Chapter 11
Lucy
I wanted to stay mad at my family, but it was hard to when they loved me so much. I knew that they had only kept the news about Harris and Tessa from me because they cared. If the roles had been reversed then I was sure I would have done the exact same thing.
After working out most of my anger on Harris, I was able to see my mom’s reasons for not telling me herself more clearly. That didn’t mean I wasn’t still hurt that she—and everyone else—had kept something so important from me.
Once I’d left First Bass the night before, soon after telling Harris that I was returning to D.C. for the summer semester at Georgetown, I’d gotten in my Range Rover and driven around the city until late. It was weird being all by myself. That never happened. Ever. There was always someone watching over me, making me feel like I couldn’t completely relax.
By the time I’d gotten back to the house, all the lights had been off and I’d been thankful that I didn’t have to face Mom or Dad. I’d kept my phone off so I didn’t have to talk to anyone, and since I hadn’t taken Marcus with me, I knew they must have been worried about me. That I didn’t have to deal with them waiting for me at the front door to yell or lecture me had been a relief.
When I’d gone up to my room, trying to be as quiet as I could, it was to find my bed wasn’t empty. My mom had been asleep on top of my covers with one of my pillows cuddled against her chest. As I’d gotten closer to the bed, I had seen clearly from the dim lighting of the hall light that she had fallen asleep crying, and my heart had broken all over again.
I was close to my parents. We shared a bond that few families got to. We didn’t normally keep secrets. We trusted each other. We loved each other harder than any other family I knew. Maybe it was because we’d come together in such an unorthodox kind of way since Layla was really my sister and Jesse had pretty much adopted both Lana as well as me when he’d married Layla. We’d known how not to treat each other and we’d loved each other and been thankful for what we had.
Kicking off my shoes, I slid into bed beside her without bothering to change my clothes. Hating the sight of those tears and knowing that I’d caused them, I wrapped my arms around her and, before I’d known it, I was sound asleep. By the time I woke up the next morning, to the sound of my brothers running up and down the stairs, it was to find my bed empty.
With a tired sigh, I got out of bed and went into my bathroom to shower. The pain between my legs was a dull ache this morning, but my fists were bruised from having used them to hit Harris so many times the night before. Regret filled me at remembering the blood he’d spit out when I’d made him bite his tongue. I couldn’t believe I’d tried to kick his ass.
And he’d let me.
Grimacing, I washed my hair and then got out of the shower. I wanted to get the confrontation with my parents over with sooner rather than later, so I got dressed without drying my hair and went downstairs. The smell of sausage led me into the kitchen.
Luca and Lyric were already at the table eating plates loaded with pancakes, sausage and scrambled eggs. My dad was standing at the island, pouring three glasses of orange juice, while Mom finished up making the last of breakfast. Growing up, this would have been a typical Sunday morning for us. Today was Tuesday, though, so it had me pausing on the threshold.
Catching sight of me just standing there, Dad shot me a smile. “Morning, Lu. Sleep well?”
I wrapped my arms around my middle and bit my lip, but gave him a small nod.
His smile dimmed slightly and I could see the indecision swirling in his eyes, but he didn’t start lecturing me on staying out too late and worrying them. As I watched him watching me, I realized he must have been feeling just as guilty as Mom was.
“You missed the best party yesterday, Lucy,” Luca told me, talking with his mouth full, but too excited to care. “Cannon pushed Piper into the pool and Lyric beat the snot out of him.”
My eyes widened at that news and I found myself crossing to the table to sit next to the youngest twin, my own worries pushed to the back of my mind in light of my little brother’s news. Lyric was looking down at his food, his eyes just as stormy as our dad’s when he was pissed off about something. It wasn’t like Lyric to beat up on anyone. That was normally Luca’s MO.
“Why did Cannon push Piper?” I asked.
“He thought it was funny,” Luca answered for his twin. “He laughed about it even though she cried. Lyric jumped out of the pool and had him pinned down before anyone could stop him. Aunt Dallas had steam coming out of her ears when she found out what Cannon did. He got a black eye from Lyric and was grounded for two weeks.”
“Is Piper okay?”
“She skinned her knee on the bottom of the pool,” Lyric mumbled, speaking for the first time. “It was bleeding really bad.”
“Did you help her put on the Band-Aid?” I was trying to get him to look at me, but he kept his eyes focused on his plate. Ah, my poor Ric. His gentle heart was probably beating him up for what he’d done to Cannon, who was younger and a little smaller than the twins.
“Yeah.”
“Good job taking care of the girls, big guy.” I lifted a hand to rub across his short hair. “Cannon had it coming.”
That my parents weren’t commenting on it said all I needed to know about how they felt on the whole situation. Lyric hadn’t gotten into trouble with them. It had been drilled into the twins’ heads to protect not just girls, but anyone smaller than them. Of course, from the look on his face right then, I was pretty sure he was punishing himself for hurting his friend. I shook my head and offered him a small smile. “I’m sure Piper appreciates you taking up for her, Ric.”
