Wrecking the Homewrecker (BOOK 2) EDITING

33

Adora

The boys ran in the door and I smiled, leaning against the counter.

"Hey, Adds!" They greeted.

Santiago rounded the corner and held out his arms.

"How are my favorite eleven year olds?" He asked.

"Dad, we're the only eleven year olds you know."

He chuckled and put both of them in a headlock. Alessandra just smiled and sighed, placing their lunchboxes on the counter. "Hi."

I smiled. "Hi."

She placed her hands in her back pockets and watched Santiago and the boys wrestle.

"Three eleven year old boys," she said, making me giggle.

"Right."

I tucked a chunk of hair behind my ear and grabbed the boys' lunchboxes, shoving them in the pantry before wiping off my hands.

"How's Rose?" I asked.

"She's good," she said, nodding, "she finally got over her sickness."

"That's good," I said, a warm smile on my face.

Alessandra and I had gotten more acquainted in the past two months, but not enough to hold a steady conversation. We still both were awkward around eachother, which was understandable. I didn't question it.

"I love your bag," she said, "where'd you get it?"

I bit down on my bottom lip and looked over at it. "Uh, actually, Santiago got it for me. For two months, or something."

She nodded slowly. "Santiago! Let's celebrate four years of friendship and you buy me one of those bags!"

I giggled and he rounded the corner into the kitchen. "Ask my brother to get you one, I'm out of money."

Alessandra and I scoffed at the same time, and she nudged my elbow. "Yeah right."

"I'm just kidding," he said, "but seriously, I know Mateo is thinking about taking you somewhere tropical for your birthday or getting you something super expensive. You didn't hear it from me."

He pointed at her as he grabbed a beer out of the fridge.

"Santiago," she said, "I know you don't keep beer in the house."

"This is root beer," he lied, a smile on his face as he took a long drink.

"You're a liar and irresponsible," she said, folding her arms over her chest.

"Hey," he said, his eyebrows raised.

She rolled her eyes. "You never know what the boys are doing, they could be sneaking down here getting beers at eleven o'clock when you're asleep."

"I'm not asleep, trust me," he said, chuckling, "I'm actually usually doing something a bit more eventful at that specific hour."

My cheeks burned red as I avoided eye contact with both of them, reaching inside the fridge to grab a water.

"TMI," she muttered, "hey, Adora, are you free Wednesday afternoon?"

I stopped in my tracks and turned around slowly, my eyebrows in a deep furrow.

"I, uh-"

"If you aren't, that's fine," she said, "I was just going to invite you to lunch."

My eyebrows shot up. I wasn't sure what to say.

Turn it down because you're afraid of what would happen, or say yes because you want to be on her good side?

"M-my lunch break lasts from twelve to one," I said, "if you're free then."

She smiled, nodding. "Sounds great. You work for John, right?"

I nodded. "Yeah."

"He's a great guy," she said, "very polite, very smart."

I smiled. "Agreed."

Santiago rolled his eyes and took a drink of his beer, looking away from us.

"Santiago King getting jealous," Alessandra teased, "as if that's a thing."

He chuckled, holding his hands up. "We all know I don't get jealous."

"Mm hmm," Alessandra said, "I have to run. I'll see you tomorrow?"

I nodded and she shot us a smile, waving as she walked into the living room. "Love you guys! See you this weekend."

She was soon enough out the door, my eyes turning into saucers.

Santiago just chuckled, pushing himself off of the counter. He pressed a kiss to my cheek. "Good luck, that's all I'm going to say."

~*~

Santiago

"Dad!"

I looked up as the boys barreled into my home office, pulling my glasses off of my face.

"Can you sign our test folders?" Josiah asked, handing me his.

I opened it and flipped through the graded papers, seeing A's and B's.

"Good job, big shot," I said, "you got my signature."

"Thanks, Dad!" He yelled as he ran out of my office.

I looked over at Fred, who was slowly shuffling over to my desk.

"Fred."

He sighed and picked up the pace, dropping the folder on my desk. I cocked an eyebrow up at him and opened it, furrowing my brows together at the papers inside.

"Fred, you've got A's and B's, I don't know what the problem is," I said, shaking my head.

I looked over at the paper he slid across my desk, which happened to be his math quiz.

D- Needs MAJOR assistance!!!!

I furrowed my brows together at the paper.

"Fred, what is this," I asked, looking up at him from my chair.

"I don't know, dad," he said, and I could see the defeat on his face.

"What happened to the A's on your quizzes?" I asked as he sat on my desk.

"Addy helped me a lot," he said, "but I got embarrassed always asking her for help."

"Fred," I said, shaking my head as I closed his folder, "you can't be embarrassed. You have to put your ego aside, no matter how hard it might be as a King."

