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A key in the door. Two voices. The roll of suitcase wheels on the wooden floor.
Fuck.
Talia and I leap out of bed in an instant, both of us rushing to dress at record speed. I’m used to having to get ready at the drop of a hat, but Talia’s not and she stumbles trying to pull her leggings on, falling back onto the bed.
I make it out of the room just as our parents get to the top of the stairs.
Dad sees me and grins broadly. “Trey! There you are. We were wondering why the house was so quiet!”
What the fuck am I supposed to say to them? I stand in front of the bedroom door, unsure how to approach this. I could’ve sworn they were due back tomorrow not today, but evidently I got my dates wrong. And Talia and I hadn’t come up with any sort of plan for how to explain anything to our parents.
I clear my throat, trying to smile back. The woman next to my dad is obviously Talia’s mom. She has the same green eyes and delicate features.
“It’s so nice to meet you, Trey. I’ve heard so much about you!” Lucille greets me warmly, stepping forward to hug me.
At that precise moment, the door behind me opens and Talia walks straight into my back with anoof.
The air goes tight with tension, and my instincts prick up as my dad’s eyes look between me, her, and the bedroom door. The door we’ve both just come through. At 9 AM. It doesn’t take a genius to put the pieces together, and the second my dad’s eyes widen, I know he’s figured it out.
“Talia,” Lucille says, frowning at her daughter.
Talia’s eyes are wide, and she’s paler than usual as she steps out from behind me, accepting her mom’s hug. Lucille pulls away, gripping Talia’s arms and studying her daughter’s face with a look of concern.
“Trey, what’s going on here?” Dad asks me, his voice taking that same tone I haven’t heard since I was a teenager making his life difficult.
But I’m a grown fucking man now, and his disapproving tone won’t do anything to stop me from protecting my girl. Talia takes a step away from her mom, her green eyes finding mine. She looks panicked, and I need to make everything better. She stiffens but eventually relaxes when I wrap an arm around her waist and pull her against my side, showing her I’ll protect her.
My dad and Lucille look like their eyes are about to bug out of their heads.
“Trey, explain this now,” Dad repeats, glaring at me.
“Tal, sweetie. This isn’t what it looks like, right?” Lucille’s eyes are still comically wide.
Great. This is going fucking fantastically.
I inhale deeply, staying as calm as I can. But Talia speaks before I can. “Look, I know this might be a lot to take in, but?—”
“You can’t mean—” Lucille starts, then my dad butts in.
“You’re stepsiblings! This is?—”
“Please, listen. It’s just—” Talia tries again, but the conversation has devolved into a mess of our parents’ sputtering and completely ignoring Talia’s attempts to actually tell them what the hell’s happening.
I hold her close even as the tension between us all rises, and my dad is comforting his new wife while looking at me with a mixture of confusion and shock.
Talia’s voice cracks as she tries once again to speak and is immediately spoken over, and that’s it. That’s my limit. I get that they’re confused and maybe angry, but nobody gets to hurt my girl.
“Be QUIET!” I bark, my voice the same sharp command I use when I’m helping train new recruits. Immediately, our parents shut up, their mouths falling open. “I understand that this is not what you expected, but considering I didn’t even know you had gotten married, you don’t get to be outraged right now. Talia is mine, and no amount of your protests will change that. Frankly, I don’t care if you have a problem with it. You don’t get a say.”
“Trey—” my dad tries again, but I hold up a hand and shake my head.
“No, you either both stay quiet and let Talia give you the explanation you’ve so rudely interrupted for the last five minutes or you leave again and take some space,” I tell him, holding his stare.
My dad’s jaw tenses. “I think some space is needed,” he grinds out, looking between me and Talia again before sighing and taking his new wife’s hand, tugging her back with him.
I’ve basically just kicked them out of their own house, but I don’t give a shit. They’re clearly not ready to talk this through, and I won’t let them make Talia cry. Space is for the best.
We all head downstairs, and our parents immediately go back through the doorway they just came in.
