“She chooses to hang out with you every damn day, idiot. Why wouldn’t she want you to come on this trip?”
Before I can argue back, something heavy crashes inside the house, followed by the girls’ squeals. Kane and I look at each other before bolting through the door, similarly to how we ran into a burning building last year.
Pushing at each other and jockeying to be the first through, we burst into the living room to find Jess and Laine wrestling on the floor amid tangled limbs and girly squeals, a large ceramic lamp shattered a mere three inches beside their heads.
“What the fuck?” Kane holsters a gun I didn’t see him pull and folds his arms. “Did we interrupt something important, ladies? Care to share your news with the rest of the class?”
“Baby’s being a baby!” Jess slams her fist into Laine’s shoulder. “She’s not playing fair.”
“I’m not being a baby! I just want you to mind your own damn business.”
“Everything’smy business! I’m a lawyer.”
Kane lets out an exasperated sigh and steps forward. He lifts Laine off his girlfriend as easily as if she were a child, and when he sets her on her feet, I’m both relieved and insanely jealous that his touch doesn’t make her flinch.
He picks her up with a strength that should scare her, but all she does is roll her eyes and turn away when he goes back for the other twin.
Jess stands and shoots a glare from behind Kane’s restraining hold. “Don’t be a baby, Baby! Sack up! You’re better than that.”
“Shut the hell up, Jessica! Mind your own business before you ruin it.” Laine stomps across the room with her arms folded, her eyes glaring into mine.
I step back before she can hit me. “What did I do wrong? Why are you mad at me?”
“I’m not.” She shakes her shoulders the way I’ve seen the Rollers do a million times just before a fight.Prepping for a throw down, or shaking the shit off and drawing in the calm?“Um…” She clears her throat and drops her eyes. Anger makes way for insecurity, and her worry sets my gut on fire. “I was wondering something…”
Insane curiosity, and desperate worry, swirl in my gut simultaneously. “Okay. What’s up?”
“Well…” She watches the floor and deprives me of her expressive eyes. “I was wondering about the garage… Can you take time off? Get your employees to open and close for a little while?”
“Time off from the garage? Um, I mean, I guess. I can do whatever I want. It’s my place.”
“Right, but do you have weird deadlines you need to meet that someone else can’t do? Can you take time away without it all going to shit?”
I glance over her shoulder at Kane and Jess as they sit on the couch, grinning as they watch us intently. They’re paying attention to every word we say, every single move we make.
“Ang?”
“Yeah.” My eyes come back to Laine’s. “I could take time. You want me to look after the apartment or something? I don’t need time off for that.”
“Um. No. Actually, I was thinking maybe you’d like to come with us?” Finally bringing her eyes back to mine, the bottom lip caught between her teeth kills me. “That is, I dunno… We’ve been friends a long time, and since Jess and Kane will be making out a lot, I figured I could do with a friend while away. Someone safe and familiar, ya know?”
Fuckkkkk.