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Sohs- CH

You don’t help uy’s gotta have some secrets-CH

So did your parents drop cattle over the fighting? JLeC

Yeah they did You’re soundin’ like Tiff-CH

laughs kinda She’s rubbin’ off on me! JLeC

Listeneonna have to be sharp on the tiet ya there, baby-JLeC

Baby? I like that I could get used to that-CH

The word? JLeC

No, the way you say it-CH

It’s a pulse-JLeC

Doesn’t matter I hear your voice in my head, see you in my mind as you’ve said it

OMG! That’s so roht once in awhile-CH

More than that, Caleb smiles-JLeC

What about Andrea?CH

Let’s just work around her-JLeC

You hs yeah, for now-JLeC

I don’t like the sneaking around profanity-block!, Jade-CH

I know, butuntil it all blows over Maybe she’ll forget about it- JLeC

Doubt it

K, we can try it I’ll see ya tomorrow after school-CH

How uess it could’ve been worse-JLeC

I thought of how Jade would be in school, unprotected Felt pretty long to uess so doubtful- CH

Love you-JLeC

I love you-CH

I spent the day with Gra over the Camaro in detail

"I don’t want you to drive this without an idea of everything in it and how it all works If we go over it with a fine tooth comb, you’ll feel more confident"

I didn’t tell Gra okay about it It was a car It had been retrofitted with a pulse lock, that looked really weird on an old car, the black square of the pulse pad standing starkly against the white body paint "It’s okay, Graot this"

He smiled and Onyx ran over to stuff his nose in Gramps’ hand until he pet hi on the concrete floor Graood

We stood there quietly for a time and then Gra that the Parents were also having a cow about

"I put him back to rest"

"Didn’t you tell o back anymore?"

I nodded "It was kinda like that But, I don’t know the details It’s not like there’s any history here" I lifted

"Precedence?" Gra I know about corpse lore I get from him when he comes to do weird shit all over the top of arette instead I raised an eyebrow Mo within a Mile of the Hoonna rant if she sees you "

"Grocery store," he said in a flat voice

I laughed "What? You got Mom-radar?"

"Yup"

He inhaled deeply and stabbed the last of the cigarette out in a old coffee can full of sand He put the lid back on it and stuck it behind a bunch of car crap It blended in perfectly

Sneaky for an old guy

Or just sneaky

Gra Wiping his hands carefully on one of his car cloths from the endless supply in his back pocket, he said, "the way I see it, you have a few problems"

I nodded I was pretty consistent in the predicaer "First, this Buddy character He makes me nervous"

I felton the s at about an inch He flicked it into the can again It was a hugeass ashtray

He scrubbed his face with his free hand After a hesitation he said, "I don’t know"

Then he waved that away for the onna quit"

Yeah, I got that Totally

He paused Then, "there’s Clyde"

We looked at each other for a pregnant ure out what to do with him He’s onna co that’s dead but deserves to live You got me?"

I did I nodded But I was sixteen years old What was in with it all

Gramps saw my ambivalence "Chew on it, Caleb You don’t have to make soain and when it does, he’ll come Hell! He came to your defense when you were on the way back fro into irl"

I spoke for the first tiet trouble attached to her like Velcro"

"What’s Velcro?"

He waved his hand, flicking ashes into the can "Never you mind Sticky crap Anyway, between that idiot Brett, her dad and," he paused, stabbing the blunt end of his se A challenge to finesse around that aunt of hers, a challenge to protect her frouy away from her"

"Yeah, it’s all that, Graot a plan?"

I shookout a laugh "Yeah, that e and the cloth you’re cut fro it was so great

We looked at each other through the veil of his smoke No plan, both reactors

Naturally

Norh A skill to have because well I needed it Look at the last almost two years But today, when Jade pulled up, the windshield winking at ed to the truck