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I nod solemnly.
“Sheisan adult now,” Seb says quietly in my defense.
“Fair. But she’s still our little sister, so it’s not an easy sell.”
I pause, looking back and forth between them. “Can I finish?”
“Jesus, there’s more?” Seb mutters.
“Trey is a reputed fuck boy, and Lincoln is definitely emotionally damaged, and I have no idea what they really want from me, other than they apparently don’t want me to leave, but it’s not like I can stay and work at the theater forever—that’s Link’s prerogative, not mine.” I tap my chin in thought. “That place really makes him happy,” I murmur sadly, feeling like our future trajectories are splintering apart even more.
“You have a job, too?” Marcus asks.
“Fi and I work at the local movie theater. Lincoln’s dad owns it, so Lincoln runs it because rich kids get whatever they want.” I glance up at my brothers. “No offense.”
“None taken,” Seb murmurs.
“So anyway…yeah,” I say awkwardly.
My brothers sit there in silence, as if in shock. I giggle.
Finally, Seb clears his throat. “Uhm, anything else?”
I consider mentioning Matt and his creepy antics, but I don’t want to worry them, so I blurt the first thing that pops into my head.
“Oh, and I punched this girl in the face after she spilled her waffles on the laptop Mom gave me. It was intentional—definitely on purpose.” I choke on the last word, looking up at Seb and Marcus as the memory of that day overwhelms me again.I really miss that laptop.
My brothers’ faces are out of focus for some reason.Why is everything blurry?
“She literally ruined my MacBook with my favorite breakfast treat.” I put a hand to my mouth to stifle a sob.
“For fuck’s sake,” Marcus says. At the same time as Seb says, “You decked a girl?”
Fat, hot tears run down my cheeks, and Fiona’s hand squeezes my leg under the table. I take a deep breath, wipe my face with the palms of my hands, and force a smile.
“Yes, I broke her nose. But she and I are cool now.” I shrug as if I didn’t just have an alcohol-induced meltdown.
“Wait, whoa, time out,” Seb says, making a T with his hands. “Lincoln and Trey? As in Lincoln Evans and Trey Walker?”
“Yeah,” I say, sniffing. “Why?”
Marcus looks at Seb. “The smart-mouth boy and the moody kid who spent all their time smoking weed in the pool house with the other rich dickheads?”
“You shouldn’t talk,” Seb says with a laugh. “You were one of those dickheads.”
Marcus grins. “Only sometimes.”
“I always suspected that Lincoln had a thing for you,” Seb says, frowning.
My head snaps up. “What?”
“He used to ask about you, and he watched you a lot when he thought no one noticed,” Seb says with a shrug. Then he smiles softly. “I thought he was jealous of Matt the way he stared daggers at him. And he gave you Ani, of course.”
“He gave me…” My head spins.
“Who’s Ani?” Fiona asks.
“This little stuffed cat that Lincoln brought Charlie after Anakin ran off.” He glances at Marcus. “Remember that? You and Lizzy were arguing, and she locked you out of your own bedroom,” he says with a wide grin. “So we were sitting in the hallway on the floor when Lincoln snuck into Charlie’s room that night.”
