“They didn’t need to; I’m not stupid. So tell me, are you satisfied?”
“I guess. Are you mad?”
“No!”
“You look mad.”
“Do I?”
“Not really, but your voice sounds…off.”
“It must be from being lied to.”
“I couldn’t tell you, but I needed to do this.”
“No need to explain.” How could I berate her when I, too, knew the feeling of wanting to hurt the one who hurt someone I love?
“Don’t be mad at me okay, I can’t explain it; it’s just something I had to do. If I could’ve done worse, I would’ve, but it wasn’t well planned out, not enough time.” She tried to look forlorn, but it was hard to disguise the pride in her voice. I was actually proud of her myself, surprised but proud nonetheless.
“Eat your ice cream before the mutt beats you to it.” From warrior to toddler, she licked the sweet and sensing the danger from me was over; she went on to tell me in great detail how she and her partners in crime had carried out their sneak attack. I tried not to laugh because even though I told her I wasn’t mad, I didn’t want her thinking she could get away with this crap again.
Now onto the fact that that wench had the nerve to send the cops to my door. How should I make her pay for that? “I’ll be right back.”
“Where’re you going?”
“I have to see Pop for a minute.” I have to expound on Becky’s misery since you gave me this opportunity. I think having no place to stay in town while not being able to leave the jurisdiction is a good place to start.
GABRIEL
“What kind of big brother are you?”
“Well, hello to you t…wait a minute, big brother. What happened to the twins? Did something happen to them?”
“It’s not what happened to them but what they did.”
“What did they do this time?” He came further into the room and plopped down on the divan in my sitting room.
“They took Gianna to confront Becky, no scratch that, they took her to fight her.”
“Come again.”
“Yep!”
“Was Gia hurt?”
“No, thankfully, she wasn’t.”
“Good, I hope she broke her fucking neck.”
“Lance!” I looked away from my laptop long enough to glare at him. “Not the response I was expecting. She could’ve been hurt.”
“But she wasn’t right.”
“That’s not the point.”
“Let me ask you a question. Were the twins with her?”
“Yes, of course.”
“Do you think they’d let anything happen to her?”
“Of course not.”
“Then what’s the problem? The way I see it, you and I would’ve done the same thing. She tormented the girl her whole life. You and I both know that if we were in that situation, we’d want to get some of our own back.”
“Still, they shouldn’t have taken her there.”
“Well, it’s done, and she’s fine; stop moping.”
“Why don’t you go harass Pop and leave me alone to finish what I’m doing here?”
“Fine, you’re no fun when you’re being a bear anyway.” I watched him leave, not believing his laid-back happy acceptance one bit. His overprotective ass isn’t that easygoing when it comes to the girls.
I pulled up the gym on my laptop, where the girls were gathered doing who knows what. Just as I expected, he busted into the room. “What’re you two playing at?”
“What? What is it that you think we’ve done now?”
“Did you take Gia to fight someone?”
“He told you? He promised not to.”
“I doubt it. Your brother doesn’t lie, so if he’d promised, there’s no way he would’ve told me.”
“Fine, he didn’t promise, but we told him not to….”
“You told him not to what, Anna? You knew he was going to be upset by this? How did you two know where Becky was anyway?”
“Tommy, of course.”
“Tommy? Why would he tell you that? How’d you get it out of him?”
“Unlike you and our brother dearest, we as females have certain, shall we say, ammunition you don’t.”
“And what’s that, Rosa?”
On the screen, the twins pouted and batted their lashes before breaking into peels of laughter, while Gianna looked horrified even though she, too, found it funny. “Oh, look at this, Lance, we need your opinion.”
“What is it?” He started backing away with a look of suspicion on his face.
“It’s one of our dress choices for the ball.”
“Oh hell no, I’m outta here. I’ll see it when you wear it.”
“Oh, come on, you know how much we value your input.” Lancelot just rolled his eyes and turned to leave with one last parting shot. “If you two pull another stunt, you know what you’re gonna get. I’m tired of telling you two to behave. Sixteen is not an adult. Remember that.”
He didn’t see them poke their tongues out behind his back as he left, and I switched the screen, not wanting to eavesdrop any further though maybe I should. So that’s what she’s been up to, keeping me occupied with hours of talk about ball gowns and heels while the three of them were plotting mayhem. Slick!