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“I don’t appreciate being compared to thefloor.”
His face was like an open book. Confusion and concern washed over him. “I didn’t mean to imply… I’m sorry.”
She pressed her lips together, that lump rising in her throat again. “No, I’m sorry. You didn’t deserve that. I’m just… on edge.”
He nodded slowly. “I know… would a hug help?”
It wouldn’t. It’d make this all the more difficult. It felt like he was branding her with every embrace. Wounds that didn’t hurt yet, but would hurt like hell when she had to heal. But she wasn’t going to reproach him for trying to make her feel better. Especially when he didn’t know what she was really upset about.
Shedidn’t even know what she was really upset about, actually.
So instead, she nodded and ducked into his embrace, trying to live in the moment and take it for what it was. A gesture of friendship. He gathered her hair in one hand and moved it to the side so he could whisper in her ear. “Look, I know you think you’re all alone here, but you’re not, okay?”
Honestly, he couldn’t know how truly alone she felt.
She felt like coming clean to the whole lot of them. Telling her siblings and her parents that she’d been seduced and duped by Eric McKinnon. That he’d been cutting coke on her coffee table and had stolen her bank card and all the funds in it as well. That she’d gotten it all back because of Jaxon’s quick thinking, but that she was hopeless and utterly unprepared to live on her own.
Then her mother would insist she come home, and she’d either have to drop out of college for a semester, or take her classes online, and once again, she’d be that ‘poor little Teagan’ who couldn’t spot a wolf in sheep’s clothing because she was too interested in the quality of the wool.
She knit her brow. No. No, she wouldn’t either. She wasn’t going back to being that person again. She wasn’t. She was going to see this through until a logical end, and then she was going to move on with her life. She wasn’t entirely certain what she was going to do, but it didn’t matter. Teagan had marketable skills. She’d figure out how to use them, and then…
She squeezed Jaxon back and stepped out of the embrace. “Thank you.”
“No problem…” His hands were still on her shoulders. “You sure you’re okay?”
She smiled with a bit more ease this time. “Yes, I’m sure.”
“Okay…” he nodded and dropped his hands. “You ready to go in there?”
She didn’t get a chance to answer him because Cassandra was bustling through the doorway, bringing with her that comforting scent of lemon and vanilla that told Teagan she was home. It was comforting, but at the same time, ratcheted up her anxiety.
“Are you going to spend the whole night in the entryway?” her mother asked, laughing a little when she pulled Teagan in for a hug. She sniffed, turning to smell Teagan’s hair, and pulled back, a grimace on her face. “Are yousmoking? You smell like cigarettes…” The last word came out stuttering through a gasp. She’d turned and seen Jaxon standing there in the doorway. “Oh… hello, Jaxon.”
Her voice had chilled entirely. But she spoke again before either of them could. “Brad didn’t tell me you were coming…” Teagan swore her mom could have a conversation without another soul breathing a word and be completely satisfied with her social interaction.
Jaxon opened his mouth then, but her mother let go of her shoulders and breezed past the both of them to the door, which she opened and peeked out at the driveway, likely looking for Jaxon’s truck. Which wasn’t there? When she turned back, her eyes were practically slits. She glared at the two of them and stormed out of the entryway.
Once she was gone, Jaxon let out a breath of relief. “Thought sure she’d skin me alive if she thought I was touching you. The silent treatment’s the best-case scenario here.”
Teagan pressed her lips together and took off after her mother. Her hair fluttered when she moved, and she nearly ran smack into Brad and Shea in the hallway.
Brad’s hands shot out to still her movement. “Teagan, dear sister. We’re all waiting in the family room. Why don’t you two join us?”
She narrowed her eyes and saw him flinch when she looked at him. Her mother’s icy glare was hereditary. “I’m going to speak to mom.”
“I think you both need to cool down. Come in with us. Nolan’s home and we’re going to play a bit of Uno before dinner. With three decks, so it’s thrice as rage-inducing.”
“My rage levels are maxed out,” she muttered.
“Teags…” Brad’s voice was gentler, softer when he addressed her this time. “Just come with us.”
“Isn’t this what the both of you wanted?” Teagan spat, leveling her gaze at Shea, too.
“Hey. HEY, don’t turn that thing at me,” Shea said. “I’m immune.”
“Tomom’s. You haven’t seen mine enough to build up an immunity,” Teagan hissed.
“Hey, Teagan…” Seth called from the room behind Brad and Shea. “Andrea’s here! You guys can gang up on Dave again!”
