Page 17 of Relapse
“Are you drinking?”
“No.”I’m trying not to die in this old ass tree.“Don’t you have other things to worry about. Like Grandpa’s next task.”
Lou grumbled out something inaudible.
He was not happy about his father’s miraculous return, and neither was Micha. I found that shit was funny as fuck. Grandpa and Grandma Kessler could stay as long as they liked. Plus, Lou hated them, which automatically made me like them.
I could do without Grandma’s slaps though. The back of my head never hurt this much. I got smacked this morning for not washing my hands before breakfast. Grandma didn’t mess around.
Logan had it worse. I thought Ryker’s old man would be some psycho, but he was actually kind of normal. And his wife was so sweet she made Paisley look like the boogeyman.
The fact that she’d survived as long as she had in a house with Riley was nothing short of a miracle. I thought she’d have a fork in her eye by now for sure.
“I need to talk to you about your contract.”
“What contract?” There was only one contract he could be talking about, but I liked fucking with him.
“You know damn well what contract.”
Who pissed in his cornflakes? Oh, right, Gramps did. I loved that old fucker.
I stepped around the trunk, hoisted myself up and grunted out, “What about it?”
“Mason, what are you doing?”
“Climbing a tree.”
There was a long pause in which Lou was probably trying to decide if I was hallucinating said tree, actually climbing one, or doing something dumb because I was drunk.
“Did you say you’re climbing a tree?”
Was he deaf now?“Yes.”
Another long pause that I used to swing around the trunk.
“Why are you climbing a tree?”
“I thought about going for a five mile run, but I saw this tree and thought fuck it. Let’s climb that shit and see if I can fly.”
“Mason,” Lou sighed.
I sighed right back at him. “Lou.”
“I suppose it doesn’t matter, as long as you’re doing something productive.”
Really? This was what he considered productive?
“Now, back to the contract,” he said, making me roll my eyes. “Harper’s sixteen now. Do you plan on enacting it?”
Why was he in such a hurry? I wasn’t fucking Micha. She only turned sixteen a couple months ago. It wasn’t like the clock was ticking down.
“Why do you care?” I grumbled and shimmied my way higher up.
A few more branches left and I’d be perched outside her window.
“Ned called me last week inquiring about it.”
That made me stop and arch a brow. “Harper’s dad called you.”
