Chapter 37

Igot back in the truck, still a little dazed about Jewel’s suggestion. While I wanted her staying at the Manor with us for as long as she wanted to be there, I didn’t want her cooking and I didn’t know yet how I was going to get around it.

First things first, however, I had to clear the extra guest with my son. I liked Jewel. A lot. I loved having her around and I definitely enjoyed having her in bed—or anywhere else, for that matter. But ultimately, Colten was my first priority this summer.

If he wasn’t okay with her coming to stay, then that was that.

“So, uh, how would you feel about Jewel coming to stay with us?” I asked as I turned over the engine, glancing at him in the rearview mirror. “Would that be okay?”

His eyes widened, but I also saw the excitement suddenly shining from them. “I’m all for that idea. I love having her around. She’s so happy all the time, and she talks a lot. Which is nice. She’s also an extra person to play chess with and she’s way more patient than you, Daddy. And way better.”

I laughed. “Wow. Thanks for that, but there’s something else.”

“What?” He frowned. “She’s not cooking for us, is she?”

I sighed. “I’m afraid she is. Dinners.”

His face fell. “What? Why?”

I explained the deal to him and he clutched his stomach, his head shaking as he shot me a pleading look in the mirror. “I can’t eat another casserole like that. What are we going to do? She can’t cook, Dad. I’m better than her in the kitchen and I can’t even do anything.”

“Yeah, I know, but we can’t tell her she’s an awful cook. She’s too kind. I don’t want to hurt her feelings. Do you?”

“No, of course not.” He scoffed, his face entirely glum as he sank back in his seat. “We also can’t eat her food, though. We’ll die.”

I grimaced. “Don’t be dramatic. We won’t die. We might just, uh, starve. A little bit. Only at night, so that’s not too bad.”

Colt groaned, his head shaking once more. “No, Dad. I can’t.”

“Yes, you can,” I insisted. “All we need to do is take really small portions of her food and put the weight back on when we get home.”

I was joking, but something about what I’d said seemed to have made Colten clam back up. Sort of like the way he’d been when we’d first arrived. Turning to face the window, he sighed, staring out as I drove us away from the main street.

“Hey, bud. What’s up? What just happened? You don’t have to take small portions. I was kidding. Look, I’ll talk to her. I’ll?—”

“It’s not that,” he said suddenly. “I mean, it is that. I don’t want to eat her food, but I will. It’s just…”

I gave him a moment to collect his thoughts after he trailed off, not prompting him to speak until he was ready. A block or two later, he finally came out with it. “I don’t want to put the weight back on when we get home, Dad. I don’t want to go home at all.”

Stunned into silence, I swiped my tongue across my lips and rolled them into my mouth. First, he hadn’t wanted to be here at all and now he didn’t want to leave? As soon as the thought hit though, I realized that I couldn’t blame the kid.

Life was obviously much better for him here than back in Los Angeles. He had friends in June Lake. He played outside and he didn’t have dread hanging over his head about having to go to school every day with kids who weren’t nice to him.

I exhaled slowly, but I didn’t say anything. What could I say? It wasn’t like I could pack up our lives and move here just because he’d made some friends. The best I could hope for was that the social skills he’d learned here translated once we got back to the city.

We stopped at a red light, and just as I was about to suggest to him that he might make friends at home if he treated them the same way he did Brody, something slammed into our back end. Colten and I both jolted forward and he let out a startled shout.

My features snapped into a scowl as I checked my mirrors, not at all surprised to see a bright red Ferrari behind us. Dallas fucking Styles.

“You have got to be kidding me,” I growled, unclipping my seatbelt before shooting Colten a meaningful look. “Stay here, kiddo. Let me deal with this, okay?”

I got out of the truck to find Dallas stumbling out of his crumpled car, clutching his phone. Rage simmered in my veins when I realized he’d obviously been texting and driving, but of course, he glowered and laid into me for it.

