Page 120 of Home Town Advantage
TWENTY-NINE
VANCE
Iclimb into Daylen’s Jeep to an unexpected huge lick across the face from BJ. I shove her toward the backseat. “Ugh. Why did you have to bring the beast?”
In his stupid baby voice, Daylen answers, “BJ was excited to see Uncle Vance.” He rubs behind her ear. “Weren’t you, baby girl?”
Bark.
“You know what my new red flag is, D?”
He smirks. “What?”
“People who think their pets are human. People who think their pets understand English.”
He gasps. “Iknowmy princess speaks English. BJ, sing for Uncle Vance.” He yells, “TLC,” as though it’s a command.
The fucking dog starts belting out and singing. It’s a sound I’ve never heard an animal make before. I think she’s actually singing. And then he starts singing “Waterfalls” along with her. It’s like a duet. What the hell is going on here?
I stare at the two of them. “Fucking Sonny and Cher living their best life.”
Daylen lets out a loud laugh. “Damn, I should have named her Cher.”
The two-day emergency family leave that the Camels gave me has come to an end. I had to get back tonight in time for practice tomorrow morning. Daylen insisted on picking me up from the airport.
“Thanks for getting me. You didn’t have to. I could have Ubered home.”
He waves his hand dismissively. “Nah. I wasn’t busy. I want to hear about everything anyway. It must have been nuts. Like a soap opera. I can practically hear thedah, dah, dahmusic.”
By the time I’m finished telling him the story, he has a giant smile on his face. “Why are you so fucking happy, D?”
He continues his goofy grin. “Because you’ve allowed yourself to live in quicksand for seven years, and now you’re finally out.” He throws his hands in the air and shouts, “Halleluiah!”
“What does that mean? Quicksand?”
“It means every time you moved, you got deeper and deeper into shit. There’s been no escaping it for you. You’ve been stuck and miserable for too many years. I love you like a brother. Even though you won’t cuddle with me on road trips, I know you love me too. If something happened to me, I would never in a million years want you to live your life the way you have been.GuaranteedFinn wouldn’t have wanted that either. It’s time for Vance to prioritize Vance for once. Stop punishing yourself for living. You don’t have to feel guilty that you get to live your dream while he doesn’t.” He sits up straight. “As your official best friend successor, I hereby command you to only do things that make you happy moving forward. Hakuna Matata.”
As soon as he says Hakuna Matata, BJ starts singing again. And Daylen sings the words to the song along with her.
I stare at him in disbelief. He shrugs. “What? BJ’sfavorite movie isLion King. She watches it all the time when I’m not home.”
“Do you know that your dog isn’t human?”
He stares at me and yells, “Hakuna Matata,” and the fucking dog starts singing again.
Thirty minutes later,I’m about to walk into my house. My plan is to drop my stuff, get what I need for tomorrow, and then go to Sulley’s and lay it all on the line. I had so many things I wanted to say in the treehouse, but I wasn’t sure she was in the headspace to hear them, and then I got so emotional and cried like a baby. She ended up having to take care of me when all I really wanted to do was to take care of her.
I walk through my front door, and I’m not prepared for what I see. Sulley is sitting on the small table in the center of the foyer, waiting for me. She’s wearing my jersey with nothing else on but those leather boots I like and red-painted lips.
She stares at me as she leans back on her hands and slowly spreads her legs enough for me to see that she’s not wearing any panties. I blink my eyes a few times to make sure I’m not dreaming this.
She smiles sexily before running her tongue along her lower lip and breathing, “Welcome home, lover.”
Every ounce of blood in my body rushes to my cock. Her eyes move down to the obvious bulge in my jeans, and her smile widens.
She pushes herself off the table and walks toward me like the tempting, seductive goddess she is until she’s standing right in front of me.
“Sulley, I?—”
