“You can’t control everything all of the time.”
“Can’t I?” I huffed. “That’s funny because I thought I could control Gi and Wick. And you.”
“Me?”
I looked in the rearview mirror to assure myself Gi was still asleep. Then I turned to Beth and took her chin in between my thumb and finger so she couldn’t look away.
“I confess I want to control you in all things. Is that wrong?”
She let out a breath of air but said nothing for several beats of her heart. I let her go and she undid her seat belt. I didn’t hesitate, but instead popped out and bolted around the front of the car in time to open it.
Or maybe she let me think I was in time. I took her hand and helped her out of the car.
“This night didn’t end the way I wanted it to, Beth, but know this isn’t over.We’renot over.”
“No,” she said on a deep sigh. “I imaginewe’rejust beginning.”
* * *
I pulledup into my driveway and parked in my normal spot. Our parents were out at some charity function so Gi would be spared their reactions—or overreactions. I hadn’t made up my mind if I would tell them or not.
Our parents weren’t exactly traditional. They wouldn’t do something as cliché as ground Gigi.
However, they would talk to her about why she wanted to try Ecstasy or drink. They would remind her how vulnerable she was in so many ways. Because of who she was, but also because she was a girl.
They might even go so far as to sign her up for defense training. Our mom had talked about it with her over the summer, but Gigi hadn’t been interested. That might change. Because tomorrow she was going to wake up with a hangover, but more than that, a realization of how precarious her situation had been.
It’s likely she wouldn’t need my parents to remind her of that.
I opened the back door and saw her illuminated by the overhead light of the car, curled into a ball, her cheek resting on her hands. She looked so young, so damn innocent. It had been a harmless drug tonight but what about the next time?
And what sick bastard would be willing to bet money on when she was going to lose all that?
I tugged on her ankle. “Gigi, wake up. We’re home.”
She groaned and pulled her legs up higher into her stomach.
“If you don’t get up, I’m going to leave you out here and let you explain to Mom and Dad why you fell asleep in the car.”
She couldn’t have been sleeping too hard because the threat made her stir. “I’m uuuuupppp.”
I helped her to her feet—she was a little unsteady—but she batted my hand away when I offered to carry her again. I followed her into the house and upstairs to her room, waiting for her while she tucked into the bathroom to change and brush her teeth.
An idea occurred to me, so I crossed the hall to my own room and my private bathroom. In the medicine chest above the sink, I pulled out a bottle of aspirin and shook out two. Gi always kept a glass of water on her nightstand, but I didn’t think she kept something as prosaic as aspirin in her bathroom. Having never had a hangover before, it wouldn’t have occurred to her.
When I stepped back into her room she was already getting into bed. I waited then put the aspirin in her hands and handed her the water.
“Take these. But not until tomorrow morning.”
She obeyed like she frequently listened to my orders, which we both knew was not true.
“How mad are you?” she asked.
“Pretty mad,” I said. “Mostly at myself for agreeing to this. I told you to back off.”
“I know,” she whispered. “But the crazy thing is, I think he actually really liked me. I felt like I should probably give him a legitimate chance. Tonight really wasn’t his fault. You know me. I always want to try everything. At least once. For the experience.”
I shook my head. Another thing instilled into us from our non-traditional parents. They were about growth and exploration. We weren’t being raised as typical teenagers. We were being raised as the successors to a family dynasty.
