Page 147 of Can't Text This

I’m fairly certain thanks to Holly’s naturally bronzed skin, courtesy of her Latina heritage, Monty would disappear standing next to her. That’s how different their complexions are.

Xavie must have gotten most of her genes, because save for his eyes, that kid looks nothing like me.

“Hey, Hol,” I say as I walk up onto the porch. “Heard you have crabs too. What a shame.”

She laughs and holds the portable tank out to me. “Here. You can have them back. Creepy little things. I can’t believe you let him get those.”

“Hey, he’s your kid. He got his weird taste in animals from you.”

“For the billionth time, liking hairless cats does not make me weird.”

“Save the speech for someone else,” I tease. “How you been?”

She crosses her arms over her chest and eyes me up and down. “Better than you it seems. Who screwed you over?”

“Me.”

“Huh?”

I shake my head. “It’s nothing.”

“Robbie Cross, don’t ‘it’s nothing’ me. We have history, but we’re still friends. Talk to me. Maybe I can help, offer a woman’s insight and all that.”

She’s not wrong…

I glance back at the car, making sure Xavie’s still okay, and lean in close, dropping my voice to just above a whisper.

“You’ve met Miss Andrews, right?”

Her dark brows slash together. “Our son’s teacher? Of course I have. What about her?”

“She’s…um…” I scratch at my beard again. “We were kind of dating.”

She balks at my confession. “Shut the fuck up, Robbie. No you weren’t.”

“We were, Hol, and it was getting serious too.”

“Was? What happened?”

“Well, we found out she was Xavie’s teacher, thought we could make it work and keep things quiet during the school year. We went out on Sunday and, yeah, things didnotgo as planned. We ran into Mr. Donahue.”

Holly groans. “Oh god. Of all the people, it had to be that fuckhead? Ihatedhim. He was such a twerp to Xavie.”

“I know, and of course he remembered me.”

“Probably because you threatened his life a time or two.”

“I think you’re exaggerating that a smidge.”

She squints, tilting her head. “Am I?”

I chuckle and continue. “Anyway, we tried to play it off like we weren’t together.”

“But that dick is perceptive.”

“Yeah.” I nod. “Let’s just say he’s not too happy about my relationship with Monty and is threatening her with the…information he has on us.”

“You’re choosing your words very wisely, which is unlike you. That means there’s something you’re not telling me.”

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