“No, the worst thing people can do is let the world make them cold. You just went into something with your heart wide open. What else should you have done?” Declan turned his caring blue eyes on me for a few seconds before he went back to paying attention to the highway. He took an exit.
I shrugged and stared out the window. My entire body clenched as we passed the Welcome to Minetto sign, and Declan let out a long, unsteady sigh.
“It will be okay,” he said under his breath, almost like he was psyching himself up for something bad instead.
“How do you know?”
“Well….” He stretched his neck back, still keeping his eyes on the road while working the tension from his shoulders with a shake. “Jake won’t do anything to take himself away from us.”
“But what if he does?”
“He won’t.” Declan scowled. “Well, he better not.” He slammed his hand against the steering wheel, and I flinched. “Hell, sorry, Logan. Am I going the right way? I think I remember.”
“Yeah.” When he held his hand out toward me, I took it.
It was late in the afternoon and the street parking was full when we arrived at the apartment building, so we had to circle the block twice before someone left and we could snag a spot. Jake’s SUV was close to the doors, but the passenger-side tires were on the curb, and there was a damp ticket stuck under his windshield wiper, fluttering crazily in the wind. Cold air bit at my cheeks as we got out, and Declan grumbled under his breath as he snagged the ticket on our way past. My stomach sank as I led the way toward the entrance. Even worse than last time, I didn’t want to be here. Nothing good would come of this.
We went inside and up the stairs. When I opened the door from the landing to the hallway outside of my old apartment, I froze because I could see right along to a stand-off happening. My brother, Titus, was out in the hallway, looming into Jake’s presence—easy for him since he was tall and wide with muscle—not that Jake gave a fuck. Titus’s glasses were crooked like maybe he’d been scuffling with Jake already, and he had his chin tilted out. A grimace twisted his lips down.
Titus tapped Jake on the chest with his finger, and Declan let out a growl behind me. “I don’t know who the fuck you think you are to come in here and interrupt the dinner my girlfriend worked hard over, but my asshole brother stole money from his work and cleaned out his girlfriend’s bank accounts. He lied to everyone and was cheating on Miranda behind her back with men. With guys like you. She had to find that out the hard way. You need to go back home, city boy, before I hand you your ass.”
“You’ve got it all wrong! I’d like to see you try.” Jake smacked his finger away.
From inside, someone said, “Maybe we should hear him out.” I almost fell over because I could have sworn that was my mom’s voice.
Titus must have been geared up for a fight because he gave Jake a shove. The thump of Jake hitting the wall was loud, and he shook himself as he bounced off and kept to his feet. I ran forward, with Declan at my heels shouting, “You do not fucking lay a hand on him.” He overtook me and hit my brother so hard that Jake and I both let out an “ouch.”
They tumbled to the floor, but all it took was Titus drawing back to really get an eyeful of Declan, and he held up his hands in surrender. It was a good thing Declan seemed to have control of himself because with the way his eyes had a deranged wideness and his teeth were bared, I would have been scared for my life if I was on the receiving end of that look.
Jake was brushing himself off when I got to him, and I didn’t stop until I had him wrapped in a hug. He had his arms awkwardly between us and brushed his fingertips over my cheeks, almost as if he was checkingmefor injuries, and not the other way around. “I’m sorry about my brother. What were you thinking? Why did you come here?”
“I needed to do something.” He snarled toward someone behind me. I turned, my heart pounding like I was in a horror movie, and I kind of was, trapped in my own personal hell. “Why are you here? I never wanted you near her again.” He brushed his lips to my cheek, and I barely enjoyed it. I glanced in the direction of what he was looking at and wasn’t surprised to see Miranda.
We locked gazes, and she almost seemed scared. “Get out of here! You’re going to fuck up everything,” she yelled and stomped toward me, but she pulled up short at the threshold of the apartment. “What the fuck are you doing here?” She seemed completely outraged, and I knew that tone. I was definitely messing something up for her—some plan. Anger sank its claws into me. If I’d had my way, we would have never crossed paths again, but now that I was here, I saw red.
“No! I’m done doing this and taking everything you shove at me. I don’t like yelling. I don’t like confrontation, and I don’t like telling people I love and care about that they’re wrong, but you know what? You never loved me, and I see that now. In the time I have been with Jake and Declan—”
There was a gasp from the apartment, and I nearly choked when my mom stepped into view behind Miranda, along with Connie, Titus’s girlfriend. Mom edged herself around Miranda out into the hall where Titus was picking himself up off the floor. She looked good, her gray hair cut shorter than the last time I’d seen her and swooped to the side, and she had on what she called her party clothes—a long-sleeved tie-dyed dress that swept the floor. Earrings dangled and bumped against her cheeks as she swiveled around to look at everyone, then focused in on me again. My chest ached. I missed her and still didn’t understand how she’d shoved me aside. Declan was already on his feet, arms crossed, nodding along with me.
All at once I felt on display, but I swallowed and powered on. “I’m hurt that you’re here, Mom. With her.” I shook my head. “Declan and Jake have shown me what it’s like to really have someone care. Things are new between us, but they give a shit. You need to come clean to the police, Miranda. I have something worth living for, and I’m not letting you take it from me.”
Her face twisted, and I wasn’t sure if she was going to shout, laugh, or burst into tears. My chest grew tight. I still didn’t want her upset, but I wasn’t sure why anymore. Maybe just to avoid the misery of her foul mood. Things were such a rollercoaster ride with her, and they always had been. She clenched her shaking hands, and I braced for the explosion. I’d never raised my voice quite like this.
Mom stepped between all of us, and my heart crumpled for a whole new reason because there was clear disappointment etched on her weathered face. “Just tell me why you took all of Miranda’s money, Logan? Is it drugs? Something worse?” As she said that, she sent a scathing look at Jake that made my head want to pop right off. “Your father and I paid her rent this month and gave her money so she could pay some other bills. Even if you were angry with her, that was low. I am so embarrassed. Everyone in town knows what you’ve done, and we’re doing what we can to make your mistakes right. You ran up credit cards. We’ve paid off three.” She scowled and shook her head at me. “We’re not made of money, you know!”
Jake laughed. “Weren’t you listening to what I was telling your son, lady? Logan hasn’t doneshit. She’s playing you all.”
Mom lowered her head, and I recognized her thinking face. My heart leaped, and I was terrified to hope something good might happen. She turned toward Miranda, but she had a sympathetic squint to her eyes, as if she was worried.
Miranda had decided on waterworks, because her lower lip wobbled, and Mom let out a sound that was pure anguish and went to her with her arms open. Mom had taken to her right away, just like she had Titus’s girlfriend, and it just about cut out my heart to watch her be loving toward the person causing all my problems. I was standing right here and wanted that, as much as it might make me seem like a kid. Jake squeezed me, and I rested my head on his shoulder.
Connie came up into the doorway and held her phone high. She flipped her long brown hair off her slim shoulders with a triumphant smile, and then it wilted a little when Titus shook his head at her. “I called the cops! You better go. Miranda has a PFA out against you.” Connie glared at me.
My body buzzed with adrenaline, and all I wanted to do was drag Declan and Jake out of here. How had she gotten an order like that? “I’ve never done anything! Wouldn’t I need to be there to defend myself?”
Miranda snorted. “Not a temporary order, idiot.”
Mom took a step back and frowned.
