“Lo?” she says.
And what I can’t stomach—is Lily’s reaction to these things. It tears her down, and I want her to rise above it all. But it f**king hurts. I know it. So I’m going to do my best to shield her from this shit.
I pull the velvet purple curtains closed, a lie already concocted in my head. “It’s a bad joke about small dicks. It’s not even funny.”
She nods, probably not even believing me, but she lets it go anyway. Her gaze travels to the glass, the broken window already concealed behind the curtain.
“I’ll clean it later,” I say the moment our door blows open without a knock.
“Hey,” Ryke says. “I heard a…” He sees the glass and then the brick in my hand.
“Here.” I step around the shards and hand him the brick and balled note. “Do what you want with this. It’s nothing to me.”
His shoulders tighten, and he unfurls the note, reading it quickly. His voice lowers so Lily can’t hear him. “This is f**king wrong.”
“We’ve heard it all before,” I say. “I can deal with it.” I don’t need Ryke to threaten these guys on my behalf. I have a louder voice than him anyway. I’ve always been capable of lashing out. This is the route I’ve never taken before.
Wait and see. Be calm. Try to put my emotions aside to find the better option.
“Are you sure?” Ryke asks me, his eyes flickering to Lily on the bed and back to me.
“They’re not going to break our fragile hearts into little pieces,” I say dryly. “So no one needs to contact a realtor. We’re not moving.” Everyone’s lives have changed too many times because of outside forces. This house is supposed to be our stability, and these teenagers aren’t going to take that away.
We’ve lost way too much already.
“You feel like you need something, and you come to me, okay?” Ryke suddenly says. He means booze.
I play dumb. “Sure. Next time I need a shoulder to cry on, I’ll make sure to blow snot on your shirt.”
He flips me off, but we both end up smiling weakly.
I rub the back of my neck. “Can you just let everyone else know what happened? I want to be alone with Lily right now, and Rose hasn’t learned how to knock either.”
Ryke rolls his eyes. “Yeah, I’ll tell everyone to give you an hour—”
“Longer,” I say.
Lily inhales in surprise and partial arousal.
Both Ryke and I turn to look at Lil, her skin nearly blending into her red onesie. She flings a blanket over her head so Ryke can’t see her embarrassment. I can’t hold back a smile. Goddamn, I love her.
“I already f**king saw you, Lily,” my brother says like she’s being ridiculous.
Lily mumbles out a response that sounds like, no you didn’t.
I pat Ryke’s shoulder. “See you later.”
He takes the hint and exits the bedroom, shutting the door on his way out. I climb back on the bed, straddle her and yank the blanket off her face, her hair frizzing with the static. Her lips part while her gaze trails my body.
“In my fantasy, you’re naked,” she reminds me.
“Do you want this to last longer than an hour, love?”
She nods with wide, desirous eyes.
I kiss her lips tenderly and then whisper, “Then we’re going to go really, really slow.”
She smiles and kisses me back, agreeing to this plan. She pauses for just a second and I sense the hesitation in her body, which is unlike Lily.
“Do you think they’ll stop?” she asks me seriously.
I realize she’s talking about the teenagers. “Maybe,” I say. “I don’t know.” I frown. “Are you scared?”
“Not really. We dealt with worse ass**les in prep school, right?”
Me, I think. I was worse. I poured pig’s blood on a guy’s front door and did countless other things. “Right,” I breathe.
“They can’t come in the house…” she says with unease.
“No,” I say forcefully. “They wouldn’t. Plus, we have a security system.”
She nods repeatedly and then she kisses me quickly and deeply. I rest her back against the mattress again. I just try to forget about the interruption, the teenagers, and the sharp look of the young guy down the street—the one that simultaneously said f**k you.
And kill me.
11
LILY CALLOWAY
“How could I have slept through a f**king car accident?” Rose says, aghast for the umpteenth time. She sits on a leather bar stool with a winter recipe book cracked open.
“Queen Rose¸ it’s been ten days,” Loren says with little amusement. “You weren’t even there, so let us peons reflect on the situation and you can let it go.” He gives her a bitter smile and dusts flour off his hands with a towel. That was one of his nicer comments of the day.
Baking, I have found, makes Loren Hale mean. Almost like smiling, happy gingerbread men frustrate him. He already put frowny faces on the second batch of cookies, just to ensure that they all share in his irritated state of being.
“I can’t let it go,” Rose says in a huff. “No one even called us.” She angrily flips a page in her recipe book. They found out about the car accident from Celebrity Crush before we could tell them. We’ll never live it down.
But I know it’s more than not calling. Rose is scared that she’s now part of the outer circle. Connor isn’t happy either. They both like to know everything before everyone—so this stings.
I watch Daisy and Ryke man the blender in our stainless steel kitchen. Measuring cups, cupcake trays, sugar and butter are splayed on the countertops.
I’m not wandering around, but I eat chocolate chips out of the bag next to Rose, which I’d like to think helps in some way. I’m taste-testing the food.
It’s edible. Just in case someone out there is wondering.
“I would’ve liked a text message, at least,” Connor says, opening a carton of eggs. He stands closest to Lo on the other side of the bar counter.
Lo leans against the cupboard. He snaps back, “I’ll send you one right now if it makes you feel better.” He doesn’t even add love on the end of it, which he reserves only for me and one of his best friends.
Connor’s eyebrow arches and he stares blankly at him.
I say to Lo, “Baking makes you mean.”
He grips the counter, takes a deep breath, and his narrowed amber eyes flit up to me. “My dad texted me about the meeting.”
The kitchen goes quiet except for the whirling blender.
“And?” I ask, caging a breath.
“And nothing. He just keeps saying he’ll explain in person, but now he’s not even saying when that’ll be.” He straightens up as he exhales again. “It’s annoying as shit.”
Ryke says, “He’s just messing with us. It’s what he f**king does.”
Lo shakes his head again in disagreement. “It’s like he’s scared or something…I don’t know. I don’t want to think about it, honestly.”
Rose points to a photo of peppermint cookies. “Whole Foods sells this exact cookie.”
Lo looks grateful for the digression, even if it’s coming from Rose. My older sister is ready to hop off the barstool, grab her keys and go shopping.
Her shopping skills far outrank her cooking skills.