“Honey bug, you are not paying attention lately,” she said, eating out of her own carton of sweet and sour pork. She and I had picked up dinner for Ben tonight, something we used to do every week until more recent events.
Knowing that was all me, I frowned. “Sorry. Accident.”
Her brow lifted behind her carton before Ben came over in his cop uniform, a few cans of assorted soda beverages in his arms. I see he’d raided the precinct’s vending machines tonight. He grinned, putting out his display for us. “I got Sprite, Coke, and something that isn’t name brand. I think it’s basically Mountain Dew?”
Pointing to that, I took it but didn’t open it, tapping my finger against the can while Mom chose the can of Sprite. Ben opened it for her before pecking her and sitting back down behind his desk, the two of them absolutely adorable. I’d admit I had been weird at first when my mom told me she wanted to start dating again, and when she had, it’d been really fucking weird. She went through a few losers before this guy came around, Ben actually pretty cool.
Especially for a cop.
He took really good care of us, care of my mom, and lounging back, he tossed an arm behind Mom’s folding chair. He jerked a chin at me. “Something wrong with the dumplings?”
I frowned. “No, why?”
I followed their gazes to the dumpling that currently dripped soy sauce on the campus precinct’s floor and cursed, falling to the floor with some paper towels. The curse got me a chide from my mom, who was well aware I’d been swearing since middle school. Hell, she’d been doing it with me until Ben came along. He came from old family values, i.e., a stick in the mud, but he was sweet, kind despite his need for nightly family dinners when I’d been in school and a curfew that saw me home by nine o’clock every night even when I’d been a senior. I shook my head. “Sorry.”
“No big.” Ben headed to the floor with me, getting some Kleenex from his desk. Between the two of us, we got it up, and using some of Mom’s hand sanitizer, we got the stickiness away too. Ben balled everything both he and I had up before trashing it and returning to his chair. He grinned again. “So you gonna let your mom and I in on why you’re so out of it?”
“Out of it?”
Mom tapped me with her sneaker, in her own uniform with the Pembroke University’s insignia on her polo. She’d just come off a shift before picking me up so we could get dinner for Ben during his evening shift. “Yeah, or why you’ve been missing family dinners?”
I hadn’t gone to one since this whole thing with Knight. I shrugged. “Nothing. Just busy with school.”
“Hardly.” She frowned. “Until recently, your Instagram account has been nothing but you partying.”
I frowned now. “You’ve been stalking me?”
“Actually, Greer, I believe it’s called parenting?” Ben raised a chopstick, waggling his brown eyebrows at his joke before feeding my mom some kung pao chicken. The two may be adorable, but really disgusting sometimes. I mean, it was my mom… He turned my way. “Everything, okay? You really do seem different.”
“Yeah, baby.” She folded her hand over my knee. “Maybe it’s too much partying? If it’s a problem, we can move you back home next semester. That’s okay, you know?”
God, no. Between the two of them, they might actually try to give me a curfew or some shit. I shook my head. “It’s not a big deal. Just stressful stuff with school.”
“Well, I only did some college, dear, but I think this way you’re acting is weird. Even for you.” She nudged me with a smile. “Tell us about it.”
“There’s nothing to tell.” Only everything, the fact that I had a beautiful stalker the size of military vehicle threatening my life whenever he saw fit. I hadn’t seen him since lunch that day, but that didn’t mean I wouldn’t see Knight Reed again. The campus was only so big, and he, well, was fucking large. I poked at my food. “Actually, there is something.”
“Yes.” Excitement dancing in my mom’s eyes, she scooted closer, Ben too with interest and I rolled my eyes.
“Remember Knight Reed?” I asked, being passive about it. I dunked another dumpling before popping it into my mouth. “That boy from Maywood Heights?”
“I do.” She frowned and when Ben looked at her, she shrugged. “He’s a boy who lived at one of the houses I used to clean. Greer and I lived at his grandfather’s estate for a while. I was one of their live-in housekeepers.”
“Ah…” Ben lifted his head before his eyes flashed. “His grandpa isn’t Gerald Reed, is he?”
My chest tightened at the thought he knew anything about the Reeds. “Yeah, why?”
Ben lounged back, his fingers threading across his chest. “Well, we have him to thank for our spanking new uniforms. Gear?” He flashed his utility belt, and I supposed his uniform did appear new. Honestly, I wouldn’t even know the difference since I didn’t really pay that much attention. Ben smiled. “I heard his grandson goes to Pembroke. Do you two know each other closely?”
“No, why would you ask that?” I said this too fast, enough for them to both notice when they narrowed their eyes. I pushed around my hair. “I mean, not particularly. I ran into him.”
“Did you? How is he?” Mom asked, and though I maybe had ill will toward Knight and his grandpa for firing her and making us homeless all those years ago, my mom wasn’t nearly as petty. She’d moved on, and when the whole thing went down, I hadn’t recalled her really
