“Yeah, I’m sure they’ll take care of it.” Murphy rolls his eyes. “The way that school handles stuff, you’ll probably be the one who gets in trouble for hurting his feelings.”

Heidi sighs. There’s no arguing with Murphy when he’s fired up.

“I kind of agree with him, Heidi.”

She makes a wide-eyed face at me. “I’m so shocked, Uncle Z.”

“Smart ass.”

Heidi tugs on Murphy’s hand. “Come in the pool with us?”

“I’ll be right there.” He leans over and kisses the top of her head.

“Seriously, Murphy, you should’ve told me. I don’t want some punk messin’ with Heidi like that,” I say once she leaves.

“I told Rock, so I was covered. Happened when I was home taking care of things. Only saw one of the texts by accident, Z. She probably wouldn’t have told me otherwise. Didn’t think it was a big deal. But you know how assholes like that are. He could be some nutjob who kept it up.”

“Yeah, or a nutjob who comes after her even harder next time.”

He works his jaw from side to side. “Yeah, I thought about that too. So fuckin’ glad she’s almost done in a few weeks.”

“Until the next one.”

“Fuck, I know.” He looks over at Heidi and Alexa again.

“I can only imagine what you two are conspiring about over here,” Charlotte says. “Is the chicken ready?” She gives the grill a hopeful look.

“Couple more minutes.” I lean in and elbow her. “Murphy tell you about his campus visit?”

“Yup, I one hundred percent approve.”

“Ginger power.” Murphy gives her a fist-bump and the two of them laugh.

“Poor Teller,” I mutter.

“This dude had one screwed-up sense of entitlement,” Charlotte continues. “After he asks her out a bunch of times, and it finally sinks in she’s not interested, he starts calling her names. Typical baby who isn’t used to the universe not revolving around his obnoxious ass.”

“Probably couldn’t handle a real woman,” I mutter.

“Right.” She turns her concerned eyes on Murphy. “She needs to be careful. I’ve heard of plenty of cases where the guy ends up going after the woman who rejected him.”

Murphy growls and searches the yard until his gaze lands on Heidi, sitting next to her brother. “How the fuck am I ever supposed to let Alexa go to school or anything, knowing what kind of creeps are out there?”

“Teach her young not to take any shit from anyone,” I suggest. “Let the club take her to school on her first day?”

Charlotte grins, then turns more serious. “Teach her not to smile and be nice if someone crosses her boundaries. Don’t tell her stupid shit like, ‘Jimmy only hits you because he likes you.’ No, Jimmy hits girls because he’s an asshole.”