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Gabriel skipped dinner. Things were all right with Michael for now but he didn’t feel like putting on the same show for Chris and Nick, especially since Quinn and Becca were here. He holed up in his room again, iPod blaring in his ears.
He rolled his lighter across his knuckles, striking flame in time with the beat of the song.
His cell phone was in his other hand. Silent.
Not that he wasn’t checking it every fifteen seconds.
Surrounded by people, and he still felt so alone.
Then his phone chimed. Gabriel was so startled that he dropped the lit lighter in the middle of his chest.
Out, he thought.
The fire went out.
ather looked like he was forcing himself to stay behind the car door. He gestured, his words punctuated by fury. “Get.
In. The. Car.”
Layne swallowed. “Okay.”
“Hey.” Gabriel caught her wrist, his eyes still fixed on her father, his voice still unrelenting. “They didn’t do anything wrong.”
“Gabriel,” said Michael.
“Nothing wrong?” Her father did close the door now, stepping across the pavement. Layne had to fight to keep from backing up. “I believe we might have a different perspective of right and wrong. For instance, driving a fifteen-year-old girl across town without her parents’ permission. To say nothing of her fourteen-year-old brother.”
“Yeah?” said Gabriel, stepping forward, almost putting her behind him. Thunder cracked in the sky again, closer. “What’s so right about being ”
“Gabriel.” Michael had his brother’s arm now, and it must have been a death grip. White showed across his knuckles.
But Michael’s eyes were on her father, his tone composed. “I drove. They were just getting together for schoolwork.” He paused, and Layne thought for a moment that he was going to sell her out, to say that he’d specifically asked whether she had permission and she’d lied. “Gabriel and Layne studied in the kitchen; we played ball. I’ve been here the whole time.”
If anything, her father’s eyes turned darker. “Forgive me if I don’t find that too reassuring.”
Lightning streaked through the sky behind the houses across the street. Thunder cracked. A drop of water struck her cheek.
She could hear Gabriel’s breathing beside her, tight and furious.
Please, she prayed, remembering their exchange in her foyer.
Don’t make this worse.
“Dad,” she choked. “It was fine.”
“Layne, I’m not an idiot. And I’m not going to worry about you and Simon running around with some worthless teenager who’s a phone call away from juvenile detention ”
“Hey.” Michael took a step forward, almost toe-to-toe with her father. “He’s not worthless, and you’re out of line.”
“I’m out of line? Maybe you should think about your position before you get in my face, kid.”
“I’m not a kid. And you don’t know anything about my position. ”
“Please,” said Layne. “Just . . . it’s my fault. We’ll get in the car.”
But her father would never back down from anyone, and he was barely paying attention to her anymore. “Oh, you don’t think I had time to look you up? All I needed was a neighbor to tell me about the strange vehicle in the driveway. She wondered why my kids were getting in a landscaping truck.”
Layne flinched. Her father said landscaping truck as if she and Simon had been found scrounging in Dumpsters. Another drop of rain hit her cheek. Her forearm. “Dad stop it.”
