Page 56 of Never Pucking Ending

“Hey, Dad,” I greet him.

The man who’s been one of my best friends my whole life asks, “What’s wrong?”

He’s supposed to distract me with whatever reason he called, not suck me back into the thoughts spiraling in my head. “Nothing,” I lie, frowning at the windshield. “What are you up to?”

Dad pauses. “I can hear it in your voice, kid. Something is up.”

Dammit. Why couldn’t I get one of those fathers who was aloof to my problems? “I’m good. I just…” Do I tell him? There’s only so much I can say without being able to go back. “I hurt Belle.”

“Ahh.” He says, as if it makes total sense.

Ah? What does ‘ah’ mean.

Dad makes a thoughtful noise. “Tell me what happened, and we can figure out how to fix it,” he offers. That simple. He doesn’t think twice about it.

I stop for a redlight. “I’m not sure I can,” I admit, feeling a little uncomfortable by this line I’m teetering on.

His sigh is light. “Anything can be fixed, son. Especially between the two of you.”

I can hear that he believes the truth in that, but that’s because he doesn’t know what a jackass I’ve been. How selfish I’ve been. Or if he does know I’m capable of being those things, he thinks I have the ability to make up for it.

Blowing out a breath so hard that I can hear my father chuckle, I admit what I did. “I may have dragged a few of my teammates out to crash her date last night.”

I’m met with silence for way longer than I expect. I think the call dropped until I glance over at the screen to see him still connected.

“Dad?” I ask, frowning. “You there?”

He clears his throat. “I’m here.” There’s another pregnant pause. “Is there a reason you crashed her date? This is with the contractor, right? Nora said he was a decent guy.”

Yeah, that’s what I keep hearing.

Wetting my lips, I grip the steering wheel. “I just felt weird about it, okay?”

He hums. “Is there a reason for that?”

Is he really not letting this go?

“Look,” he says when I don’t answer him. “I know you two are…close. You’ve been close for a very long time. And I don’t know what you’re into, but—”

“What I’m ‘into’?” I ask hesitantly, feeling the need to cut in and figure out where this conversation is going because my gut is saying it’s nowhere fun.

“You know…” His throat clears again, obviously uncomfortable. “If it’s a physical reaction, then that’s one thing. Nora read an article once that stepsibling porn was one of the highest watched videos on sex sites and—”

Kill me now. “Nope. Absolutely fucking not. We’re not talking about porn. This is worse than the time you found that copy of Sports Illustrated under my bed, and I’d rather not relive the conversation.”

I’d been twelve, and he told me all about how bodies change as we get older. Then he’d started to tell me all about masturbation with a serious look on his face, saying that was better than having sex and getting somebody pregnant before I was ready. As soon as I went back up to my room, I threw the magazine away.

Dad has the decency to laugh, although it sounds a bit stained. “All I’m trying to say is that I know you’ve always been protective of her. You care about Belle. Nora and I both can see the bond you two have. And we’ve always, uh, wondered if there was more than friendship there. Like I said, it’s one thing if this were some sort of physical attraction. Belle is pretty and relationships can grow as we get older.”

“What the fuck, Dad,” I groan, wanting to steer my car into the cement barrier to end this awkward conversation.

This is definitely not what I thought I’d be talking about with my father. Is Nora there? Is she listening in? I wonder if Belle is going to get a call from her mom about this, and I really hope not. I have a feeling there’d be a strong level of mortification that I’d rather take the brunt of.

“Can we not—” My voice cracks a little. “—do this right now? I’m driving home and I don’t know if I’m in the mood to talk about this.”

“There’s nothing to be embarrassed about,” he tries telling me, but I don’t buy it.

I scoff. “My father asking if I’m physically attracted to my stepsister and into that kind of pornography warrants some level of embarrassment,” I counter dryly.