“Jesus Christ. A campus full of boys with connections and you date atownie? And a car thief at that?”
“He’s not really a car thief, it was a—”
“Yes, yes, he’d never done anything like it before, and would never do it again. They all say that, Lily.”
It wouldn’t be worth my breath to say that it was true in this case…at least about not doing it again.
I cleared my throat to make sure my voice didn’t crack. “Will you help? I’m sure all it would take is one—”
“I know the DA in Schoolport well, Lily. You don’t think I’d let you and Jane go to school in a town where I didn’t have any connections, did you?”
The thought that he’d chosen my college based on DAs he could call if I was in trouble had never crossed my mind, but I suppose it should have.
No loose ends for Grayson Spaulding.
“I think this kid should just take what he gets, Lily. You can go on with your life and just—”
“But that’s not what will happen,” I said, drawing on my inner Spaulding. “What will happen is I will go over to his apartment and take care of his little brother while he’s in jail. Because Lucas is Andy’s guardian and raising him.” I didn’t need to add that their mother was still in the picture, hopeful she’d be able to stay in rehab until she was ready to be a fit parent to Andy.
I must have really sounded like a little Grayson, because Jane popped her head around the doorway to the bathroom and raised a brow at me, then did a silent golf clap in my direction.
“Not only do I love Lucas, but I’m very fond of his little brother, so if Lucas stays in jail, I’m going to take care of Andy. Which will probably mean a lot of missed classes, maybe even flunking out.”
“Lily,” my father said with warning in his voice.
“And I certainly won’t be around the dorm to keep an eye on Jane. Who knows what she’ll get into?”
Jane smiled at that and mouthed, “Burn!”
There was a moment of quiet. I could hear Stick’s breathing as my father played out all his options in his head.
But I had him with the Jane thing, and I knew it.
“Okay, I’ll make the call and get this kid out, as long as you’re telling me the truth and it was just car theft and he doesn’t have eight outstanding warrants or anything.”
“He doesn’t,” I said. “Thank you, Dad. His name is Lucas Kade. Kade is spelled with a K.”
I heard him write it down, the pencil scratching on paper. “But Lily, I will only make the call if you do something in return. That’s how these things work, I know you know that.”
I did. I’d grown up listening to my father—and mother, for that matter—making deals.
I thought he’d ask again for me to get Jane to stand in the wedding, and my heart sank, knowing there was no way Jane would do it, not even for Lucas. Not even for me.
But that wasn’t his price. “You have to promise me, Lily, that if I get these charges dropped on this kid that you won’t see him again. I can’t take the risk of you being tied to him if it comes out that I stepped in. Let people just think…well, shit, I don’t care what they think, but it can’t be tied back to you.”
“I…I…” My moment of victory was crashing around me. The thought of giving up Lucas making me breathless, hardly able to speak.
“Besides, clearly this boy isn’t a good choice for you.”
“But…Mom?” I said, hoping, pleading that she’d intervene on my behalf.
“I think your father has a good point, Lily. Obviously this boy, though you might love him, does not seem to be…good for you.”
I thought of all the times I lay in Lucas’s arms and felt strong, felt myself becoming the person I was meant to be. How could that not be good for me?
“But you don’t—”
“It’s a deal breaker, Lily,” my father said.
