One of the girls snorted. “And because he’s your boyfriend.” She fixed me with a hard stare. “Or are you not allowed to have your boyfriend around with this…sister...in the house? Is there some weird rule about that or something?”
Mandy hadn’t told them. Her head dropped down and I knew what she wanted now. “I’ll stick around.”
Her petite shoulders moved in a relieved sigh and her head lifted back up. I saw the thanks from her, though she didn’t say it.
“What time is your student council meeting?”
“At 2:30.”
Nodding, I murmured, “I’ll be back down later.” I wouldn’t go far.
After doing homework, I put my earbuds in, laid in bed, and listened to music. I needed something to silence the shrieks, giggles, and ‘no ways’ from downstairs. It was much later when I sat back up and realized that I had fallen asleep. I sat up and listened. The annoying chatter was gone, but I still heard voices downstairs. When I got down there, Mandy was in the kitchen alone. She was pressed against the sink, her face glued to the window.
“He’s here?”
She jumped around. Blood drained from her face and her hand jumped to her chest. “You scared the crap out of me.”
“Sorry.” I grinned.
She shook her head, shooting me a rueful look. “You enjoy scaring people, don’t you?”
“Kind of.” I laughed then grew serious. “Is he here?”
She nodded. The slight humor fled from her, and she turned back to the window. “He’s out there with Tray and the guys.”
“They aren’t saying anything?”
“He hasn’t said anything. He’s acting like everything is fine.”
“Is she here?”
“No,” she hissed, turning back to me. “I don’t know what I would’ve done if she had showed up. I want to scratch her eyeballs out and pull her hair and then fling her body in front of a moving car.” She shuddered. “I’d like to do all of that without going to jail.”
I grunted. Sometimes jail was worth it, but I kept quiet. That wasn’t good advice. My phone was buzzing in my pocket. Mandy started to say more, but I tuned her out. When I pulled it out, Grayley’s name was on the screen. I held a finger up to her and headed outside. After shutting the door, I said, “Gray?”
“Brian’s on his way to your place.”
“What?” My heart stopped.
“He had a huge fight with Jace. The cops were called, but Brian split. He said something about sorting it out with you. He’s headed your way.” He paused. “Are you safe there?”
I got over my fear and frowned, gripping the phone tighter. “Brian would never hurt me.”
“He’s nuts, Taryn. Make sure you’re safe. If he won’t hurt you, I wouldn’t put it past him to hurt someone else.”
The same heavy weight that I always felt with Brian settled back on my shoulders. Moving to the street, I turned as if expecting him to come around the corner already. I had no idea what to do. Brian was coming here. This was off-limits. When we broke up, when I explained my new adoption, he had agreed not to come to Rawley and now he was breaking that last truce. I nodded to myself, gripping the phone so damn tight. It was pressed against my ear, and I was surprised Grayley couldn’t hear my heart beat through the phone. It was pounding in my eardrums.
“I’ll be fine,” I murmured, not believing myself.
“Call Jace. I think he sent some of his guys after him to make sure, but call him anyways.”
“Okay.” A different terror spread through me.
I peeked through my window-blinds, but didn’t see his car. Great. Just great.
“Okay.” I sighed. “Thanks for giving me the heads-up.”
He hesitated on the other end, but said, “Good luck. Do you want me to come? I can hop in my car real quick.”
“No.” I shook my head, even though he couldn’t see. “I’ll handle it. I’m not alone.” Glancing over my shoulder, I saw more than ten cars parked outside of the house. These weren’t the people I wanted Brian around. They wouldn’t understand he had a heart or how he wanted to be like his father so much, or how he was so envious of Jace who had known their father before he died. They wouldn’t see past his anger to the hurt that was the real fire sparking everything.
They would only judge him.
A hollow ache formed in me as I dialed Jace’s number.
“Hey, Terry.” He was somber.
“I heard.” It’s all I had to say. We both knew this side of Brian. “He’s coming here?”
“Yeah. He was getting fired up again and didn’t take it too well when I told him to stay away from you.”