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The girl may be the baby of the family, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t a genius.
“Okay.” Keene sighed. “I was stressing about that, too. Now all this…Jesus fucking Christ. I can’t stand our father sometimes. I’m glad he’s dead.”
“Yeah,” Zip said quietly. “Me, too.”
Then she hung up without saying goodbye, turning fully to me before saying, “Want to explain yourself?”
No. Not really.
“When were you going to tell me—us—that you weren’t our sister?” she asked, raising her voice to the point that she wasn’t yelling, but she was really damn close.
I felt that verbal blow like it was physical.
The flinch at her words had me standing up.
I glanced at Hancock to see him slipping his phone back into his pocket. It was more than obvious that he’d texted Hannibal.
I probably had ten minutes, max, before he was back here and ordering Zip to leave.
Crossing my arms over my chest and pretending her words didn’t hurt nearly as bad as they did, I said, “You know, all I wanted to be for my entire life was a part of y’all’s family.”
Zip pressed her lips together as I continued. “You may not have known what our ‘dad’ was doing to me, but that doesn’t excuse the fact that y’all didn’t look outside of your own little bubble to see that I wasn’t doing well.”
Zip opened her mouth, then closed it, unsure what to say.
“The first time our ‘father’ told me that I was some bastard piece of shit—that I can remember anyway—was when we were five years old, and I was sitting around the Christmas tree with everyone, wondering why y’all had presents and I didn’t,” I said.
Hancock made a sound, but I didn’t bother to look at him.
“I was reminded every single day that I wasn’t wanted. And when I saw that Dad only got y’all one half ass present…do you remember that time that we were sitting all on the RV couch, and Dad had let us watch Home Alone, and we got to that scene where all the presents are around the tree? How even Kevin’s measly presents to his family were way more than we ever expected from our own father? That was the moment in time that I made it my life’s purpose to make sure that we never had a shitty Christmas again,” I said.
She frowned. “Did any of you ever notice that I sat beside y’all and never got a single present?”
Zip opened her mouth and then closed it.
“And to be honest, you’re the baby of the bunch. You had no clue when we were younger how bad it was. By the time you got there, all of us were old enough to help take care of you. You never had to wonder where your next meal would come from. Or whether or not Dad would deign to take us to the dentist office to get a cavity filled. Because one of us was always there to make sure that you never saw that side of our life. But let me be completely honest here. I never had that opportunity. Nobody but me ever watched out for me. Not even Tony,” I hissed.
Hancock shifted on his feet, and I wondered what he thought of all of this.
Did he think we didn’t love each other?
Because that couldn’t be further from the truth.
I wasn’t their family. But they were mine.
And I would love them until the end of time.
Warts and angry words alike.
“I think it’s time to go.”
Hannibal.
I turned to look behind me and found him standing there looking…upset.
No, he was…furious.
Actually, furious wasn’t doing the mood he was currently in justice.
Infuriated.
Incensed.
Hell, let’s just say he was so mad that you could tell he wanted Zip out of his house.
Now.
“I, uh, okay,” Zip said, backing toward the door.
Hannibal wouldn’t hurt her.
I’d never allow that.
But I would like her to go, too.
If only to give myself a break.
There was only a short amount of time left until all of them knew, and then I’d have to field some calls. I couldn’t ignore them like I had been. They’d probably send out a search party or something.
To keep them at bay for a while, while I got myself situated, I had to give them something.
But that moment was not now.
“I love you, Hades,” Zip said as she slowly closed the door behind her.
I didn’t reply.
I stayed right where I was until strong arms wrapped around me, pulling me into a hard chest.
I turned in his arms, looped mine around his waist, and laid my head on his chest.
I was surprised just how fast his heart was beating when I closed my eyes.
“You okay?” I asked, worried now.
Seriously, that fast of a beating heart couldn’t be good for his health.
“Your sister just handed you a mortal verbal wound, and you’re worried about me?” he asked.
