“Hey,” Harper called, tilting her head back to look at me. “Are they all out there boohooing over the truck?”
“Pretty much,” I lied. “How’re you doing?”
She was wearing a different pair of glasses perched on the end of her nose so they wouldn’t touch the wound.
“Headache,” she said with a groan. “Pissed.”
“I bet,” I said, crouching down beside her.
“I put on pajamas so Mom could wash the blood out of my clothes.” She plucked at the baggy sweatshirt she was wearing. “But I can put some jeans on if you’re ready to go.”
“What?”
“I’m still staying at your house, right?” she asked, frowning and then wincing when it pulled at the cut. “I should wear jeans if I’m going to be on the bike—”
“You’re not ridin’ on my bike tonight,” I replied incredulously. “You’ve got a fuckin’ head wound.”
“It’s just a cut.”
“Not fuckin’ happenin’.”
“Well, my parents aren’t going to let me borrow another one of their cars,” she said in exasperation. “Probablyever.”
Lily made a choking noise that sounded suspiciously like a laugh.
“Doubt your parents are gonna want you to leave,” I said quietly, glancing at Lily.
Harper leaned forward a little bit. “I’m an adult,” she whispered like it was a secret. “They can suck it up.”
“Rude,” Lily said as the front door flew open.
I was on my feet, my hand wrapped around the grip of my pistol, when Harper’s Aunt Rose rushed inside.
“What the hell happened?” she asked, her voice just shy of yelling.
A gentle hand on my arm drew my attention, and I turned to find Trix.
“Relax,” she said calmly, watching me closely until I’d let go of the pistol and pulled my hoodie over it.
“I’m fine,” Harper said, letting Rose take off her glasses and look her over. “Some asshole rear-ended me, and I hit my face on the steering wheel.”
“Did he stop? I’ll kill him.”
“No, he kept going,” Harper replied. “And you’ll have to get in line, I think. He fucked up the back of my dad’s truck.”
“What an asshole,” Rose said, letting go of Harper’s face. She turned to Lily. “How you doing, Mama?”
“New gray hairs,” Lily said as Rose hugged her. “And a few years off my life.”
“No shit,” Rose said sympathetically. She turned to face the room. “Damn, it’s a party.”
“They were here before we’d even made it home,” Lily said, sitting back down.
“Mom said she’ll call you in the morning,” Rose said, plopping down between Harper and Lily. “I told her I’d text her as soon as I’d seen Harper with my own two eyes.”
“I’m fine,” Harper said with a groan. “This all could have been discussed in a group text.”
“So, the rumors are true,” Rose said, looking at me. “Interesting.”
