Chasing Rusty Parker – Ch. 23
By Laura S. Fox
Copyright © 2023 Laura S. Fox
All Rights Reserved
Gay Erotica
Intended for Mature Audiences Only
This story will contain graphic depictions of sexual intercourse, strong
language and it is not meant for readers who are less than 18 years of age.
Consider making a donation to Nifty by clicking the little blue button
on the front page, as they help us all enjoy so many great stories, while
aiding authors like me to display their work.
~
Chasing Rusty Parker is the sequel to my story Good Guys Don't Date Bad
Boys that you can also find here, on Nifty.
~
Chapter Twenty-Three – The
First Confrontation
"So, last night," Kane
was the first to start when he went down for breakfast.
Breakfast was one way of
naming what he was going to get, mainly because Jonathan, bless his heart, had
thought of him and put aside some leftovers. Rusty plopped down on a chair and
brought the plate closer. Scrambled eggs were good even cold; Jonathan had left
a note, recommending that he heat them up a little, but he couldn't be bothered
with that.
He pointed his fork at
his housemate. "What do you want to say? Come on, hurry up, I have things to
see, people to do."
"Ah," Kane said and
raised an eyebrow. "I thought you did Matthew Han all night long."
"Curious?" Rusty asked.
"You see, Kane, that story with the bees and the flowers, well, sometimes the
bees are by themselves, and they start eyeing their bros, like, you know, damn,
look at the fine booty on that bro."
"Are we talking about
worker bees or drones here?" Kane, always the smartass, asked.
"Did you just call me a
drone?"
Kane rolled his eyes.
"But the place is full of flowers," he gestured around. "Why this particular...
bee?"
Rusty shrugged. "I'm going
to tell Louise if you don't stop with this line of questioning."
"I bet she'd be just as
interested in your sudden change from being a flower hopper to one bee's man."
"It's not anything like
that," Rusty hurried to deny. "I'm still the same flower hopper. It's just that
it's a lot more convenient to have a buttfucking friend right now."
"Buttfucking friend,"
Kane repeated slowly. "And why is it convenient now of all times?"
Well, that was a hard
question. However, Rusty was famous for being perfectly capable of thinking on
his feet, so he grabbed his phone and pushed it across the table toward Kane.
His friend took it and stared at the screen. "Why are you even reading Xpress?"
"Because," Rusty said
with a shrug. "It's cheap entertainment. Free, as it's pointed out in the text.
As you can tell, this new sheriff they're talking about is after my ass, and
not in any fun way. Obviously, I have to lay low, or I might get burned at the
stake. Or, you know, become part of some Mexican standoff." To get his point
across, he began to hum a random western theme.
Kane looked at him and
narrowed his eyes. "Since when are you afraid of Connor Williams? And what's
this story all about?"
Rusty waved. When Matty
had tried to explain it to him, he had just brushed it off. Even now, he was
none the wiser. "He's in charge of some vigilante group or whatever. They're
called the Funbusters."
"Really? The Funbusters?" Kane threw him a doubtful look.
"Not very inspired,
right?"
Kane gave him back his
phone and began fiddling with his. "What the fuck?" he said out loud. When
Rusty waved impatiently with his fork, he continued, "You have to see it to
believe it."
It was Rusty's turn to
stare at Kane's phone screen. "Well," he said, adopting a philosophical stance
on the matter, "if you put `the' in front, it's clear what they believe
themselves to be. But whatever, I'm not in the mood to fight. I don't give a
fuck about this new T-man--"
"T-man?" Kane asked.
"Yeah, from--"
"I get it," Kane said
quickly and shook his head. "But why don't you want to put this clown in his place?"
"Because, obviously,
that's what Xpress wants. And I don't care about doing what other people want
me to do. Especially if they're strangers. If Connor Williams wants to become
the king, whatever."
"He's more likely to
become the leader of a so-called revolution," Kane said.
"And, as we learn from
history, revolutionary leaders have a tendency to put their weathered buttocks
on the same seat they pushed the other guy down from."
Kane seemed to consider
his words for a moment. "I guess you're right. So, you're not bothered by this
in the least?"
"Why would I be? Unlike
Connor Williams, I don't hate my life enough to want to change it." He got up
and took the plate to the sink where he washed it, dried it and put it back in its
place. "What?" he asked, when Kane continued to stare at him. "It's the deal I
have with Jonathan. He leaves me food, I do the dishes."
