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“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?”