"Dad," he mumbled, shaking his head as he looked away from me.

"Fred, you're smarter than this and you know it," I said.

"No, dad, I'm really not, obviously. I suck at math."

"You don't suck at anything," I said, "you know you're smart."

He rolled his eyes with a scoff.

"Fix the attitude," I said, "I'm not mad about the grade. If you need help, you need help. And you can't get help without asking."

"You are mad about the grade," he said, "I can see it, dad."

"You just looked at a folder full of straight A's and then went to mine and saw a D minus!" He yelled, "I'm not Josiah, dad! I'm not smart!"

"Yes you are, Fred," I said, "stop putting yourself down like that-"

"Forget it," he said, grabbing his test folder.

"Hey," Adora said, furrowed brows as he brushed past her in the doorway.

I leaned back in my chair and sighed, rubbing my hands down my face.

"I don't know how to deal with him saying those things about himself," I said, "I don't know how."

She leaned against the door and pursed her lips together. "I'll go talk to him."

~*~

Adora

"Knock knock," I said, smiling as soon as Fred looked up from his paper in front of him.

He just looked at me, his lips pursed together in a tight line.

"Mind if I come in?" I asked, a weak smile on my face.

He shook his head and I stepped inside, closing the door behind me.

"You know you can talk to me," I said.

He nodded.

"So what's going on?"

"I suck at school, that's what's going on," he said.

I sat down next to him on his bed. "Why on earth do you say that?"

He handed me his folder and I looked through it, noticing the paper that he was obviously ashamed of.

"Fred," I said, "why didn't you ask me to help you? You know I love helping you."

He shrugged, looking away from me.

"Fred," I said, nudging his elbow, "you know, if you're not going to talk to your dad, you have to talk to me about it. Sorry I'm all you've got."

He cracked a small smile.

"So tell me why you didn't ask for help," I said, folding my hands together in my lap.

"I don't know," he said, "it was just getting embarrassing."

"What was?" I asked.

"Asking you for help every single night, on every single problem," he said.

"Fred," I said, "asking for help should never be embarrassing."

"But it is to me," he said, turning to face me, "do you know how many times Josiah has had to ask for help? Zero. Jo's so good at math, and I just am terrible at it."

"But you and Jo aren't the same person," I said, "there's no way you can be good at the exact same things."

"But dad wants me to be good at school like Jo is," he said.

"You know, Fred," I said, "you don't have to be Jo. Fred is just as good."

He smiled up at me.

I smiled back down at him. The door opened and Jo peeked his head in. "Hey, hermano."

He plopped on the bed beside Fred and folded his hands in his lap. "Que pasa?"

"I suck at school."

"No you don't!" He yelled, "dude, you're awesome at school. You know, like, science, and english? All those subjects that I'm terrible at? And you're better at soccer than me. And talking to girls."

Fred laughed. "Cierto!"

I smiled at the two of them.

"If you need help just ask," Jo said, "I'll even let you cheat off of me."

He winked and nudged Freddy's elbow, making me giggle and push them away from eachother.

"I'm going to go finish up the rest of my homework," he said, hopping off of the bed.

Fred just smiled as the door closed and I grabbed his shoulder. "See? I told you."

He smiled up at me.

"But it still sucks," he said.

"What?"

"I live in the same house as Jo, who considers a B a failing grade, and my dad. They're both so smart, and good at school, and here I am."

"Well," I said, "if it makes you feel any better, I live in this house and school definitely wasn't my thing."

He laughed and looked up at me. "You know, Adds, I'm happy you're around."

I smiled down at him. "I'm happy I'm around, too."

"And so is Dad," he said.

I furrowed my brows together with a smile.

"He smiles a lot now that you're around," he said, smiling, "I like when dad smiles. It makes me happy. And you make him happy, so."

I could feel tears stinging at my eyes for no apparent reason, so I just smiled.

"I'm going to go, okay?" I said, "call me if you need anything."

He smiled and I closed his door, smiling when I saw Santiago standing there.

"What's wrong?" He asked, a smile on his face.

"I, uh, I just want to hug you."

He furrowed his brows together with a grin.

"I'm cold, you're warm."

He smiled and opened his arms, making me walk into them. His arms wound around my neck and he pressed a kiss to my head.

And I closed my eyes as I savored the feeling of Santiago King against me.

~*~

hi guys!! How did we like this chapter?

I know not a lot happened but I thought I'd add the boys in again!! A few comments about the boys came up so I decided to dedicate a chapter to them :)

Are we excited for lunch with Alessandra and adora?? Bc idk how to feel

Also how precious was Freddy 😭 the boys deserve the world ok

Sorry not a lot happened! I thought it would be nice to incorporate a chill chapter since so much has been going on lately :)

Ok. I love u guys!😚❤️