Chapter 1
Leo
“You wanna go to that party up at the culvert tonight?” Cecilia asked as I dropped down beside her on the couch. I was tired as fuck, but I’d promised her that I’d stop by, so I’d dragged my ass to her parents’ house. It was weird as shit being there. I hated it.
It had only been a little over a year since the party where I’d been shot in the fucking face in their backyard, but I’d never let anyone know how uneasy it made me to step inside that house. I’d never hear the end of it.
“Nah, not tonight,” I groaned, dropping my head back against the couch. “I’m wiped.”
“Hi, Leo,” a sweet voice called out, and I watched as Cecilia’s little sister Lily came into the room, followed by their cousin Rose. She wasn’t moving fast, but there also wasn’t any hesitation in her steps as she came forward and knelt on the carpet in front of us.
“Can’t you do that somewhere else, Lil?” Cecilia bitched as Lily set a book down on the coffee table.
“No,” Lilly muttered. “Mom said to do it down here. It’s not like I can see you, so do whatever you want.”
“Uh, no. Don’t,” Rose grumbled. “I can still see you.”
“Just ignore them,” Lily replied easily. “I do.”
“Aw, Dandelion,” I teased, grinning at her smart mouth. “You know you can’t ignore me.”
“I do my best,” she shot back, waving her hand in a shooing motion. She opened up her book and I leaned forward a little to catch a glimpse of a really simple children’s story written in braille and text.
“Ready?” Rose asked, turning a little so she faced away from me and Cecilia.
“I guess.” Lily’s face grew serious as her finger touched the first page and slid along the edge until she found the little bumps. Her lips moved as she slowly ran the pad of her finger over the braille. “There,” she sounded out slowly, “was…”
“Oh, shit. You haven’t seen this yet,” Cecilia whispered, grabbing a pen off the sidetable. “Watch.”
Before I could stop her, she threw the pen straight at Lily.
Anger rose so quickly that before she’d even dropped her arm, I had her wrist gripped tightly in my fist.
My mouth fell open in surprise as Lily fucking dodged the pen, smacking it out of the air like she’d seen it coming.
“What the fuck, Cecilia?” she said, her face turning red.
“Watch your mouth,” Cecilia snapped back, yanking her arm away from my hand. “You know you’re not supposed to talk like that.”
“Fuck you!” Lily seethed. She slammed her fists against the coffee table, making the entire thing rattle.
“You’re such assholes,” Rose hissed, glaring at us.
“I knew you’d catch it,” Cecilia argued, glancing at me before looking at her sister again. “You always catch them.”
“Not if I’m doing something else!” Lily screamed back, obviously embarrassed. “What the fuck is wrong with you? Why would you do that?” She climbed to her feet and almost tipped sideways as her foot slid on the pen.
My heart pounded and my stomach churned as tears filled Lily’s eyes. Jesus Christ. I hadn’t been in on Cecilia’s little demonstration, and I still felt guilty as fuck.
“What the hell is going on in here?” Farrah asked as she came jogging into the room.
Lily lifted her chin and didn’t say a word as her mom took a few steps forward.
“Well?” Farrah glanced around at our faces, finally stopping on Rose’s. “What happened?”
When Rose refused to answer, Farrah looked at Lily. “You wanna tell me why I could hear you yelling obscenities all the way upstairs?”
“Snitches get stitches,” Lily mumbled back, her face dark. Then she lifted her fist in Rose’s direction and waited for her to tap it with her knuckles.
“Christ, you’ve been spending too much time at the club,” Farrah scoffed. “You have, too.” She pointed at Rose, then glanced down at where Lily was trying to hide the pen with her foot.
“Cecilia,” Farrah said flatly, her eyes rising to us. “Tell me you didn’t throw a fucking pen at your sister.”
“She always catches it!” Ceecee replied, shrugging her shoulders. “It’s not like I thought it would hit her.”
Farrah glanced at me and then back at Lily before she spoke again. “They’ve been spending too much time at the club,” she waved at Rose and Lily. “But you’ve clearly not been spending enough. Learn some fucking loyalty, Cecilia. Your sister isn’t a goddamn circus act.”
Ceecee’s chin trembled and she glanced at me before jumping to her feet and running out of the room.
“Seems like you’d know better,” Farrah said derisively in my direction before Rose cut her off.
“He tried to stop her, Aunt Farrah,” Rose said quietly. “Actually, you might want to let Uncle Casper know so he doesn’t kill Leo tomorrow when he sees the bruise on Ceecee’s wrist.”
“I didn’t know what she was doing,” I said, directing my words to Lily, who was standing there awkwardly silent. “When I realized she was going to throw it, I just tried to grab her arm before she let it go.”
“I’m sure Cecilia’s fine,” Farrah said with a wave of her hand. “Rose, it’s time to take you home, kiddo. Go get your stuff.”
“Can I stay the night at her house?” Lily asked quickly, giving her mom a cheesy grin.
“Nope,” Farrah replied. “You guys have been together for two weeks straight. You can handle being apart for one night.”
“Aw, man,” Rose complained, sulking as she left the room.
“You riding with us, Lilypad?” Farrah asked as she picked up her purse and slid her feet into shoes.
“No.”
“Stop pouting. Your face is going to stay like that.”
“Fine with me, it’s not like I can see it.”
“Well, at least have a little compassion for your mother and don’t make her look at it,” Farrah said dryly. “Let’s go, Rose!”
I watched it all play out, but I didn’t move from the couch as Farrah ushered Rose outside and closed the door behind them. I wanted to leave, but I knew if I did, Cecilia would blow up my phone once she came downstairs and realized I was gone. I wasn’t even sure why I put up with her shit anymore. I guessed it was just easier to let her play her games than to deal with the bullshit I’d land in if I dropped her ass.