“She wouldn’t stop following him around after that,” Luca said, jumping back into the conversation. “She’s in looove with him now.” He laughed and wiggled his brows at his twin, who clenched his jaw and balled his hands into fists but continued to remain silent.
“Oh, like Violet is in love with you?” I lifted a brow at him and his mouth snapped shut, brown eyes narrowing on me.
“I love Violet too,” he mumbled after a minute.
“Okay, boys, that’s enough,” Dad said as Mom started plating up the last of the sausage she was frying. “Go get cleaned up. Just because you’re on summer vacation doesn’t mean you get to skip brushing your teeth. When you’re done, stay in your room. Mom and I want to talk to Lucy.”
“Uh-oh.” Luca pushed back his chair and stood. He gave me a sympathetic look. “Whatever you did, deny it. If they don’t have proof, they can’t pin anything on you.”
Despite the dread making my stomach clench, I couldn’t help but smile at him. Luca had plenty of experience with getting into trouble. He was a pro now. “Thanks for the advice, dude.”
Lyric stood slowly, but gave me a grim smile as he followed after his brother. “Good luck,” he whispered as he moved past me.
No one else in the room moved until we heard the door to the twins’ room slam shut. Dad picked up the three glasses of orange juice and walked over to the table. Setting one down in front of me, he took the seat Lyric had just vacated. “You were out past curfew, Lu.”
“Yes,” I muttered.
“You had us all worried. Your phone was off, you didn’t have Marcus with you, and when we called Harris he said he hadn’t seen you in hours. He left work to go out looking for you.”
I lowered my gaze to my glass of juice. “He shouldn’t have done that. I was fine.”
“We didn’t know that, Lu.” Dad reached out and caught my right hand. I didn’t look up until I felt the slight tremor in his fingers. Seeing that haunted look in my dad’s eyes was like a kick to the stomach. I hadn’t seen that look since I was nine years old. “Mom told me everything that happened yesterday. You’re right, Marcus is our security blanket, but it’s one I’m not ready to give up yet. Maybe not ever. Baby, for the sake of my sanity, don’t fight us on Marcus. I can’t… I can’t risk losing you again.”
My teeth sank into my bottom lip to keep it from trembling. “I’m sorry,” I whispered.
“I’ll make a deal with you. Marcus doesn’t have to go with us on vacation. You can have a break from him and have a good time with us in Florida. But when you go back to school, he has to go with you.”
“Okay.” I was still whispering, afraid if I spoke too loudly I would start crying and wouldn’t be able to stop.
Relief had Dad’s face relaxing. “Thanks, Lu. You don’t know how worried I was about us fighting over this.”
I knew exactly how worried he had been. My dad and I rarely argued, but when we did, it got ugly. I hated fighting with him and Mom.
A platter of pancakes, scrambled eggs and sausage was set on the table in front of me and I swallowed hard before lifting my eyes to look at her. Even though she was my adoptive mother, Layla Thornton was my biological half-sister, so we shared some of the same features and personality. We were both on the short side, had the same curves and even the same nose. She was one of the most beautiful women I’d ever met, inside and out.
That we had something that was standing between our normal easy relationship right then was tearing me apart.
Mom’s chin trembled as she took her seat at the table. Tears filled her eyes, but she gave a wobbly smile. “Thank you for coming back.”
I didn’t know how to respond to that. She had every right to rip in to me. To scream and rant and rave at me for being so inconsiderate and irresponsible. I’d acted like an immature brat the day before.
“You had every right to be angry. I should have called you the second I got new information about that night.” She swallowed with difficulty and reached for my hands. I gave them to her willingly. “It’s a mistake I won’t ever make again, baby. I just… I didn’t want to hurt you with it.”
I wrapped my fingers around her hands, giving them a gentle squeeze. “You were right, Mom. It wasn’t your place to tell me. Harris should have.”
“But I should have told you anyway.” A few tears fell onto her cheeks but she didn’t try to wipe them away. “I’m so sorry—”
“What the fuck happened to your hands?” Dad’s near roar when he saw the bruises on my fists had me dropping Mom’s hands. He snatched them into his own and brought them closer to examine them. “What did you punch, a fucking wall?”
I winced when he ran his thumb over a particularly tender bruise on the middle knuckle of my left hand. “More or less.” His brow rose and I shrugged. “I kind of beat Harris up yesterday when I confronted him.”
My parents’ reaction to that was so comical that I actually found myself smiling. Mom gasped and Dad’s mouth fell open in surprise. “You beat up Harris Cutter?”
“Kind of.” I felt my cheeks turning pink with shame. “I was upset and pissed and when I saw him I just started swinging.”
Dad’s mouth snapped closed and he shook his head twice before letting out a laugh that seemed to come straight from his soul. “That’s my girl.” He carefully released my hands and wrapped his arms around me in a hug that pushed all the air out of my lungs. “I’ve never been more proud of you than right now, Lu.”