"It's good to know you
can be house-trained, after all. Anyway, as long as this new wannabe doesn't
bother you, I won't care, either. But are you really sure it's because of
Connor Williams that you're willing to fool around with your tutor instead of
some random girls?"
"No, obviously not. But
the point is, Matty's not random. I know him. We have fun. Case closed."
He didn't, really didn't,
want to go into details, mostly because they were fuzzy and flying randomly
inside his head, and he couldn't be bothered to make them clearer.
***
Mock practice it was
since on Sundays that was his favorite physical activity. Sure, he would have
liked to keep Matty in for the entire day, but the guy had an ass to care for,
and Rusty was damn certain that he was supposed to respect that or else he'd be
considered a major douche.
"Have you heard about
Connor Williams, man?" One of his teammates approached him as he was putting
his sneakers on.
"I heard something," he
admitted.
"So? What's going to be
your move? You need to put that douchebag in his place."
Rusty shrugged and jumped
to his feet. "No one's going to buy the cookies he's selling, so don't worry,
my man. I can tell that he's using vinegar instead of sugar."
His mate looked at him
nonplussed, probably trying to figure out the joke.
"Oh, shit," Rusty
realized his mistake. "You can catch some flies with vinegar, too. They're
these little creatures," he began to explain, "and they're called, wait for it,
drosophila melanogaster." The other guy began shifting uncomfortably and
scratching his head. Rusty patted him on the back. "I'll let Connor make a fool
of himself. He has no power here."
"But he runs the Sunny
Hill Implacable Team," his mate argued.
"My point exactly," Rusty
said with satisfaction and walked out of the locker room. For real, why was
everyone getting their panties in a twist over this Connor dude?
***
Matty
had slept far into the afternoon, probably an effect of getting naughty with
Rusty throughout the night before and only his roommate making noise managed to
pull him from his slumber. He groaned and grabbed his glasses.
"It appears that you've
been getting all kinds of bad habits since the beginning of the year," John
said reproachfully, as if he was Matty's mom or something.
"Sorry, what?" Matty asked,
hoping that his sarcasm was well-aimed.
John didn't appear to get
it. "I mean, I know that you didn't sleep here last night, and now you're still
sleeping, although it's two in the afternoon."
Well, that wasn't like
him, but it wasn't every day, or better said, night, that he was losing his
virginity to the king of Sunny Hill. He couldn't help smiling at the thought.
Yeah, that had been an incredible night, and Rusty had been equally incredible.
"You spent your night in
sin," John suddenly said as if he had just discovered that Santa wasn't real.
"In sin? Seriously, who
talks like that?" Matty said with a snort. "And would you get off my back
already? You're not my real mom." Again, he was trying to make a joke.
Which hadn't landed,
obviously, because John moved near and put a sympathetic hand on his shoulder.
"I'm trying to help you, Matthew."
"Help me escape the
depths of hell?" Matty pushed his glasses up on his nose and gave John an
inquisitive look.
"Hell isn't real," John
said with a snort.
"According to that line
of reasoning, sin isn't real, either," Matty said.
John seemed to consider.
"Yes, that's an archaic word, I admit. But criminal activity isn't."
"What criminal activity?"
Matty asked. This conversation was getting weirder and weirder by the moment.
John began talking very
slowly. "Did you consume illegal substances last night?" He also seemed to
stare into Matty's eyes, while being uncomfortably close.
Matty pulled away. "I
didn't even drink alcohol." Sarcasm and jokes were wasted on this guy. "What
are you going to ask me next? If I had sex out of wedlock? Is that a criminal
activity, too?"
John straightened up and
moved away, as if Matty was suddenly threatening him with a lit torch. "Did
you... do that then?" he stuttered.
Matty rolled his eyes.
"With all due respect, John, even being roommates and all, I don't know you well
enough to answer that question. By the way, what's with your sudden interest in
me? I thought you were here to study."
That appeared to send
John into a frenzy of sorts, because right away, he started gesticulating and
talking animatedly. "A wonderful thing happened. You see, there's this new
organization on campus that wants to help us all become the best we can be. You
can't say `no' to self-improvement, Matthew. As I recall, you're a good
student. Don't tell me you've forgotten about your studies to live a life of
debauchery." He stopped and gave Matty a long hard stare. "What do your parents
think?"
Matty groaned. He was all
for dealing amiably even with people he couldn't stand, but John was starting
to get on his nerves. All he was in the mood for today was to lie in bed, read,
and dream about Rusty. Definitely, he didn't care about meandering around
inside his roommate's crazy head.
