“What did Uncle Quint say?” he asked me stiffly.
“That he’d take care of it and that he’d take care of me,” I slurred sounding half asleep because I mostly was.
“Good,” he breathed out in relief. “Now go to sleep, sweetheart. Just go to sleep. I will be here with you, to watch over you and chase away your bad dreams.”
I did as I was told and I drifted off to sleep held tightly in the safety of Tyson’s arms.
I dreamed of nothing.
I also missed it when Tyson pulled out his cellphone to call his Uncle Quinton.
They talked about me and I didn’t hear a single word of it.
Probably for the best.
Chapter Eight
I woke up alone in my bed. The early afternoon light spilled into my bedroom through the window. I had been sleeping in later and later every day. It was a weekday and I should have been in school. I didn’t miss getting up and ready for school in the mornings. To be honest, there wasn’t much I missed about school. I didn’t miss the asshole teachers like Mr. Franklin. I didn’t miss the asshole students. And I certainly didn’t miss the food or the homework. It’s not like they were teaching me how to cure cancer or anything of equal importance.
I stretched and sat up in bed. I needed a shower so I could wash off the grass stains on my knees. And I desperately needed to get out of these clothes that I felt like I had been wearing for a year but in reality, it had only been half a day.
The sound of male voices coming from downstairs caught my attention, drawing me away from the contents of the book I was reading. Since the funeral, Mr. Cole hadn’t had many visitors, and he hadn’t invited anyone into the house.
Curious, and I’ll admit it, nosy, I moved towards the stairs, trying to see if I could make out any of the voices.
I moved down the stairs on silent feet. I’d had plenty of practice in being quiet thanks to my mother. I’d learned to try my hardest to stay out of her way for fear of what she’d do to me if she took notice of me. It was never good.
When I hit the bottom of the stairs, I put my hand on the wall and slid along it until I was standing right outside the formal living room. My mother had loved this room. All the expensive furnishings had really done it for her. I didn’t get it. The furniture seemed too fancy for me to dare take a seat on it. And it looked uncomfortable and stiff.
Mr. Cole murmured something too quiet for me to hear and I crept a little bit closer. I froze at the sound of Quinton’s voice. What in the hell was he doing here talking to Mr. Cole?
I had a bad, bad feeling about this. Was he going to tell Mr. Cole that I had been wandering through the woods last night and then I had Tyson sleep over? I would kill him if he did.
“You’re bailing on her,” Quinton accused harshly. “She needs you and you’re fucking bailing on her.”
“My family needs me more right now,” Mr. Cole snapped back. “You don’t understand what they’re going through. You don’t understand what I’m going through. And how dare you come in here and get in my face without knowing what’s going on.”
I held my breath, wishing to be anywhere but here, listening to this conversation. Nothing good ever came from eavesdropping, I knew this. If I were smart, I’d walk away right this second and not look back.
“Bullshit, Marcus,” Quinton bit out. “You’re telling me you don’t think of that girl as family? Remember who you’re talki
ng to. I’ve known you most of my life, don’t lie to me. Are you in the habit of buying girls who don’t mean shit to you brand new cars? I don’t think so. For fuck’s sake, you even made her go to Liam’s funeral with you. You took her to your brother’s damn funeral. She means something to you and right now she needs you.”
I took a step back, ready to flee, but couldn’t force myself to move any further than that one step. They were talking about me and I wanted to know what they had to say. If they had been discussing someone else I probably would have walked away. I liked to think I would have walked away.
“Of course I think of Ariel as family. I’m not an asshole, Quint, but it’s time for me to move on. You boys are old enough to take care of yourselves. You don’t need me to watch over you anymore. And, I offered to bring her with me but she didn’t seem interested in moving.”
Calmly, like he wasn’t just about to drop a major bomb, Quinton said, “She’s like us, Marcus. My brothers and me and you. Ariel is exactly like us. You try to take her away from us and you won’t like the way it turns out. And, no, I’m not trying to threaten you, I’m simply being honest with you. We’ll fight to keep her with us. Even the two she thinks don’t like her very much will fight to keep her with us.” He paused and I inhaled sharply. Holy crap, he was unbelievable! “And, baby, I know you’re there. You might as well come out and join the conversation.”
Busted. Again.
I seriously sucked at this eavesdropping thing. First, Addison caught me. Now, it was Quinton. Damn.
I took a deep breath and stepped away from the wall. It was wrong to listen in on conversations that weren’t meant for me to hear. But, at the same time, they shouldn’t have been having this conversation without me.
“She what?” Mr. Cole sputtered. “That’s impossible.”
Slowly, I entered the room. I rubbed my damp, sweaty palms down my bare legs. I wished I’d worn something other than short-shorts so I could wipe my perspiration off on something other than my own skin.