“You can go upstairs, you know,” Lily muttered as she reached down and picked up her book. “No one’s here to stop you.”
“I’m good,” I replied.
She took two steps to the side and reached out toward the recliner in the corner of the room, running her hand down the arm until she was sure of her positioning. Then she dropped into it with a sigh.
“She loves me, you know,” Lily said after a few minutes of quiet. “She was just showing off.”
“It was an asshole move.”
“It wasn’t a big deal,” she argued, shaking her head. “Shit like that happens all the time at school.”
“People been giving you trouble?” I asked darkly, leaning forward in my seat. The idea of anyone messing with the little girl in front of me made me want to go kick middle school asses.
“Oh, knock it off,” she chirped, throwing her hands in the air. “I can take care of myself, and anyone I can’t handle, Rose takes care of.”
“That’s fucked. Nobody should be messing with you at all.”
“It’s fine. If I was a boy, you’d tell me to handle it myself. I don’t need anyone’s help.”
“No, I wouldn’t. If one of the boys had a problem, I’d take care of it.”
“You mean, if one of the boys was blind and had a problem,” she replied knowingly, shaking her head. “School is fine. I just meant that you shouldn’t think Cecilia is some horrible person. She’s not. She was just trying to show off.”
“Known Ceecee since we were babies, Dandelion. I think I’ve got her measure by now.” It was the truth. Also the truth? Most of the time, Cecilia acted like a spoiled brat. I wasn’t about to say that to her baby sister, though. “Now, tell me what the kids at school’ve been doin’.”
“God! Nothing,” she replied. “Did kids at school fuck with you when you got your face messed up?”
“Damn, Dandelion.” I grimaced. Most people didn’t mention my face. They tiptoed around it or acted like they didn’t notice, which was stupid as hell. Of course they could see the scar running along my cheek from my jaw to the corner of my eye. Not like I was trying to hide it. “Nah, no one messed with me. They know better.”
“Is it bad?” she asked, turning her face in my direction. “Your scar?”
“Not great,” I mumbled reaching up to run my finger along the skin I couldn’t feel anymore.
“Can I feel it?”
“What?”
“Can I feel your scar? Nobody wants to describe it, even when I ask.”
I stared at her wide eyes for almost a full minute. Lily was a sweet kid. Pretty in a way that you knew she’d be a knockout when she was grown, but still so innocent looking that it made your teeth ache. She had her mom’s bone structure and her dad’s dark hair and tan skin. The best of both parents, though I’d never tell Cecilia that, with her blonde hair and fair skin. Lily didn’t have a mean bone in her body, and no way would she say something about my scar unless she’d been thinking on it for a while.
“Uh, sure,” I finally answered, clearing my throat.
She hopped off the chair before I could move from the couch and carefully came around the coffee table, making sure not to bump into anything. As soon as I’d leaned forward in my seat, she was in front of me, her hands raised in front of her chest.
“Which side?” she asked, tilting her head. “Show me where it is.”
My heart thumped hard and I took a deep breath as I grabbed one of her hands and brought it to my face. No one had touched the scar except me and the doctor who’d sewn me up. Even Cecilia was banned from putting her hands on my face. It felt too fucking weird when the numb skin was touched. That shit made me nauseous.
It was also ugly as fuck. I was still coming to terms with that, no joke. Before I’d been shot, I’d been swimming in pussy, even though I’d rarely partaken. After? Only the freaks with fetishes and daddy issues came calling.
And Cecilia. But I swear to Christ, the bitch always sat on the opposite side of my scar so she didn’t have to look at it.
“It’s…” Lily paused as she lifted her other hand and ran her fingers down both sides of my face. Then she ran just one down the jagged line of the still slightly raised skin. “It’s barely anything!” she said in annoyance. “You act like you’re the Hunchback of Notre Dame, and this is all there is?”
I opened my mouth, then snapped it shut in surprise as she lightly slapped my scarred cheek. “Don’t be such a pussy, Leo.”
I barked out a surprised laugh just as footsteps came thumping down the stairs.
“What are you guys doing?” Cecilia asked suspiciously.
“Say what?” I said ominously. She’d better not be implying what it sounded like.
“N-Nothing,” Lily stammered, dropping her hands and sidestepping the coffee table. Her cheeks went beet red as she carefully scooted away.
Her awkwardly measured steps moved her into the kitchen and I looked at Cecilia in disgust when I found her laughing.
“Someone’s got a crush,” she sang, pointing her thumb at where Lily had just gone. Her little sweetheart of a sister that could sure as shit still hear her, and was probably dying of embarrassment.
I ground my teeth together as I got to my feet.
“Sometimes, you’re a fuckin’ bitch, you know that?” I shook my head as I walked past her and out the front door.
I had no fucking clue why Cecilia treated her baby sister the way she did. I’d done plenty of shit to bother my older sister, Trix, when I was a kid, but I’d fucking cut my arm off before I hurt her on purpose. It made no sense to me that Cecilia couldn’t stop herself from the little digs against Lily that she made constantly.
I was livid as I climbed on my motorcycle, but couldn’t help but chuckle at the little shit’s last words to me. Damn, I hoped she wasn’t upset about Cecilia being an asshole.
Just to make sure she was fine, I jogged back up the porch stairs and stuck my head in the front door.
“Girls aren’t supposed to have such dirty mouths, Dandelion!” I yelled through the opening.
I didn’t have to wait long for her reply.
“Bullshit! Have you met my mother?”
I grinned as I closed the door again and headed to my bike.
Lily would be fine. The kid had a thick skin.