

“Pleeeaaassse, Mommy?” Baz is hanging upside down over my shoulder now as he looks over at his mom.

She smiles, her teeth pearly white and straight. She has a fucking beautiful smile when she actually relaxes enough to let it out. “Okay.” She holds her hand out for him. “Let’s go get our suits on.”

Baz climbs off my lap and runs to her excitedly. “Yes!”

They head upstairs, and I escort Sawyer out to the patio so we can watch Sebastian swim.

“Quite the setup you’ve got here.”

“No shit. The Crenshaws don’t fuck around.”

I laugh as we take a seat in the lounge chairs around the pool.

“Yeah, I can see that.” He looks at the outdoor pool, complete with a hot tub and a waterfall.

He shakes his head, smiling and kicking back in the warm summer sun. “I still can’t fucking believe Vivienne Crenshaw got knocked up in school.”

The way he says her name makes her sound like some sort of nun, but I get it. Sawyer was in her class in school, so he knows as well as I do that she had a reputation of being a goody-goody. “Yeah. I know.”

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