Divine Charity(Divine Creek Ranch 18)(96)
The blonde climbed from the pool and threw her clothes on over her wet transparent underwear and called, “Later, guys! I’m outta here!”
Luka and Matthias were completely serious now as Noah, Beau, and Sarah came running up. Beau said, “You found them. Good. Guys, you need to get in there and get rid of all those people before—”
A siren sounded and Justine’s eyes were drawn to flashing lights bouncing off of cars parked all over the yard out front. Minors scattered in every direction, some dressed, others not so much.
Walking toward the house, Justine called back to the hosts, “Sounds to me like you’re both screwed.”
Inside the house it was chaos, kids pouring out of the hallway that led to the bedrooms and the den, trampling each other trying to get out and away.
Noah caught her when one big guy she recognized from her biology class knocked her out of the way in his haste to zip up his jeans and beat feet out the back door. Noah maneuvered her into a corner so no one else could possibly injure her as she took in the disaster area that Teresa’s lovely home had been transformed into. Under other circumstances it would’ve been nice to have his chest pressed against her the way it was right then.
She heard the sound of a two-way radio and then saw Noah grimace as he looked over his shoulder. “Your dads are gonna fucking kill me.”
Justine shook her head. “No, they’re not. I didn’t come out here to party and they’ll understand that. They know we’d never willingly participate in something like this.”
“We should’ve called them about this before we came out here.”
He had a point, but she’d been too worried to think of it. “Yeah, well…that’s a really good idea. Unfortunately we didn’t have it earlier.”
“Yeah, and here we are anyway.”
“Yeah,” Hank said from the front door, looking ready to string someone up. “Here you are anyway.”
Jack Warner came in the front door behind him, and his eyes widened. “What the hell happened in here? Honey, what are you doing here?” he asked when he spotted her across the room.
Without hesitation, Justine went to him and Hank, “Same thing as you. I knew this wasn’t right when we heard about it at the prom.”
Hank’s raised eyebrows said it all as he surveyed the damage and then said a few words into his radio. It sounded like the deputies were rounding up those partygoers who weren’t able to run off fast enough.
Jack said, “Luka and Matthias were supposed to be house-sitting while Angel, Joaquin, and Teresa took the kids to see their grandparents this weekend. Have you seen them?”
“We’re here, sir.” They turned at the sound of Luka’s voice as they both stood in the archway between the kitchen and the living room, shock on their faces as they gaped at the scene.
Hank turned a stony face on both young men. “You’ve both got some explaining to do.”
Justine headed toward the hallway and Noah stopped her and shook his head. “You don’t want to go back there.”
Justine said, “I have to.”
She was seeing red when she returned to them a few seconds later. “Come look.”
They followed her down the hall to baby Isabella’s nursery. The carpet was soaked with what she assumed was beer, someone had climbed in the crib and flattened it, and the rocker the Garners had made for Teresa was on its side, broken. She pointed across the hall at Michael and Eleazar’s bedroom, which was just as bad. Both of their beds were broken and the covers were torn from them. The door to the den was hanging half off of its hinges and the toilet had overflowed in the bathroom. The odor of sex still filled the air.
Luka and Matthias looked like they’d seen a ghost as they backed away, but Justine grabbed Luka by the wrist and said, “Oh no you don’t. You don’t get to run away. Go look what they did to your brothers’ bedroom. Teresa’s bedroom.”
They had to brace themselves against the doorway of the master bedroom. It was in the same condition as the boys’ bedroom and the den.
The anger suddenly drained out of her as she crossed her arms in front of her and watched them react to what they saw. “I heard you two were players but I always saw you as grown-ups—before tonight.”
Matthias looked stricken. “Teresa’s never going to forgive us.”
Luka frowned. “It was supposed to be a little party. We were out in the back and didn’t realize what was going on in here.”
A deputy approached Hank and whispered to him and Jack. Hank said, “Luka and Matthias, you’re coming with me. Jack?” he added, casting a glance to Justine, Beau, and their dates.