Page 80 of Burning for Alexander
23
ALEX
IndexEcho:Three weeks, Poet. Three weeks and I’m flying home to you. There will be no more restrictions on what we can share. Your address is the first thing I’m asking for.
DrunkenPoet:I’m making a list of all the things I want to show you. Fair warning: it’s getting long.
IndexEcho:I’ve got time. We’ve got time.
_____________________
The next morning at breakfast,I laid into Aunt Tilly. “You think you’re hilarious, but you’re not. And you could have seriously screwed up my professional reputation,” I snapped as I sat down.
Papa’s eyes grew large from where he sat next to her. “Woah, hold on. What’s happening?”
I pointed at Tilly. “Manage your attack dog.She stole my phone, downloaded a hookup app, and then sent a dick pic from me to a professional colleague.”
So what if that wasn’t the entire truth? Chief Kincaid was definitely a professional colleague of mine; he just happened to be one whose inner thigh I’d tasted.
“Colleague, my ass,” she said. “The two of you have hate burning so hot, there’s bound to be a conflagration soon enough.”
My cheeks were a conflagration at the knowledge of how right she was. But from the way she was talking, it sounded like she hadn’t had time to scroll my actual text messages. “That’s my business, not yours. Stay out of my damned phoneandmy business.”
I gathered my things and went to sit at another table. Unfortunately, this one had my cousin Jett at it. I’d been avoiding him all weekend.
“Well, well,” he began. “If it isn’t my harasser. Tell me, did you get to enjoy my castoffs? That was a long time ago; I’m surprised the guy remembered. Who can remember one random hookup from three years ago? Christ.”
I put my middle finger in his face. “You blowing him off caused me a lot of grief. Stop doing rude shit if you’re going to walk around with my face and last name.”
He laughed and sat back, resting his coffee cup on his chest. “Not my fault we have the same biological parents.”
Our aunt Simone flicked Jett behind the ear. “Watch it. Alex, I would claim. You, not so much.”
Papa’s sister, Simone, had donated her eggs when my dads had decided to have another child with a gestational carrier. The carrier got pregnant on the first try, which left several embryos leftover, so when my uncles decided to start their family the following year, Dad, Papa, and Simone had donated the embryos to them.
Jett and I shared the same DNA. Aunt Simone’s and mydad’s. We rarely talked about it because it simply wasn’t important, but at times like this, I wished Uncle Mav and Uncle Beau had gotten their own damned genetic material instead of using mine.
It was true what I’d told Judd: Jett didn’t take anything seriously, and he loved sex. He’d practically made a career out of sleeping with as many people as possible, always claiming he was planning on growing his body count until the moment he stepped off this mortal coil.
Simone’s son JJ always teased Jett that he was going to be like one of those retirees in the Villages in Florida, having to get treated for an STI from all the old-man sex.
“At least I’ll die happy,” Jett always responded with a grin.
“My family’s going to be the death of me,” I murmured into my coffee. “First you, now Tilly.”
“What did she do?” Simone asked. I told everyone at the table about Tilly’s Flint app extravaganza.
Jett barked out a laugh. “That explains why she asked me to take a dick pic in the men’s room last night. She told me to borrow your socks.”
“Tell me that wasn’t your dick in my phone,” I groaned.
“Fuck no. Even I have my limits, and sending my great-great-aunt a picture of my junk is one of them.” Jett shrugged. “Besides, I was too busy hooking up with the lead singer of the band. Worth every flirty look, let me tell you.”
I held up a hand. “Save the raunchy escapade stories for someone who gives a shit.”
“Agreed,” Simone said with a nod. Then she pinned Jett with a look. “One day, a man is going to knock you over with his special sauce, and you’re not going to know what hit you.”
I pointed at him. “And then he’s going to say, ‘No, thanks,’ and leave you wanting.”
