“This kid Ethan who always acts like he knows everything. He was talking about his football that someone stole, and that if the kid who took it didn’t give it back, he was going to give him a blow job. The other guys were laughing, but I didn’t know what it meant, and I didn’t want them to think I was dumb. So I figured I’d ask you.”

Christ almighty, Nick thought. What the hell do I do with this one? “Well, um, first of all it has nothing to do with footballs.”

“So what does it mean?”

“It’s, ah, sort of a sex thing.”

Scotty’s entire face folded into a grimace that nearly made Nick laugh. “Eww, gross.”

“Right, so you might not be ready to hear about it.”

“I’d still like to know.”

“Trust me, buddy. I don’t think you want to.”

“Please? I hate when all the other guys know something I don’t know. It makes me feel stupid.”

Like he didn’t already have a big enough minefield to walk through with the boy this afternoon? And now this! He yearned for Sam’s common sense approach to things. Where was she when he needed her? He told himself Scotty was twelve, soon to be thirteen, and certainly old enough—or getting there quickly—to know the truth about certain things. Whether or not Nick was old enough at thirty-six to be having this conversation was another story entirely.

“You’re really going to make me say it, huh?”

“’Fraid so,” Scotty said with the adorable grin Nick had fallen for the first time he met him.

“It’s when a girl kisses you, you know... Down there.”

For the first time since Nick had been forced to accept protection, he was glad he wasn’t allowed to drive so he could have the special joy of watching Scotty’s eyes bug with realization. “Come. On. They don’t really do that!”

“Yeah, they do. If you’re lucky.”

“Oh my God, that is the grossest thing I’ve ever heard!”

Nick suppressed a huge laugh that he knew Scotty wouldn’t appreciate. Someday you won’t think so, he wanted to say, but somehow managed to refrain from sharing the thought.

“And you actually like that?”

Nick wanted to die on the spot. Nothing in his life could’ve prepared him for this conversation. “I take the Fifth on that.”

“What does that mean?”

“I refuse to answer on the grounds that I might die of embarrassment.”

“That means you do like it. That’s so disgusting. What’s wrong with you?”

“Um, nothing?”

“Yes, there is.”