"My parents are more than
satisfied with my grades and academic activities," he assured John.
"What about the other
stuff?" John gestured with his chin in a vague direction.
"The debauchery, you
mean?" Matty asked brightly. "They know all about it. I send them regular
updates on my extracurricular activities, as well."
That brought a disgusted
look to John's face.
"Come on, man," Matty
grunted, "can't you tell I'm joking? And don't worry about me. I can take care
of myself. Thank you for your concern."
"You should become part
of the Implacable Team, too."
Oh, great. That was what
John was talking about. Had he been there yesterday? Matty hadn't seen him, but
the place had been packed, anyway, making it hard to identify one single person
in the sea of faces. "Sorry, I'm too busy studying," Matty said and grabbed a textbook
from his nightstand, hoping that would make his roommate shut up.
Finally, it seemed to be
the necessary magic trick, because John returned to his bed and grabbed a heavy
tome as well and buried his nose in it.
Matty stared at him for a
few moments. Hopefully, Rusty wouldn't want to see Slicky
Coolplums again, because there was no way he'd be
able to change into his suit in this room with John watching over his morality
like a hawk. Turning into a cat boy wasn't, maybe, even a thing in John's book
just yet, but it would be, and Matty had an inkling that it would be considered
a mortal sin, as well. Or even some kind of criminal activity.
***
Rusty was walking back
from his mock practice when he heard murmurs rising all around him. He had no
idea what was happening, but it wasn't the usual fangirling
over his person. Since Xpress had launched the rumor that he had impregnated
the cat boy, the girls had taken a step back, which suited him just fine.
Everyone suspected that he was keeping the cat boy, cat girl, whatever, away
from prying eyes, and that he was getting ready to become a doting father. That
was the kind of mad shit Xpress kept writing, at least.
He raised his head, lost
as he had been in thoughts of how to put together the perfect bag of gifts for
Gabriel. Right in front of him, almost at the point of crashing into each
other, stood Connor Williams. Well, that was the conclusion he reached after
searching the guy's face for a while, because he hadn't recognized him at
first, in that moldy suit and new haircut that made him look like he wanted to
apply for a schoolmaster position in a Dickensian novel.
"What's up, T-man?" Rusty
said with a huge grin and grabbed the dude by his shoulders.
Connor tried to shake off
his touch, but Rusty pretended that he didn't get it and forced him to walk
side by side. "Rusty Parker," he hissed, "we're not pals. Please unhand me at
once."
Rusty let go of him so
brusquely it made him lose his balance. However, Connor knew a thing or two
about keeping his wits about him, because he quickly recovered and straightened
his suit.
To make things more
interesting, Rusty whistled appreciatively. "Are you going on a date, my good
dude? `Cause I heard chicks
dig older dudes. Oh, sorry, my bad. It applies to dudes, too."
Connor stared at him as
if he were some lunatic. "You must have heard about us by now. Your jokes fall
on deaf ears. I can understand that you hate me now--"
Rusty opened his arms
wide. "Why would I hate you, man? You do you. Although, I thought gay dudes
tended to have pretty decent fashion sense. Sorry, sorry, my bad again," he
added and put his hands up. "That's a stereotype. There must be some gay dudes
who have an indecent fashion sense, too. Now, if you'll ex-squeeze me," he
drawled, "I gotta go. See ya!
And good luck."
Connor tried to open his
mouth to come up with some scathing retort, but he must have noticed that Rusty
was already too far away for him to deliver his line without shouting, so he
reconsidered.
Rusty shrugged. Was
anyone taking this douche seriously? Whatever. As he had told Kane, he couldn't
care less.
***
"Did you tell Rusty?"
Zoey's voice came through the phone speaker the moment he picked it up.
"Hi to you, too," Matty
said but a smile was already tugging at the corners of his mouth. Damn, John
was still lying in bed, across from him, deep in his studying. He had his
headphones on, but Matty didn't want to risk anything by telling Zoey all about
his crazy night with Rusty.
"He even had a
confrontation with Connor while they were both walking through the quad," Zoey
shot back rapidly. "And yeah, hi."
"A confrontation? When?
Today?"
John shifted in his
place, making Matty believe that it was unlikely he was actually listening to something
in those headphones.
"You know what, Zoey? I
wanted to go out anyway. Let's get together if you have nothing else lined up."
"The douche is over
there, isn't he?" Zoey asked. Matty could picture her nodding thoughtfully and
probably cooking up some prank he wouldn't want to play on his roommate.
