Page 96 of Elusion

Once we load the Jeep, Callie goes inside one last time to double-check if we missed anything. She leaves me with Connor to coax Cate out of the back end. An awful idea. She keeps burrowing through the boxes. We can’t catch her, but a squirrel succeeds where we fail when it darts past the vehicle. The second she vacates to chase after it, I shut all the doors and lock them, not wanting to chase her again.

“Nice shiner,” Connor says. “You get any good hits in on Tyler?”

At least someone in this family responds appropriately.

I prop against the side of the Jeep. “Not nearly enough.”

“I always wanted to fuck that guy up for the way he looked at Cal.” He digs the toe of his shoe into the rocks on the driveway, oblivious to the other reasons he should have wanted to fuck Tyler up. “How mad was she?”

“Nothing I couldn’t handle.”

“Good.” He pushes the rocks into a pile with his foot. “We like having you around, Lover Boy.”

“Good,” I say. “I plan on being around, kid.”

Callie smiles on her way out.

“You ready to go, beautiful?”

She nods and hugs Connor goodbye. “I’ll be back next weekend after finals. The rest we’ll just have to figure out as we go.”

He rolls his eyes. “Wow, Cal, you sure we can manage? We’ve never had to deal with any of their bullshit before.”

She huffs, annoyed by his sarcasm. “Things were going to change anyway. We only have a few weeks until the summer schedule starts.”

“Oh, joy. Can’t fucking wait.” He kicks through the pile of rocks, and they spray across the yard, pelting the house. And then he does it again, almost breaking out a window.

What the fuck is his problem?

“Connor,” she shouts. “Knock it off.”

I push off the Jeep when she grabs his arm. Something set him off, and given his reaction, she might need assistance.

He jerks away from her. “What do you care? It’s not like you live here.”

Without another word, he storms inside and slams the door behind him.

Callie’s head falls back, and she groans before hiding her face in my chest. I stroke her hair and let her recover from his tantrum. In all my time around him over the past few months, he’s never lost his temper. He talks shit while we play video games and yells at the TV while watching sports, but nothing like this.

“He’s becoming impossible,” she says, pulling back. “They just keep pushing him. And he has all this anger now.”

“I can take your stuff to Trey’s if you want to stick around for a while.”

Her lips press together as she looks at the house, deliberating. “No, he needs his space.”

“Are you sure?”

Her smile doesn’t reach her eyes anymore. Connor’s not the only one Graham and Lauren keep pushing.

“It’s fine,” she says. “Let’s go find the monster.”

We track down Cate in the neighbor’s backyard. Per usual, she injures me as a going-away present when her teeth knock into my forehead while trying to kiss it. My greatest regret in life will be teaching her that move.

Over at Trey’s house, Callie and I meet to unload boxes. Most of them are squished from the evasion attempts of a certain six-year-old. Callie overloads my arms with all the heavy boxes, unaware that Connor and I carried a few out one at a time. Naturally, I can’t say anything and risk looking weak in front of my woman, so I persevere.

“What’s the summer schedule?” I try sounding casual as my arm muscles strain.

“We spend a week at Lauren’s and then a week at Graham’s. Well, they’ll spend a week at Lauren’s.” She opens the door and lets me into Trey’s living room. “I guess I’ll spend a week here.”

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