“In about two minutes, you mean?” I tease my dad.
Home is the first place they’ll look.
“Just tell them the truth,” I reply, turning away from my friends and cousins. “You talked to me. I’m around. You don’t know where.”
He won’t have to lie.
“And the girl?” my dad asks. “Who is she?”
I look behind me again, seeing the Rebel enter the room and looking pissed. He saw her on the video? How much footage is online? Jesus. I need to go back to the monitors and do a deeper sweep.
“She’s a nobody,” I tell him.
And I hang up, sticking my phone into my pocket as I turn around and grab my water bottle.
“I knew I should’ve kept this place to myself,” I grumble, not meeting Kade’s eyes.
“I just had to make sure you were serious.” He casts the Rebel a look. “What the hell are you thinking?”
I’m not sure I was thinking at all. I texted him and Dylan a bit ago to let them know the situation. Of course, they rushed over.
The Green Street punk advances on me. “Open the door.”
But I ignore her. Looking at Kade, I uncap my water. “I was thinking that I might not know what I can use her for, but I’ll keep her for a rainy day. I never throw anything away. You know that.”
Laughter echoes around the room.
“Open the door.” Her tone deepens, like she’s trying not to yell.
“Well, she’s here now,” Kade goes on, “and she’s not going anywhere until you’re safe. Can you comprehend the shitstorm she’ll bring down on this place if she’s let go? They’ll know exactly where to find you. Keep it on lockdown and don’t let her out.”
“Open. The. Door,” the Rebel growls.
“Christ…” I wince at her irritating voice. I can only handle one of them at a time. “You make everything worse, you know that?” I tell Kade.
Granted, my actions tonight weren’t my best, but he antagonizes every situation, and him and her in the same room is just going to piss me off.
“Open. The. Door,” she says again.
But Kade moves into me. “No one asked her to come into our town.”
“No one invited her,” Stoli adds.
“I kind of invited her…” Dylan mumbles, and I arch a brow, because that’s the fucking truth.
Of course, it’s not entirely her fault. One way or another that Weston shit always rolls over into Shelburne Falls.
“Did you talk to your dad?” Kade asks me.
“Did you talk to yours?”
I mean, his dad’s a lawyer. He can help with the cop.
But Kade whines. “Do you want me to? I’m kind of trying to make him forget how much trouble I am.”
“Hello!” the girl yells. “I’m talking to you.”
I glance over. “Sit,” I tell her. And then I look back at Kade. “I don’t want to involve our parents.”
“You think they’re not already mobilized?” he shouts. “I’m surprised Jared doesn’t have an ankle monitor on her by now.”
He gestures to Dylan who simply laughs under her breath. Dylan’s father is my dad’s half-brother. Kade’s dad is my dad and Dylan’s dad’s step-brother. Dylan and I, technically, are blood, but Kade and I are just as much cousins, even though we don’t share DNA.
“Open the door,” I hear.
I look at Dylan. “Did you bring clothes?”
She holds up a small duffle bag and launches it over to me.
I open it up to see a couple changes of clothes I asked Dylan to bring for the girl. I don’t want this chick looking for excuses to leave.
“Like she’s going to fit in your stuff, Dylan,” Stoli replies with a snide smirk, and I shoot him a snarl to shut the fuck up. I don’t need to hear comparisons regarding the size of my cousin’s breasts to another girl’s.
But Dylan is quick to respond. “But I thought football jerseys are one size fits all.”
Kade, Stoli, and Dirk burst into laughter. “You didn’t,” the latter says, impressed.
Dylan shrugs but can’t hide her own self-satisfied smile at bringing a Pirate jersey for the Rebel.
I shake my head, holding up the bag and seeing the delinquent’s black attire out of my peripheral vision. “Go find somewhere to sleep,” I tell her and toss the bag over.
“You’ll look good in our colors,” Kade jokes.
“Black and orange Pirate booty, baby!” Dylan howls, Stoli rushes over and lifts her high, everyone laughing.
I can’t help but smile at my cousin and how she keeps up. The women in my family are incredible. Not one of them waits for an invitation. Some peoples’ ceiling is Dylan’s floor.
“Under a black flag we sail!” Dylan boasts as the others cheer.
But then something slams into my chest, and I lose my footing. I step back to right myself as the duffle bag I just threw toward the girl lands back at my feet.
My smile falls, the fun stops, and I see Kade step toward the Rebel. “What’s your problem?”