Chapter Two

(Dustin)

"Dad, Papa! I'm home. Can Jas stay the night?" Oscar yells once he gets inside. I walk from the kitchen into the foyer to greet the two.

I give Oscar a kiss on the cheek and smile at his friend. They've been friends since we adopted him.

"You're always welcome here, Jas. Do your parents know?" I ask, and she nods.

"They said it's alright." She says, heading upstairs with Oscar following.

"Hang on. Keys." I say, holding my hand out. I let Oscar use one of the cars for school only.

We haven't told him, but Ajax and I are planning to get him a new one for his birthday.

He pulls them out of his pocket and tosses them to me. He doesn't seem to notice the folded up paper that fell out of his pocket.

He rushes to his room before I can get it, but I bend down to pick it up, noticing writing on it.

He's not usually the note taking type, but I suppose that's what it is. Or I did before reading further.

'So?'

'He's so hot! He doesn't look like a dad.'

'I know. He's just my type too.'

'He's a little old for you, but damn look at his ass.'

'I'd let him look at mine. God what I wouldn't give to have him bend me over one of the desks and plow'

It stops before the sentence is finished, but I'm sure I can guess what the rest would've said.

I don't know why I'm so bothered by it. Oscar is 17 now, so obviously he's going to think about these things, but it does worry me that he's not interested in someone his age. I wonder if it has to do with what happened to him when he was younger.

He's never even dated someone before. As far as I know, he's still a virgin. I don't want him trying to pursue a relationship with a grown man. Especially if it's his teacher.

Maybe I should talk to Ajax about it. Maybe I should just throw the note away and forget about it. At the very least, we need to tell him that it's dangerous to get into a relationship with someone much older.

I met Ajax when I was 16 and our relationship has always been ridiculed by people who hardly knew us. I was lucky that Ajax loved me the way he said he did, but I would've believed him even if he didn't. I don't want Oscar to go through any heartbreak.

"His little girlfriend is staying the night?" Ajax asks, wrapping his arms around me from behind before kissing my neck and cheek.

"Yeah. I think we should talk to him about dating older guys." I mention, trying to be casual.

"Dating? You think he's dating an older guy?" He asks before shaking his head and pulling back enough to turn me so that I'm facing him. "Why do you think that?"

I hand him the note and watch as he scans it over, his eyes widening when he gets to the end. "Oh. I don't know, Dustin. It just seems like a crush to me. If he's talking about a teacher, I doubt they'd risk their job and jail time just to mess with Oscar. It's good that he's thinking about this though. I was worried that he'd be scared to get close to someone like that."

"We should talk to him anyway. Hell, I bet nobody thought you'd be interested in me, but here we are."

"Here we are." He agrees, leaning in to peck my lips.

I smile at him and wrap my arms around his neck. "We could send Jas to get snacks or something? The quicker we talk to him, the better."

"I'll go get them." He walks up the stairs.

I walk into the dining room, sitting in a chair. Just a minute later, I hear them all trampling down the steps like a stampede.

"I'll be right back." Jasmine announces before leaving the three of us together.

"Am I in trouble or something? You have that face." He says to Ajax as they walk in and sit.

"No, we just wanted to talk to you. About relationships."

"Oh my god. I am not having a talk with you about dating." He sighs, slouching forward. "Look, I'm not dating anyone. If this is about Jasmine spending the night, I already told you that I like guys. We did rock, paper, scissors, so she gets the bed and I get the couch."

"No, it's not about her. We just wanted to talk to you about dating guys older than you. Not all of them have good intentions." Ajax tells him.

Oscar looks worried for a second before shaking his head. "What makes you think I like someone anyways?"

I show him the note, and his cheeks heat up instantly. He stands and snatches the note out my hand before glaring. "What, you're going through my things now? What happened to respecting me, and trusting me to make my own decisions?"

"You dropped it. I just saw when I picked it up. I don't care who you're interested in. We just want to tell you that we're here if you ever want to tell us about it." I give him a sweet smile, but Ajax rushes to add on.

"And I'm assuming we don't need to have the condom talk? I don't know if you're having sex-"

"I get it. I'm not having sex anyway. It's just a crush. You guys are overreacting." He announces, shoving the note in his pocket as Jas finally gets back. "Goodnight. You guys really don't have to worry about me. I promise."

Once Jasmine comes inside, they head upstairs. I turn to Ajax and shrug. "He's smart. He's right. We have to trust him. How can we expect him to trust us if we don't trust him?"

"Alright. We'll let him do his own thing. Who knows? Maybe he won't do anything dumb."