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“What you got there?”
He’d gotten up and grabbed it before I had a chance to run for the hills. His eyes swept over it and dragged up toward mine slowly. “Wow … so, I wasvery curiousabout your relationship with Maverick, but this explains it. He bullied you, Josie?”
I swept my bangs from my eyes. “Pretty much, but not anymore.”
Jordan smirked. “With the glass of tea over his head, I would say you’re evolving. The bullied is becoming the bully.”
I frowned. “I’m not a bully, I’m just not letting him bully me.”
“Good. Give ’em hell, Josie.” He gestured toward my canvas. “It looks like he deserves it.”
I hung my drawing above my chest of drawers for anyone to see. What did it matter anymore? My stomach rumbled around seven, and I realized I hadn’t eaten since lunch.
All three boys sat in the living room when I walked into the kitchen. Jordan’s tongue stuck out of the corner of his mouth, his hat backward as he played Frankie on some game system they hooked up.
Maverick sat by himself on the loveseat, his hands tight into fists on his knees. His eyes focused on me as I walked across the floor. Normally, I’d ignore him, but today I felt free.
I smiled at him, which seemed to piss him off.Good.
“Y’all up for some spaghetti and garlic bread?” I asked, taking the ground beef out of the refrigerator.
Jordan tossed his arm into the air. “I’m down.”
“Me too!” Frankie yelled.
“You just ate,” Maverick said.
He shrugged. “I’m seventeen, I’m a bottomless pit.”
I listened to them play and goof off while I cooked and made some green tea. My mother always made green tea instead of sweet, while Daddy snuck sweet tea into the house occasionally.
Once I finished and made myself a plate, I called that it was time to eat. They dropped their controllers and stomped in like cattle. Everyone but Maverick. I sat facing the living room, making uncomfortable eye contact with him while the boys sat on either side of the small table.
“Dude, come eat,” Jordan yelled, shaking his head slowly. “I know you’re hungry.”
Frankie snorted. “Dude eats more than me. He’s just pissed our mom doesn’t want to give guardianship over.”
Maverick sighed. “Stop talking.”
Frankie shrugged and shoveled in a mouthful of spaghetti. Instantly, I wanted to know more but I wasn’t sure Maverick would elaborate.
“Why not?” I asked softly, more to Frankie than Maverick.
Frankie swallowed, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. “Just to be mean to Maverick. She wants him to pay her five hundred to sign the papers—,”
“Shut up, Frankie,” Maverick said leaping up from his seat.
Jordan eyed me before continuing to demolish his plate. Frankie shrugged. “Calm down and eat, we all know you’re hungry.”
Maverick swallowed with his hard eyes on me intently. Lifting my chin, I said, “We all know you’re mad about the drawing, but you can swallow your pride and eat, Maverick. I didn’t poison it. I’m not the jackass here, you are.”
Frankie looked up at me with a smirk, and Jordan’s eyes widened while he hid his mouth behind a cup of tea.
Maverick chuckled. “So, Josie Lee has grown some balls, huh? Too bad you’re a late bloomer, maybe you could have had a life in high school.”
“Ah,” I said with a shrug. “I didn’t miss much. Just a few troops of gorillas that would have left me unsatisfied and regretful.”
Maverick slid his tongue across his teeth slowly. Surprisingly, he didn’t comment and walked toward his room, leaving us alone.