"Yeah," he said quickly.
"Okay, then, meet me outside
of my dorm in ten."
"You're sure that's
enough to put on all the glitter you need?"
"There's no point to
glitter," Zoey said with a long sigh. "He's not around today anyway."
"Who?" Matty asked
quickly, happy to grab the opportunity.
"In ten, no more," Zoey
replied just as fast and cut the convo.
Hmm, he would have to
extract little bits of truth out of his bestie. All in due time. Now, what was
this about a confrontation between Rusty and Connor? Things were getting
unnecessarily interesting around here.
***
The weather was still
good enough for them to find a place on one of the benches around the quad.
Zoey pointed right in front of them. "That is where it happened," she
explained.
"Are you sure that's the
exact spot?" Matty asked.
"Totally." She nodded
energetically. "Connor was like, Rusty Parker, you will pay for all the fun
you've ever had in your life. And Rusty was like, no I won't."
"Really? I somehow
expected Rusty to be more verbose than that."
"Well, I'm giving you the
abridged version. Rusty low-key insulted Connor by calling him T-man, and I
think the nickname's going to stick, you know. Pun totally intended."
Matty pondered for a
moment. "I can see that, yeah. What did Connor want Rusty for, anyway?"
"I'm not entirely sure.
But that boy's totally itching for a fight. And he's so going to get it." Zoey
seemed very much amused at the prospect.
"Well, it's not like
they're going to get into some fisticuffs," Matty offered his point of view. "I
doubt they'd be able to pull that kind of stuff in the middle of the campus."
"No, like duh," Zoey said
with a roll of the eyes, "but maybe an underground battle could be arranged."
"Only you'd think of such
extreme measures."
"That's because I'd
high-key enjoy seeing Connor's arrogant mug getting smashed." To make a point,
she drove one little fist into her open palm.
Matty shivered. "You scare
me sometimes, Zoey. Stop listening to those true crime podcasts. I fear for
your sanity. Just for the record, if you ever turn to the dark side, we've
never known each other."
"Traitor," Zoey said and
pouted. "Anyway, the thing is, Xpress totally expects Rusty to ruin Connor."
The choice of words made
Matty swallow hard. If there were one person in the whole world who deserved to
be ruined by Rusty, it was him. Well, in an ideal world of his choosing, of
course.
Finally, Zoey caught on.
"What's with you? You look like you were up all night. That's not good for your
skin, Matty. What's Rusty going to think if he sees you with dark circles?" She
poked him in the cheek.
"Well, I guess he won't
notice or at least won't say a word since he's the reason I was up all night,"
he said in a low voice, while stealing glances around.
Zoey leaned in closer.
"He is? Fess up, right now."
Matty munched on his
lower lip hard. "He... I... you know."
"No, I don't. Not if you
don't tell me," Zoey pressed him.
"We did it," Matty blurt
it out quickly. "Only his friends know. I mean, suspect, or they know for a
fact. Like you, now."
"Wow. Then I'm part of a
really select circle." Zoey sighed. "I've never been part of a circle. Not even
a circle-jerk."
Matty shook his head.
Well, it was hard to still be embarrassed when Zoey was talking about circle-jerks
like they weren't a big deal.
Then, she turned and
punched him in the shoulder suddenly. "Good for you, Matty!"
"Ouch. I was wondering
when you were going to catch on."
"So," Zoey said slowly,
and then, abruptly, "how was it?"
Matty sighed. "Like a
dream come true."
Zoey joined him with a
reverent sigh of her own. "Has he already told you that he loves you?"
"Hey, we're not even
close to that. I mean, I doubt we'll ever be."
A tsk of disappointment
let him know that his bestie disagreed. "Don't be such a pessimist, Matty. At
least, you plan on telling him how you really feel about him, right?"
He nodded. "I will, but
not now."
"When?" Zoey pressed.
"Hey, I've crushed about
him for three long years. Forgive me for not wanting the fairytale to end right
away. Because once I let that bird out of the cage, it's game over." He took a
moment. He had thought about it, of course, even before getting to know him,
how he would confess. At times, something low key like leaving a letter on Rusty's doorstep, something he wouldn't sign, seemed like
the right choice. On the other hand, it wasn't like him to be so extra, so he
had thought of something a lot easier and yet harder at the same time to
achieve, such as going directly to Rusty and telling him right up front that he
had been his crush for all his years in college. "I'll tell him when I know
that we won't be seeing each other again. You know, at the end of the academic
year."
