Page 11 of A Little Discovery

“Grab some pretzels or something,” I tell him in response. “I don’t want to have all this alcohol and no food going into this meeting in a few hours.”

“Screw the pretzels,” Eric says, laying down completely across the top step of the porch. “Grab the vodka. I have a night to forget. I gotta stop going for the baby gays… they just don’t understand that the asshole isn’t a vagina.”

“So why not just say no to sex for a night?” I ask him while Jay is inside. I know the real answer, even though Eric will never admit to it. “It might do you good to sleep a full night in your own bed.”

As expected, he laughs. “Spencer, babe. If I ever turn down sex, check me into a loony bin. This queen needs a steady diet of dick to survive.”

LUCKY

The voices from outside rouse me from my sleep, but I don’t move from under the blanket. I am so embarrassed that thesestrangers saw me at my absolute worst last night, but it touches something inside that they still opened their home to me. I was afraid that they were going to push the point of me taking a bed last night, but if I kicked someone out of their own bed, I would never be able to sleep.

I was tempted when Shiloh said the one guy’s bed would be empty. He was away for some photography program in Australia for a month, but then Scott reminded him that Spencer was flying home last night. That nixed that idea. Bad enough they wanted me to take away a bed from someone I’d not even met, but I couldn’t take his bed… especially not after that amount of traveling.

I know sleeping on planes isn’t comfortable for someone of my size, and I’m relatively small for a guy. Five foot seven isn’t super short, but I always seem to be surrounded by giants. Jace is a perfect example of what I’m used to. Before Mother made me stop hanging out with them, my cousins all surpassed me in height. Both Gramps and the men on my father’s side are over six foot. Mother is the only one in the family that makes me feel tall since she takes after her mother.

Even my wife is taller than I am… EX… ex-wife. I have to remember that. That fact is theonlybright spot in this entire fiasco. I smile even with the tears leaking from my eyes. Well, maybe not the only bright spot. Somehow, I found myself in the company of some amazing guys.

The chuckles coming from outside capture my curiosity enough that I pull the blanket off my head. I am surprised to see that there is light peeking around the outside of the curtains. The room is so dark that I thought it was still nighttime. Pulling out my phone, I power it back on. I had turned it off to conserve the battery since I didn’t bother to grab my charger or anything from the car.

I jump up in surprise at the time showing on the screen. I actually managed to sleep a full eight hours. That hasn’t happened in years. The shock turns to wariness when my phone starts vibrating like crazy with alerts. I unlock the phone to see who sent me all of the texts, since there are too many to show in the previews. I had only shut it off about nine hours ago. Every text sent was well after I would have been asleep.

Wifey:

Where the hell are you?

Wifey:

This phone belongs to me. You have no right to take it.

Wifey:

You fucking loser. Everything you own is mine.

Wifey:

By the way, Dad is keeping your last paycheck to cover the expenses for abandoning the job.

I can feel my pulse rising. She fucking took everything from me! Why the fuck can’t I keep my phone? My paycheck? She’s claiming I own nothing. The judge hasn’t even ruled on the assets yet, but she sure is confident that everything is going to be coming down in her favor. I wish I knew where that investigator she found was so I could let him know exactly how much he fucked me over.

Wifey:

You can’t run from me.

Wifey:

I don’t know who gave you money for a car, but you won’t get away.

Wifey:

You think you can go back to school? Just wait until they hear what you’ve done.

Wifey:

Don’t you know about the morals clause?

Morals clause? Oh, no…

No. No. No… This can’t be happening. She can’t take this from me, too. She already stole my family and my money. Can’t she just let me have my future?

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