Page 34 of The Pucking Kiss

“I’m sorry if I overstepped with my suggestions. I was just –”

He cut me off before I could finish. “No, you’re right.”

“What?” surprise colored my face. “I didn’t expect you to say that.”

“It’s annoying, actually, how you’re always right,” he sighed. “I do carry a lot of anger inside of me towards him. It’ll help me if I let it out once. I’ll go see him, but I have a condition.”

“What’s the condition?” I found myself growing excited.

“You’ll have to come with me.”

“What?” I shook my head, “Come on, now that’s crazy.”

“You’re my girlfriend, right? Pretend or whatever. You’re going to be there and give me support.”

“But I don’t even know your dad.”

“And neither do I,” he replied, “Come on, you’re the one that planted this stupid idea in my head. Now you’re going to be the one to suffer through it with me.”

It sounded crazy to just pack up and go visit his dad on a whim. It was different in his case, but tagging along felt outside my comfort zone. But Bryan was fully sold on the idea now. I couldn’t turn him down.

“Fine, I’ll go with you to New York to see him.”

Chapter 13

Romai

Bryan keeps his eyes on the road. He’s barely said a word to me ever since he picked me up in the morning to drive down to his father’s house.

At first, I assumed it was just him not being much of a morning person. It was 8 a.m. on a Saturday, after all. But the way he restlessly drummed his fingers on the steering wheel and fidgeted constantly told me something else was at play.

“Are you nervous?”

“Nervous?” he scoffed, stealing a quick glance at me. “I’m Bryan Jones. I don’t get nervous.”

“I mean, it’s only natural if you are. You haven’t seen your dad properly in years,” I said, touching his shoulder gently. “You don’t have to be the tough guy all the time.”

“And you don’t have to be my therapist all the time,” he rolled his eyes, making a sharp turn.

I stayed quiet, knowing that if Bryan was going to open up to me again, it would have to come from him. No amount of pushing would convince him, and I had to respect that.

“I told him last night,” he admitted after a long pause.

“And how’d he take it?” my tone brightened up immediately. I wanted to know everything.

He huffed a laugh. “I could hear his new wife asking in the background who he was talking at such a late hour.”

The bitterness in his voice was evident, and I couldn’t blame him. Being a child of divorce felt almost as bad as never having parents to begin with. Hoping to let him know that I was there for him, I put my hand on his knee.

I expected him to shrug my hand off, but instead, a small smile twisted at the end of his lips. “Careful, Romai. Are you trying to distract me?”

“More like comfort you,” I blushed in response.

“Well, I prefer the former. If you want…” he turned me, gauging my reaction before continuing, “I could park the car somewhere private, and we could… you know.”

My eyes widened at the implication. “Absolutely not. Have you seen what time it is right now?”

“So what?” he shrugged, seeming disappointed that I wasn’t immediately willing to take my clothes off and fuck him in the back of his car. “It’s not like we are in a rush. It could be fun.”

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