Page 61 of Sweet Like a Psycho (Secrets of Suburbi 2)

“Nope.” I reached across the counter and squeezed his knee. “It’s a grown-up thing.”

“Awww, but, Mom. Everything’s a grown-up thing.”

I laughed. “Not true, little dude. None of us get to eat while sitting on the counter like you.”

“That’s true. Are there any more cookies?”

“Eat more ziti instead.”

“Fine.” He grabbed the serving spoon and plopped more onto his plate.

“I’m sorry about all of Damien’s questions,?

? said Tucker.

I really hadn’t thought anything about them until I saw how upset they had made Tucker. “I did spend a lot of time on the floors. It was nice to have someone notice. It seems like you thought it was an inappropriate question, though. Why?”

“Because of how people think there’s bunches of bodies under our floors,” Zeke said with a mouthful of food.

God. I was more horrified that Zeke had heard the rumor than I was that Damien was trying to trick me into confessing to something that wasn’t true. I was embarrassed that my son had pieced the questions together and I was too blind to see it. Or too…drunk? I don’t know. I pushed the glass aside. “Zeke, who did you hear that from?”

He shrugged. “I don’t remember. A lot at school. It’s not true, Tucker,” he added. “I’d know if our house was haunted, I live here.”

“I know,” Tucker said.

“Zeke, what else have you heard?” I was horrified. I knew the kids teased him, but he’d never said they were spreading rumors about me too. About our house. No wonder he couldn’t catch a break.

“I don’t know.”

Whenever he said that it meant he just didn’t want to talk about it. He’d probably heard everything. Of course he had. The people in this town were horrible. “Okay, little dude.” I squeezed his knee. I’d ask him about it later when we were alone. “But you know not to listen to rumors, right?”

“Yup.” He took another huge bite of ziti. “Rumors are for shitty dicks.”

“Zeke!”

He giggled.

Tucker started to laugh too.

I couldn’t help but join them.

“I feel like you were making fun of me while I was gone,” Damien said as he walked back into the room.

“Only a little,” Tucker said. He winked at me as he placed his arm on the back of my chair.

I liked when he did that. It made me feel safe in the most comfortable way. I was thankful that he wasn’t trying to put his arm around my shoulders or hold my hand again. That had been nice at the mall, but I didn’t feel comfortable with him doing that in front of Zeke. It would lead to all sorts of questions, and I didn’t have the answers. I didn’t know what we were. It would all depend on how tonight went. Suddenly I was nervous for our conversation. What if he ran away too?

Damien topped off my glass without asking this time. I knew he was trying to do what I thought Tucker had tried to originally do to me. If I was indisposed it would be easy to search my place. Or maybe get a drunken confession. Tucker wasn’t guilty of those things though. And maybe tonight would be easier if I just flat out asked Damien what he wanted to know. The only problem was that I wasn’t sure I could give him the answers he wanted. I wanted to open up to Tucker tonight, not his friend.

He’ll run. He’ll turn you in. You’ll lose Zeke. I grabbed the glass and took another sip. Liquid courage was a thing, right?

“Violet?” Damien asked.

I looked over at him. It seemed like he had been trying to get my attention for a while. “Sorry, what did you say?”

He smiled. “I was wondering if you ever hear from Joel anymore?”

“No. Not since high school.” I could feel all three sets of eyes staring at me.

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