Page 40 of Conner's Luna

"What? An adorable dwarf with cute, little legs," he defends himself. "Anyway, do you see Conner?" He looks me up and down with a smirk, "never mind, shorty."

"Whatever, stringbean. There he is," I point out the behemoth man heading our way with a dark look on his exhausted face.

"Bailey," he greets me. Without warning, he pulls me into his arms. My face smushes against his chest and my glasses are knocked askew. It's not a sexy hug, but I cling to him anyway, soaking in the comfort.

"So, Bailey, tell Conner about Guatemala," Braxton says from behind us.

"Haiti," I mumble.

"Whatever," Braxton says with a wicked grin at me. "Bailey is thinking about going to Haiti during Spring Break with Habitat for Humanity," he says.

I literally feel my breath seize in my chest when Conner looks down at me. His eyes have darkened to almost black, all of the exhaustion eclipsed by anger. I gulp. His anger is clearly directed at me. Shoot.

"You are doing what?" he breathes. He leans in, placing both hands flat on the glass doors behind my head to cage me in.

"I need to get keep my scholarship. The school isn't offering any good extracurriculars-" I start to babble, weirded out how this conversation just twisted around to Conner being angry at me.

"You have your internship," he interrupts me.

"I need more," I tell him stubbornly.

"Volunteer here," Mr. McBossypants says.

I scowl at him. Did I not just say that the university wasn't giving me any opportunities? These boys are the most confusing people I have ever met in my life. Conner scowls back at me and I have to admit that his expression is much more intimidating than mine.

"I'll find something for you to do," Conner states. No, he demands.

"I can do-"

"No," he snaps at me. He brings one hand down and wraps one of my curls around his fingers, bringing it to his nose to smell. What the heck? "You smell like honeysuckle," he whispers.

Braxton clears his throat. "Bailey wants to know about our dads. That ginger prick, Doug, said something in class today."

There's a shift in Conner's entire body. He pulls out of his stance and captures my hand with his. We walk over to a booth, where Sean and Sarj are already wolfing down bagel sandwiches with extra bacon.

"So, our dads," Braxton smirks at Conner as he slides into the booth next to Sean. All four boys’ eyes are on me, intensely looking for a negative reaction to Braxton's words. I hold my breath and refuse to squirm in my chair. It truly doesn't matter to me, but... gossip.

Conner slides a large coffee cup to me along with the plate of plain bagels with cream cheese."How do you feel about me having two fathers?" Conner plays with a strand of my hair. I hear him inhale deeply and I turn to look at him worriedly. I don't want him to think it matters to me.

"It's cool, but I'm sorry!" I apologize.

"For what?" he says in an easy tone.

"I'm a terrible gossiper," I whisper my confession. "I asked Brax even though it's not my business."

Conner grins. "But you're barely on Insta or Snapchat?"

I squirm. "I am." I use only aliases. Dad insisted I never put personal information on my accounts after I won my first academic accolades years ago. He seems to think that I would gain nutty stalkers because he's a dad and it's his job to think that men will obsess over his little girl (no matter how remote the possibility). I show Conner. He laughs at my screen name, 'OhSmart1.'

He starts toying with my hair again, his mouth right next to my ear. "We have three parents. Dad, Papa, and Mom. They're a triad."

I sit there blankly. Braxton winks at me as he picks up one of the bagel sandwiches and starts to murder it.

My mind immediately starts to do mental calculations as if I can fit Conner's family into a neat little equation.

"What are you thinking about?" Conner asks me quietly.

"If your family were a math equation, they would be X times Y squared."

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