In His Bed (18+)

Chapter 32

Sitting in the lunchroom, letting Faith and Sierra's chatter blur into meaningless white noise, I offered the occasional nod and hum to keep up the pretense of listening.

Meanwhile, my thoughts were occupied with a running list of all the reasons why I would never give that man the time of day.

I mean, he was just a guy I shared some genetics with – he'd done nothing to earn being called "grandfather".

But now he wants to?

"Earth to Hailey?"

Snapping my head up, I looked over at Faith. "Sorry, what?"

Her eyes slowly narrowed, "Were you listening to any of that?"

Shit.

I sighed, shaking my head, "I just got some weird news this weekend, and I guess I'm kind of distracted."

"News?" Sierra's eyebrow quirked up. "Sounds juicy – dish."

Looking around the table, I saw the interested eyes of half a dozen people – none of whom I actually wanted to explain this to.

I sucked in a breath, trying to hide my annoyance. "My grandfather wants to meet with my mom and me."

Sierra crunched into her carrot stick. "Like, your dad's dad?"

"Yeah."

"Isn't he like, crazy rich?"

"Yep." My tone was clipped, terse.

Faith stole a carrot stick out of Sierra's lunch. "So, you're going to do it, right?"

"I wasn't planning on it."

She snorted, "Why not?"

Why not?

Struggling to keep my expression neutral, I answered, "Well, the man is a complete bastard and he's made it very clear at every opportunity that he doesn't care about me or my mom."

Sierra looked confused, "But he's asking to see you?"

I rolled my eyes, poking my salad with my fork. "He said some stuff about getting older and wanting to 'atone' – I think he's just trying to ease his conscience before he dies."

Faith scoffed, "So?"

I gritted my teeth, turning toward her, "'So' I don't want to give him the satisfaction."

Her brow creased, "Who gives a shit?"

"Wh-"

"So what if he wants to use you to ease his conscience? Use him right back."

"What are you saying?"

Faith shrugged. "I'm saying that if you play your cards right, he'll do it with his wallet."

I paused.

Well... that's a thought.

"Seriously, Hales, he's a crusty-ass motherfucker who didn't matter to you before this, and he doesn't have to matter to you after this. Take what you can and then tell him to fuck off."

A twinge of unease struck me.

Could I?

Using somebody like that, even someone as vile as my grandfather...

"...I'll think about it."

"Good," Faith turned back to Sierra, "now that we've got that settled, can I tell you about the weird thing that happened to me this weekend?"

"Hmm?" I stabbed a piece of lettuce and brought it up to my mouth.

"So, I think Dad might be seeing someone."

I almost snorted romaine out of my nose.

"Oh?" Sierra asked.

"Yeah. I got home from Mom's place and he was in this weirdly chipper mood?" Crunching on the carrot, she continued, "I checked – there were way too many dishes in the dishwasher, and," she cut off to gag, "he washed his sheets."

Chuckling, Sierra asked, "And he's not allowed to do laundry?"

Faith glared, "It means he did something to dirty them."

I felt my cheeks warming, remembering exactly what we'd done to dirty his sheets this weekend.

"And?" Sierra asked.

"And he's my dad? I don't want to think about him like that!"

"Faith, your dad's a DILF, get over it."

"Sierra!"

"What? Dude, your dad is hot as fuck - you cannot be surprised that he's getting laid."

"Oh my fucking god-"

"Seriously, and I mean seriously, he could have me if he wanted me." Sierra shrugged, "I would fuck your dad."

"Jesus-"

Sierra turned to me, "Hailey, back me up here – Jason Coleman is completely fuckable, right?"

I looked up, feeling carved from granite as I met both of their expectant stares.

Suddenly and overwhelmingly dry-mouthed, I stuttered, "I-I mean, he's a good-looking guy..."

"Thank you." Sierra looked at Faith, smug.

I glanced at Faith, "...but he's also your dad, and it's kind of impossible to find one of my friends' parents fuckable."

Shame flushed through me, and I desperately hoped that they couldn't read the lie on my face.

"Thank you!" Faith exclaimed, "at least one of my friends isn't horny for my fucking dad!"

Stuffing my face with salad, I chewed slowly, trying to avoid the rest of this conversation.

Class had never seemed so far away.