“If you don’t want people seeing Devlin fucking you, don’t do it in front of the whole world,” Royal snaps.
“You were watching me have sex?” I ask, anger and humiliation raging inside me. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”
“Nobody wants to see his enemy nailing his sister,” King says. “Or… anyone nailing his sister. Trust me on that.”
“Where are you taking me?” I ask.
“We’re going to go talk to Dad, see what he wants to do about this.”
“I ended it,” I say. “I just told Devlin we couldn’t see each other anymore.”
“Was that before or after his dick was inside you?” Royal asks, twisting around to glare at me in the back seat.
I cross my arms over my chest and raise my chin, staring him down. “After.”
He gives an incredulous snort, his eyes raking over me with disdain. “Is that cum on your shirt?”
“Listen, Crystal,” King says. “Dad is going to destroy that family. You really don’t want to be mixed up with them.”
“Or what?” I ask. “He’ll kill me, too?”
“Nobody’s going to kill you,” King says. “We don’t want to see you get hurt. And if you care about any of the Darlings, that’s going to happen.”
“It’s already happened,” I say. “And I know it was stupid and wrong to keep seeing Devlin, so I broke it off. Now, can we go back to school?”
“Since when are you so worried about your education?” King asks, glancing at me in the rearview mirror. The scrape under his eye is swelling. “It’s half a day. Dad will get you excused.”
“She’s not worried about her grades,” Royal mutters.
“Don’t talk about me like I’m not here,” I growl. “If you have something to say, say it to my face.”
“Alright,” Royal says, turning in his seat again. “How many class periods are you spending on your back in Devlin’s backseat? You know who fucks in cars? Trashy whores.”
“Well, I’m sure all of you would know, considering how many girls have seen your backseats.”
“How many backseats have you seen?” Royal shoots back. “I heard you took a necklace from all three of those pieces of human filth. Are they passing you around now? One’s not enough for our baby sister?”
“I’m not a baby,” I snap. “And I need to get back to school to talk to my friend.”
“Which one are you pretending is your ‘friend’?” Royal asks. “Isn’t that what you called Colt when he took you to homecoming?”
“Dixie,” I say through clenched teeth.
“You can talk to her later,” King says as we pull into our driveway. “Right now, we need to talk to Dad about this.”
“Why?” I ask. “It’s none of Dad’s business who I’m with. For that matter, it’s none of yours.”
“Stop pretending to be naïve,” Royal says, climbing out of the car. “You said you weren’t a baby.”
He slams the door and stalks into the house before I can answer.
I climb out of the car at the same time as King. His eyes drop to my stained shirt. He looks away and clears his throat. “Go change your clothes. Then we’ll talk to Dad.”
I’ve never felt so dirty and disgusting, not even the first time, when Devlin told me he’d used me, and it wasn’t personal. I walk up the stairs, my entire body heavy with shame. I change my clothes and smooth my hair, but when I look in the mirror, I don’t know this girl. This isn’t me, and my brothers know it. They know I’m a whore who fucks in parking lots. Why are we all still pretending?
I toss my school clothes back into the closet and pull on a pair of yoga pants and a baggy cheer tee from my old school. I’ve just finished running my fingers through my hair, shaking it out and messing it up, then tossing it into a messy bun, when a knock sounds. Before I can answer, the door opens, and my brothers and father swarm in like an invading army.
“What’s this your brothers tell me about you still seeing that son of a bitch?” Dad asks, his brows drawn together in anger.