“Get downstairs, you guys! We’re having a family meeting!”
I glance over at Piper as she slides into a T-shirt. “Family meeting? This isnotgood,” she whispers.
“Yeah…” I reply softly as I grab my shirt. “Not good.”
9
PIPER
I can already tellthe moment I step into the living room that it’s about to go down.
Mom and Paul are sitting across from each other like the king and queen of the estate, staring at me and Jake as we walk in like we’re servants about to be fired.
Mom glances at me, then over at Jake, and shakes her head. He must have been walking too close to me or something, or giving off signals that women always pick up on. But there’s no doubt about it now.
She knows.
“I told you,” Paul growls as Jake and I sit. “Itold youto stay away from her.”
Mom is doing that thing she does where she keeps intertwining her fingers over and over. She only does it when she’s seriously pissed off about something.
I can feel the tension emanating from Jake as he sits beside me, stiff as a board.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Dad—”
“Come on, Jake!” my mom snaps. The tone in her voice nearly makes me jump. I’ve never heard her sound like thisbefore. At least not since I got a C on my social studies test, and that was years ago.
Instantly, my entire body is hot. My skin is prickly, and I can feel myself starting to sweat. My cheeks and forehead are sizzling as I try to look anywhere but at the two angry adults glaring across the room at us.
This is all my fault. None of this would have ever happened if I hadn’t tempted Jake.
Prancing around in skimpy outfits, letting him ‘catch’ me in the bathroom with no clothes on. That was all me. He was trying to avoid me. Trying not to get close.
But I just needed more…
Paul lifts a tablet and twists it to us, showing some kind of document I can’t understand.
“Your name on my inheritance,” he says, swiping it down and deleting it. “Gone.”
“Dad—”
“Your name in all my business documents.” He swipes again. “Gone.”
“Paul, wait,” I say, but my mom lurches to her feet, eyes flaming like she’s ready to slap me.
“Oh, shut up, Piper! How could you? How could you do this? He’s yourbrother,for God’s sake!”
“Step-brother,” I reply, instantly regretting it.
She cocks her head to the side like a hawk examining its prey. For the first time in my life, I’m genuinely afraid she might throw something at me.
“You think this is funny?”
“No, no one thinks this is funny, Wendy,” Jake interrupts, clearly trying to calm the room down. “I just think what Piper is saying is that…there is some nuance here.”
“Nuance?” Paul scoffs, rubbing his eyes with his thumbs. “You two are fucking!”
“Paul,” my mom protests.
