The Way Things Are by A.J. Thomas Read Free Book Online

Jay asked.
    “No.”
    In the car, Ken chuckled. “Your dad stumbled on an assault in progress this morning. He saved a kid about your age, but then he had to come down and give a statement.”
    Jay brightened up a bit at that. “Oh. Is that why you were late?”
    Patrick swallowed hard and forced himself to look away from Jay’s new juvenile probation counselor. “More or less, yeah.”
    “I thought you were letting me sit there to teach me a lesson. Again.”
    “Nah. That didn’t work the last time, so I don’t see why it would now.” He could still feel the PO’s eyes on him, and it was beginning to make him twitchy. Patrick shifted again, trying to will his pants to magically become a size larger. “That’s what you do if you’re smart. You learn from your failures. You don’t keep repeating them forever and just hoping that things will somehow turn out different if you do it all over again.”
    “Yeah, yeah.”
    “Come on, get in the car,” Ken called out.
    A ride would be faster than waiting for a bus. And he was broke enough that the five dollars it would cost to get them both home represented a significant amount of money. “A ride would be great. Would you mind taking us to the docks? My truck’s there.”
    “No problem. Mr. Connelly, you better ride up here. I doubt you’ll fit comfortably in the back.”
    Patrick sighed. “Yeah, all right.”
    Patrick opened the back door and nodded for Jay to climb in. When the kid was crawling into the car, Patrick tried to discretely adjust himself through his pants pockets, took a deep breath, and then climbed into the passenger seat beside the man with the annoyingly sexy voice and the amazing eyes.
    Patrick buckled his seatbelt and hesitantly reached out to shake the man’s hand, bracing himself for the contact. “Thanks for this,” Patrick said, gesturing to the car. Ken pulled out of the parking lot, heading downtown. “And I didn’t catch your name.”
    “Ken is fine. Jay talked to my boss, Mary Anne, last night, and he mentioned that he’s been through this process before.”
    Patrick turned his attention to the windshield. “You could say that,” he muttered, focusing on the buildings around them to distract himself. If he was so hard up that just being near a sexy stranger turned him on, it had definitely been too long since he’d gotten laid. About three and a half years too long, since the whole single father thing effectively ruled out any chance he had to meet someone. Maybe it was time to let Corbin set him up with somebody after all.
    “Well, since this is the first time he’s been arrested in the state of Washington, he’s got a fresh slate. As you probably know, my job as Jayden’s JPC is a little more intensive than having him come down to my office to check in once a month. I prefer to spend an hour or so talking with a new client’s parents, assessing the child’s home situation and their likelihood to reoffend, and have a clear set of expectations in place before I meet with the child. But since today’s been kind of a mess all around, I figured we could just sort everything out now, so you can relax today and he can get started on his community service tomorrow. Would it be okay if I follow you home after I take you to pick up your truck?”
    “Home?” Patrick almost bit his tongue. It was already five. He spared a nervous thought for his living room, remembering all the unpacked boxes, along with the stack of dirty paper plates and pizza boxes Jay was steadily building around the end table. Combined with the empty beer cans he’d scattered around the apartment, it was sure to make a shitty impression. “Now’s not the best time, to be honest. We just moved in two weeks ago, and we haven’t finished unpacking yet. Everything’s kind of cluttered. And I’ve got a second job I’m supposed to be at right now.”
    “It shouldn’t take more than an hour. I’d like to get this out of the way quickly so your son