Zoey nodded. "I see that
you're in it for the long run and congratulate you for it. But what if he calls
things off before that? What will you do?"
Matty shrugged. "I'll
just stick to the plan. The last day on campus, I'll walk up to him and tell
him. And then, of course, I'll run away. I'm shopping for the best running
shoes as we speak. Before you ask, I still haven't settled on the ideal pair."
"Hmm," came the
noncommittal reply from Zoey. "Don't tell me you're also training for it. Rusty
can easily catch you. He's the athlete of the two of you, after all."
That was good reason to snort
with superiority. "He couldn't catch Slicky, though, so sorry to burst your
bubble. He won't be able to catch me."
"No bubble burst, don't
worry. Ah, damn, how are you going to turn into Slicky from now on? The
douchebag is here to stay, isn't he?"
"Yeah," Matty said and
pursed his lips. "Unless I manage some magical girl trick so I can change only
by performing a pirouette in mid-air, that's pretty much busted. Slicky has
already mysteriously disappeared from the college grounds, the way I see it."
"No way, nah-uh," Zoey
said. "That's going to rip Rusty's poor little heart in two. I have an idea. Do
you want to hear it?"
"Do I have a choice?
Yeah, I totally want to hear it, and stop giving me that withering stare,"
Matty hurried to reply. She always meant well, but it was fun to tease her.
"Bundle up the suit and
smuggle it to my room. In case of force majeure, we will use my bathroom for
your magical girl routine. Sorry, for your cat boy transformation."
"And what will your
roommate think?"
"Let me worry about her.
I have at least five different scenarios lined up, in case I need to send her
all over campus so that I have a bit of well-deserved solitude for putting my
plans into action."
"Wow, you really are
turning into a villain," Matty said and snickered.
Zoey pinched his cheek.
"Unlike you, I'm not a traitor. If I ever turn to the dark side, I won't forget
about you. You'll always be my friend, especially when the police are going to
hunt me down and I'll need a place to lay low."
"It looks like whether I
like it or not, I'll have to act as an accessory to your criminal activity. Ah,
that reminds me. John, my roommate, is absolutely over the moon with Connor's
initiative."
"Why doesn't that
surprise me?" Zoey shook her head. "You know what we can do to him?"
"To Connor?"
"I'll think about that,
too. But no, I meant your roommate."
"I have a feeling that I
don't want to hear whatever is going to come next."
Zoey grinned. "We could
tie him up and hang all his textbooks from the ceiling just far enough away so
that he cannot read a word. Or we could attach them to an improvised
merry-go-round that will move around his head. He'll go nuts."
"I am so not engaging in
any kind of criminal activity with you. And that's cruel, you know?"
"I do," Zoey confirmed
brightly. "But don't worry. My plans usually don't bear fruit, they're just
ideas in my head. A girl has to busy her mind with something."
Matty examined his friend
carefully. "Who is he?"
"What do you mean?" Zoey
pretended to be suddenly interested in absolutely nothing, because the quad was
as good as deserted at that hour.
"You're crushing on
someone, and you're not telling me. And I know it's a `he' because that somehow
slipped from your tongue today, when we were on the phone."
"It's going to pass,"
Zoey said with a long, heartfelt sigh. "I mean," she gestured, pointing with
her palm a few inches over the ground, "I'm down here, and he's," she stopped
for a moment and then pointed at a tall tree across from them, somewhere up near
its crown, "up there."
"And is that stopping
you? Get a ladder," Matty pointed out.
"If only it were that
simple. And I'm using metaphors, Matty, metaphors."
"I know what metaphors
are. I just had no idea they'd be enough to stop you," he insisted. "So, when
are you going to tell me who this guy is?"
"When you confess to
Rusty. How about that?" Zoey stared at him and smiled.
He could read a lot of
stuff in that smile. Most people thought Zoey to be this wacky character and
settled for that, but he knew there was more to her. She was highly intelligent
and one of her most often used skills was to hide uncomfortable feelings under
a thick blanket of humor. Without even thinking, he pulled her into a tight
hug. As expected, she protested and tapped his shoulders with her little fists,
but he didn't let go, because he knew very well that she really needed that
hug, despite her objections.
He let go of her only
when the protests stopped. "I'll hold you to it," he promised.
"Deal," she said and
rolled her eyes. "But, seriously, dude, you should stop with the hugging `cause I ain't your Rusty."
He punched her playfully
in the shoulder. "Sometimes, Zoey, I think you act like one of those guys who
are just too tough to show their feelings."
