"Dude, you look wiped," Kevin said, swinging a companionable arm around Josh's shoulder. "Where'd you get to this weekend?"
Josh grabbed his books from his locker, and didn't turn around, suddenly afraid that he would blurt everything out right there. "I just had some stuff I had to do," he said flatly.
Kevin probably would've left it alone, just let him slide, because that's what friends did, but there were a bunch of guys hanging around, and one asshole just couldn't keep his mouth shut.
"Probably up all night boning his mom," he said smirking, and everyone else laughed.
And that was fucking it, because Josh was tired and angry and
guilty
because his mom had been giving him looks all weekend like she wanted to tuck him into bed and feed him soup and he didn't know whether to be comforted by it or turned on beyond all belief.
He didn't even remember hitting the guy. Kevin told him later that he'd charged through the crowd like a bull and slammed the other kid up against a row of lockers about five times before he started punching him.
All he remembered was struggling against Kevin and Phil, his hands sore and bright red with blood before Coach Lewis dragged him off down the hall to his office.
"What the hell was that?" he asked, slamming the door behind them.
Josh was still trembling with the adrenaline rush of anger and breathing heavily, hands clenching and unclenching at his sides. Thankfully, Coach didn't rush him, just sat on the edge of his desk with his arms folded until Josh got himself under control.
He still didn't know what the hell he was supposed to say, but at least he could talk without yelling.
"Sorry, Coach," he said finally. Coach raised an eyebrow and continued to wait until Josh started to squirm. "I didn't meant to --"
hit him
, he thought, but that wasn't entirely true. "He was talking about my mother," he said, straightening his spine. "He shouldn't have been saying stuff like that."
Mostly because Josh had wanted it to be true, and he wasn't exactly sure how to handle that quite yet.
But Coach nodded, as if he understood. "Automatic two day ISS for fighting," he said conversationally, and Josh let out a long breath. Because Coach wasn't asking, which meant that he wouldn't have to lie.
"Yeah, okay," he said, eyes downcast so he wouldn't be so obvious in his relief.
"And we're going to have to call your mom," Coach added.
Josh's eyes shot up, then narrowed a bit at Coach's smirk. Because, yeah, his mom wasn't going to let him off so easy. *** In School Suspension wasn't so bad. Just boring, and a little humiliating because it was like time out for teenagers. He knew he was supposed to think about his actions, and he'd already gotten a stern lecture from the Vice Principle about fighting in school, but he couldn't think about any of that because he still couldn't stop thinking about his mom.
Eighteen. She'd only been eighteen when she started doing those films, the age he was now, and he had like a million questions he wanted to ask.
How had she gotten into the business? Why?
How did it feel to fuck on camera? He knew her parents had died when she was young, but hadn't she had a guardian? Hadn't she had friends? What had they thought about her career?
Had she been pushed or tricked into the industry? Had she been desperate?
Had one of those men she'd fucked on camera been his father?
His mom had never talked about his dad. She'd just said that he was a good guy who wasn't ready to be a father. Josh had never been curious enough to follow up, but now he wondered.
Was the year break in her movies because she was dating his dad?
And then it occurred to him: a sudden flash on insight that left him breathless. His mother had done three additional movies after that break. She'd been almost twenty-one.
And later that year she'd give birth to him.
Holy fucking Christ. His mother had done three movies while she'd been pregnant with him. He'd been inside her while she'd been fucking men on camera.
Josh's whole body tightened with sudden desire, and he had to close his eyes and bite his lip before he did something stupid. Because all he could think about was going home to his computer and watching one of those films.
All he could think of was that he'd been inside of her once while she'd been fucking, and he wanted to be there again. *** "Dude, what had you so fired up this morning?" Kevin asked, after taking pity on Josh and driving him home.
And, like his mouth was completely separate from his brain, Josh heard himself say, "I want to fuck my mom."
He froze in mortification, but Kevin just grinned. "Dude,
everyone
wants to fuck your mom. I'm pretty sure people who don't even know your mom want to fuck your mom."
"Man, I'm being serious," Josh scowled, getting out of the car as they pulled up to his house.
"So am I, man," Kevin said, just as solemnly, as he followed him inside. "So am I. Your mom is a full on hottie."