Page 36 of Puck Around and Find Out

More silence dragged out between us. I could say a lot of things about Dad, but not that he was stupid.

He scowled. “Whatever you boys were doing that you shouldn’t have been, I’m not worried about. The car I’m not worried about, not really. Did you hit another vehicle? What’s the real damage?”

Letting out a long breath, I leaned against the door. “Nothing like that.”

“If I find out otherwise, you’re in trouble.” He pointed at me.

“I didn’t borrow that car!”

He bared his teeth. “Strange that he’s been fine every time he has it out, except when you were in it with him.”

“How is this my fault?” I tossed up my hands, surprised—but not really. This was always how things went. My feelings were hurt, but there was nothing new about that.

Dad shook his head at me and padded off toward his office barefoot, still in his pajama pants and the T-shirt he’d slept in.

Anger boiled in my blood, and I went over to Wy’s room and opened the door. The sound of the shower running greeted me, and as pissed off as I was, an evil idea popped into my head. The only thing wrong in this house was the plumbing, and I doubted Wy knew that. I went into his bathroom and popped up the lid on the toilet before taking the longest, loudest piss I could muster.

“Is that you, Atlas?” Wy asked, still sounding sleepy. He didn’t bother looking over his shoulder through the glass door.

“Yep.”

He grunted, and I snickered, then smacked the handle on the toilet. Thewhooshof the water going down the bowl had me chuckling. About five seconds went by, and then he started shouting and cursing as he slammed back against the wall, mostly out of the line of fire. He held up his hands toward the water—which I knew would be burning hot—then glared through the glass shower wall at me.

I twiddled my fingers at him before heading downstairs.

Yeah, maybe we were friendlier, but I still wanted him to get out of my house.

Maybe?

I wasn’t sure anymore, but that had been a little funny, either way, so I smirked and hopped off the stairs onto the first floor. Once I stepped into the kitchen, I sighed because Elissa was making pancakes. Her curly brown hair was everywhere, which was cute. There was already a stack of bacon big enough for seven hungry mountain dogs on a plate next to the stove, and my mouth watered. I wanted to go over there, but if I did, I would get sucked into a—

“How are you doing this morning?” Elissa blasted me with a wide, sweet smile. “How is your first win of the season treating you? I know the car was a real loss. I looked at it this morning, but that good luck must’ve stayed with you. Are you hungry?” She gave me a desperate around the edges grin that let me know she was trying really hard to get on my good side, and it made me feel bad. I’d already known she wasn’t horrible.

“Uh, yeah,” I mumbled.

She beamed at me and grabbed a plate out of the cupboard, then flipped the pancake she’d been cooking onto it. “Help yourself to some bacon. There’s coffee waiting on the table.”

Nodding, I picked bacon up off the plate.

Wy came in, got an eyeful of me where I’d taken a spot at the small table in the breakfast nook, and smiled as if I’d done something fantastic.

I shrugged. Yeah, I hadn’t been shitty to his mom or avoided her. I certainly didn’t deserve a medal for that, but with the way he was acting guilt began to gnaw at me.

“Thanks for making breakfast, Mom,” he said to Elissa.

“Uh, yeah, thanks,” I muttered.

She grinned at me. “You boys were so good last night. Ugh, and that awful boy from that other team who hit Wy! What a jerk.”

“He wasn’t nice,” Wy said, and I snorted. He didn’t really swear around his mom, but I could tell he wanted to say something worse.

“So,” she said, coming over with her own plate of food. She took a spot beside Wy. “Your father is busy.” She nodded at me. “But, I was thinking, it’s the perfect time of year to—”

“No.” Wy gave me a panicked look. “Mom, he doesn’t want to do anything like that.”

Irritated, I frowned at him. “You don’t know. Maybe I do want to do something with you guys today.” I hated people talking for me, but about two seconds later I realized I’d been had because his lips twitched into a crooked grin.

“Okay, Mom.” He smiled at Elissa. “What did you want to do?”

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