“Why the hell are you stopped in the middle of the road? What is wrong with you, man? That’s not a parking spot.”

Grinding my teeth, I pointed at the red traffic light. “I’m not parked there. In case you missed it in driver’s ed, red means stop, but I suppose you have to be looking at the road to see a red light.”

I pulled my phone out of my pocket and called the cops. Once I was told that the police were on their way, I started taking some pictures of the scene just in case I needed them. Meanwhile, Dallas was getting more and more worked up and a crowd was starting to gather.

“Bullshit! That light wasn’t red. Are you suggesting that I wasn’t looking at the road? The light was green, idiot. You stopped for no reason.”

I sighed but didn’t respond. The light had been red. Colten had been with me and he’d seen it too, but moreover, I was sure there would be a way to check these things. Besides, the truck he’d just rammed into was his own.

Or his family’s, at least.

A few people in the crowd were holding up their cellphones, but I was actually pretty glad they were here. Dallas noticed it too, smirking at the damn cameras like he was some kind of celebrity as he kept shouting at me.

“You seriously need to get out of town, man,” he ranted. “You’re doing nothing but causing trouble here. I mean, who parks in the middle of a damn road? The light was green.”

“You can keep saying that as much as you want,” I finally ground out. “Saying it doesn’t make it true. Let’s just wait for the police, okay? Calm down.”

“Calm down?” He scoffed, his face turning the same color as his car.

In his temper tantrum, his slicked-back hair had fallen over his face. The graying strands over the tomato red of his skin created a sort of sickly contrast. I had no idea how the people around here put up with this guy, but I’d just about had it myself.

“You calm down, asshole!” he yelled at me. “This is all your fault. You stopped right in front of me for no reason. Don’t you dare tell me to calm down. Look at my car! It’s wrecked.”

I shrugged. “To be fair, the truck is yours too, so that’s two wrecked vehicles.”

“You’re going to pay for this,” he demanded, borderline hysterical as he clenched his fists at his sides.

It seemed my remaining calm was really getting under his skin, but there was nothing I could do about it. The cops would be here soon and then hopefully we’d be on our way soon after. Dallas started pacing up and down, his shoulders hunched. He stopped to smirk at a camera every once in a while, but I didn’t think anyone was buying the act anymore.

“You are going to pay for this,” he snarled, stopping the pacing to shoot me another glare. “You fucking asshole! You just slammed on the brakes without any warning. You’re an irresponsible, pathetic, fuck?—”

As he got more heated, using foul language now and jabbing his finger in my direction, Colten suddenly rolled down his window and called nervously for me. “Dad? Daddy!”

I strode around to his side of the truck, forcing what I hoped was a reassuring smile to my lips, but my heart jerked when I saw how pale Colten was. “Daddy? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, bud. Are you okay?”

He stared at me for a long beat, his eyes much too bright. “I think so. Why can’t we just leave? That man is really angry.”

“I know, but we can’t leave the scene of an accident, so we need to wait for the police to get here. Everything is okay though, kiddo. As soon as the police come, I’m just going to have a quick talk with them and then we’ll be done.”

Dallas was still fuming, snarling at a few of the bystanders who were trying to calm him down. I glanced at him before looking back at Colten. “Just stay in the truck for now. The police will be here real soon.”

While I was trying to set him at ease, Dallas suddenly stormed toward me, his middle finger raised and the look in his eyes slightly unhinged. “You’re going to be sorry you ever did this. I’ll make sure of it. I?—”

“I didn’t do anything except stop at a red light. Now take it down a notch and wait for the police to get here.”

He got right in my face, spittle flying out of his mouth as he kept yelling at me. “Don’t tell me what to do. You did this! This is your fault!”

“Take. It. Down. A. Notch,” I repeated slowly, enunciating every syllable and every word. “You’re scaring my son, Mr. Styles. Just calm down and wait for the police to get here. They’ll take our statements and we’ll all be on our merry way, but simmer down and back away from this truck and my child. Now.”