Blaze grumbles about it, but we make our way through the shopping mall. They trade off who’s closest to me, and overall we joke about the upcoming holidays and perfect gifts.
At no point do the walls start bleeding again.
This is the solution, then.
I have to be with all three of them, all the time.
That’s going to be a problem over the break.
As long as the Christmas tree doesn’t cry out in agony, I’ll be able to pretend that everything is fine.
9
PANDORA
“Is that all the stuff you’re bringing?” I ask, staring at Samantha’s tiny duffel bag.
She straightens her shoulders. “You’re not bringing any more than I am!”
“Yeah, but it’s my home. I’ve got a full wardrobe in my closet.” I grin at Samantha and step closer. “Unless you want to borrow some of my stuff. I bet you’d look great in my hot pink tights.”
Samantha grimaces. “I’m not borrowing any of your stuff,” she says. “But we’re only going to be in New Bristol for a few days. I don’t need to bring everything I own.”
“Two weeks!” I heft my own bag. “Okay, it’s fine. We’ll buy you anything you need. And the maid does laundry twice a week anyway.”
I see Samantha mouth the wordmaid, like she isn’t also rich. She must have had a maid at home.
I go over my mental checklist. I’ve fed Echo, I have all the gifts, I gave Blaze and Asch theirs to take with them, we said our goodbyes last night over sex and food…
I can’t think of anything else that needs to be done.
“You’ll like my family,” I tell Samantha. “They’re really chill.”
“Your family? Chill?” she repeats, not looking like she believes me at all, which is really pretty insulting. “If you say so.” She pauses, nibbling on her bottom lip, then says awkwardly, “Thanks for having me over.”
“Of course!” I shut the door on our shared dorm suite. “Mama got so sad when she heard your story. But, I should warn you, even if you think my brothers are hot, I wouldn’t go for them. Kratos is spoken for and Ares is, uh.” I tilt my head. “Volatile? Let’s go with volatile.”
“Gee, color me shocked,” Samantha says. “I’ll take care. What about your sister? Mel? What’s she like?”
“Um. Weird?” We take the stairs down, too impatient to wait for the elevator. It’s good for Samantha’s cardio, anyway. And my cardio, too. “Let’s go with ‘weird.’ She’s quiet though, so if you ignore her, she’ll ignore you right back.”
“If you’re saying she’s weird, she’s probably perfectly normal,” Samantha replies. “But I’ll leave her alone. Is your family going to get mad if I don’t engage much? I’m… not sure how ready I am to be around a bunch of men, honestly.”
That’s the most she’s said about what she’s been through.
“It’s fine. Papa, Daddy, and Uncle Slayer are usually busy with work anyway.” I don’t mention what that work is.
She doesn’t need to know that Papa runs several prominent strip clubs in New Bristol.
Or that they eradicated an entire mafia family once. That would be quite the bad look.
The drive back to New Bristol is fairly quiet. I wanted to go with River, but he’d refused on bullshit grounds. I assume they were bullshit, anyway, since he didn’t give me a real reason.
“Carly and Reaper are going home too,” I say by way of conversation. “Although Carly made it sound like she didn’t want to see her dad.”
Samantha is staring out of the window, like there’s anything interesting on the interstate on the way back from Dyschord to New Bristol. “Yeah. I’ve talked to her a few times, but we don’t really talk about our families. Especially these days.”
“That’s because everybody’s families suck!” I say it with cheer. “Except mine, of course. But I think the only way to get into Dyschord is if your parents are assholes. …Which does apply to my parents, actually.”
