Taylor quickly leaned in and gave Fletcher a quick kiss. “You didn’t have to be here, you know.”
“I know, but I—”
“Jesse?” A voice called out. A woman’s voice.
“Shit. My sister’s here.”
He held Fletcher’s hand as they stood by the front door, unsure of what to do. They couldn’t really hide because she knew Jesse was here. “Jesse?” She called out again as she came up the stairs. “Why aren’t you… what the hell are you doing here, Taylor?” She sounded more surprised than upset. Maybe that was a good thing.
Mandy also looked a lot like Taylor. Same sharp features. Full lips. Her hair was also pretty long, but it was wavy like Taylor’s. Honestly, Fletcher thought she carried a stronger resemblance to Jesse, but her face was just so… tired. You could tell she’d been through a lot.
Taylor gulped. “Hey Mandy. I’m just stopping by with Jess to grab a few things,” he answered nervously.
“Who let you in? I’m pretty sure Jacob changed the locks.”
“Why would you let him lock Jesse out of his own home?” Taylor asked accusingly.
“Who’s this?” She nodded towards Fletcher, ignoring Taylor’s question.
“My boyfriend. Why are you locking our little brother out of his home?”
“Your boyfriend?” She bit out. “So, you’re gay now?”
“Who I choose to love doesn’t concern you. Why the hell did you let him lock our baby brother out of the house?”
Fletcher tried to pretend like this wasn’t the first time that he had heard that word come out of Taylor’s mouth when describing their relationship. Now wasn’t the time.
Mandy shrugged like it wasn’t that big of a deal. “He’ll be eighteen in two days. He ran away, so clearly, he doesn’t even want to be here.”
Taylor’s body tensed up as he took a step forward, but Fletcher still squeezed onto his hand. “Dad trusted you to look after him, Mandy. You made a promise to him at the funeral. I fucking heard you promise to him. I can’t believe you would let Jacob just—”
“Taylor, stop,” Jesse called out as he came down the steps witha big black shoe box. “Let’s just go. I don’t want to deal with her shit.”
“Fuck, Jesse. She’s never going to learn! When you leave, who do you think will be next? You just think Jacob is going to stop hitting people? If it’s not me then it’s you. And if it’s not you then it’ll be…”
Taylor let out a deep breath to try and calm himself. He turned to Mandy. “How would you feel if it was your kid? You think he’ll just stop? That Jess and I were the reason he did all that?”
“Get out. Both of you,” Mandy bit out. Tears started to fill her eyes.
Fletcher tugged on Taylor’s hand. “Hey, let’s leave,” he told Taylor softly.
Mandy looked towards Fletcher and Taylor and made a disgusted face. “Jacob was right about you,” she scoffed grimly. Fletcher was standing behind Taylor, so he couldn’t see the look on his face, but Fletcher knew that Taylor was seething. He tried tugging on Taylor’s hand again, but it didn’t seem to help.
“Taylor,” Jesse warned again. He walked down the steps and grabbed onto Taylor’s arm. “Tay, let’s go, bud,” he told him calmly.
It looked like Taylor was weighing his options. He could snap at his sister and make this into a full-blown screaming match, or he could take a deep breath and walk away from her obvious attempt to rile him up. “Taylor, please,” Fletcher begged. “I want to go.”
Fletcher could see him clench his jaw but let out a sigh of relief when Taylor nodded and took a step back. He turned around and gently cupped Fletcher’s cheek before pressing a kiss to his temple. “I’m sorry, love. Let’s leave,” he told him before letting go of his hand to grab both suitcases. Fletcherheld the door open for him as he carried the two suitcases down the steps and over to the trunk of Caroline’s car.
“Do you need help?” Jesse asked. Taylor silently shook his head. Jesse reoccupied the front passenger seat as Taylor and Fletcher returned to the back seat.
“Everything okay, dear?” Caroline asked him, sounding concerned.
“He’s fine Carol,” Jesse quickly answered.
27
The Bedroom Game
