“Quinn!” Jared growls.
I sigh. I guess I should forfeit, but it’s either get into trouble for hiding too well, or get into trouble for stealing ATV keys.
“All right, let’s go outside!” Jared barks. “Spread out. You guys, stay in here and find her. Search the pantry, the closets…”
“Would she have gone into the lake?” Madoc asks as they leave.
I can’t make out Jared’s grumble, but no, I wouldn’t have gone into the lake. I’m not allowed to go alone.
“You’re not going to give them a hint?” Lucas asks as the boys and Dylan shout and slam doors below. “Kade’s going to shut off the lights on you.”
My eyes dart left to right, and for a second, my heart speeds up. I don’t believe in ghosts, but it’s harder to not believe in them in the dark.
“Your brothers are worried,” he points out.
“Why?”
“What do you mean?”
“Why are they always worried?” I ask him. “About me, I mean.”
They worry about their own kids, sure. Madoc is always dragging Kade away from one kind of trouble or another, and Jared is constantly telling Dylan ‘no.’
But I’m not their kid.
“Is it because I’m a girl?” I inquire.
The way they tell it, they were running around town unsupervised, even at my age. Why treat their sister differently?
Lucas looks up at me. “I think…” He hesitates. “I think it’s because they didn’t have the best experience with your parents growing up, Quinn.”
I lower my eyes, anything I was going to say lost on my tongue. Lucas is the only one who tells me the truth.
I share a dad with Madoc, and a mom with Jared. My parents are great with me, but they weren’t around for Madoc and Jared as much when they were younger.
And Jax never had parents. Not really. His and Jared’s dad was a monster, and Jax’s mom left him when he was little. Mine and Jared’s mom took him in when he was a teenager, and she’s a good grandma to Jax’s son Hawke now. Very different from how she was when my brothers were young.
I’ve put the pieces together from overhearing things in my life. I guess it’s just hard to imagine they used to suffer when I didn’t see any of it.
“They want to always be there for you,” Lucas says. “And to make sure you know you’re loved.”
They still don’t trust their parents. Not…completely.
But still, I clear my throat. “Well, you can tell them to stop now.”
He just chuckles. “They won’t ever stop. Your first boyfriend is going to be in for it someday.”
“Not if I like somebody they already like.”
“That might work.” He shrugs. “Or not.”
It’ll work. It’s my only hope.
“You’ll learn how to drive in a few years anyway,” Lucas points out. “You’ll be able to escape them any time you want.”
“Not likely.” I wring out my hand, whipping off a spiderweb I picked up. “Half of my family races something motorized.”
Like I would get very far.