"And?" she challenged him.
"What's wrong with that?"
"Should I read you the
entire list or--"
She punched him in the
shoulder this time, too, but harder. Matty rubbed the place she had hit him and
shook his head.
Then, Zoey looked away
and put her both hands under her knees, letting her feet dangle above the
ground. Maybe it all came from her being so short. People expected her to be
fragile and helpless, and she was bent on proving that she was just the
opposite. "You're an awesome dude, Matty," she said. "And the best friend I'll
ever have."
"Same here, my dudette," Matty said jokingly,
knowing that he needed to lighten the mood. "Should we get something to eat? My
treat."
"Why is it your treat?"
"Because, obviously, I
need to celebrate losing my virginity to the king of Sunny Hill."
"Hmm, that means we need
to have some cake."
"I wouldn't even dare to
think not to have cake on a random day."
"It's not random," Zoey
reminded him. "It's about celebrating your getting
banged by the biggest crush of your life to date."
"Good point. Let's go."
He offered her his hand, and she smacked hers over his palm in agreement.
***
"Maddie, I have a huge
favor to ask you," Rusty began the moment he walked into the house and saw his
bestie and his better half sitting on the sofa and making doe eyes at each
other.
"Since you started by
calling me Maddie, you can kiss that favor goodbye," Maddox replied with a
snort.
"It's for a good cause,"
Rusty pointed out and plopped down on the sofa, getting between them on
purpose. He put his hands on their knees to show that he was willing to treat
them equally.
Maddox laughed and pushed
his hand away. Jonathan chuckled, his usual sexy chuckle that made Rusty feel
goose bumps rising on his skin everywhere. He, however, made no move to make him
remove his hand. Therefore, it was only natural to cuddle against him and turn
his butt to mad Maddie. "See, mom loves me more."
"Ah, you're playing that
card, I see," Maddox commented. "I thought you'd start offering sexual favors
in exchange for whatever you want to ask me."
"No way. I'd sexually
assault you into acceptance."
"How is that supposed to
work?" Maddox asked.
"I'd stop only when you
said `yes'."
It was Jonathan's turn to
laugh out loud. "And what if we didn't want you to stop?" he teased, his voice
dropping low.
Rusty pulled away and
then stood to his feet. He wagged a finger at
Jonathan. "You're getting too good at this game, Hamilton. I'm supposed to win.
All the time."
"I'm learning from the
best," Jonathan served him back. "Now, what did you want to ask Maddox?" He
pulled his boyfriend close and gave him a quick kiss. "Since you're in my good
graces," he added, "I'm sure I can convince him for your sake."
Yeah, mom was totally on
his side. He took a deep breath. "I need your car next Saturday if it's
possible," he said in one go.
Maddox's face lit up.
"You're going," he said with a big smile.
"Where?" Jonathan asked.
"His baby brother's
birthday," Maddox explained. "He's turning ten."
"That's great," Jonathan
said. "You should lend him the car."
"Totally. Yeah, you can
have the car," Maddox said and turned toward him. "Have you thought about a
present, too?"
Rusty puffed out his
chest. "We're going to dress up as superheroes. And we're going to get a little
of everything a ten-year-old boy could possibly want. Matty and I," he
explained when two pairs of eyes set on him questioningly.
Maddox let out a sound of
relief. "Awesome. For a moment, I worried that you'd have me and Jonathan play
dress up with you."
He knew what Maddox meant
by that. If he ever needed an ally to confront his dad, Maddox would be game.
But he was grateful for having convinced Matty because he wasn't as aware of
his family drama as his best friend was. That meant that he would be able to
take things lightly, as a result.
"Matty is a great guy,"
Jonathan said. "Wait, you did ask him, right?"
"Yeah, he's down with it.
And it was his idea to google for perfect gifts for boys, and it was also his
idea that we can't go wrong with the superhero stuff. Now, thanks a bunch,
Maddie, and I'll be up in my room, shopping for gifts. Ah, and I'm going to
call Matty. Just let him in when he arrives."
"At this point, you might
want to have a key made for him," Maddox pointed out.
"Would that be all right
with you all?" Rusty gestured vaguely, to show that he was including Dex and Kane in that, too.
"I don't see why not. I
suppose he's going to spend a lot of time around here."
Rusty raised his hand and
Maddox high-fived him, grinning madly. Yeah, they thought they were joking, or
that he needed some push, but he could see himself comfortable enough to have
Matty become that much of a regular that he really needed a key.
TBC
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