“I didn’t say you had to imagine it, Lilith. Ew. The fuck?” I cringe in horror as Mom opens the door. Her cheeks are flushed, her hair is a mess, and she’s fixing her t-shirt. If all that didn’t make things obvious, her panties are on the floor behind her.
I grin at Lil.
Huffing, she unwraps the chain from her wrist and hands it over to me. “Motherfucker.”
“Literally. Dude fucks our mom.” I nod my head toward Dad as he casually picks up Mom’s panties and shoves them in his pocket.
“Stop reminding me!” Lil growls at me and pounces. Her fingers catch me in the ribs, tickling me and making me screech like a banshee. I fall to the floor and try to slither away, but she sits on my ass to hold me in place. Wiggling like a worm does nothing to dislodge her.
“Told you they’d try and convince you to change my mind, my love,” Dad says from somewhere above us.
“Mmm. So you did. Go on, don’t leave Luca waiting. I’ll deal with these two troublemakers.”
I blow some hair out of my face and squirm some more.
One of Dad’s bark-like laughs rings out. “Troublemakers? They’re clearly hooligans.”
“I prefer ‘scoundrels,’ myself,” Lil says.
Giving up, I fold my arms and rest my head on them. “Scalawags has a nice ring to it.”
Dad’s shoes move into my line of sight. “If I don’tsee you girls again tonight, I love you both. And good luck, your mom’s on board with this plan.”
“We love you, too. And we’re still going to try!” I feel Lil shrug.
“Fuck yes, we do. And fuck yes, we are.” I give him a thumbs up.
Chuckling, Dad strolls away.
Lil hops up and quickly moves out of my reach.
Smart girl.
“Mom, please don’t make us take Luca everywhere we go,” she begs.
I sit up and fidget with the locket. It’s covered in scratches, and the finish has dulled after years of me rubbing it between my fingers. “I’m not happy about it either, but maybe it’s not the worst idea in the world,” I say. When Lil mean mugs me with an exaggerated eyebrow raised, I shrug, then look up at Mom. “But the bedtime, really?”
“Why are we still in the hallway for this discussion?”
“Because your room smells like sex.” Lil wrinkles her nose and plops down next to me.
“That’s because they just had sex in there,” I say in an exaggerated whisper. This time, I lunge for Lil before she can attack me.
Chapter 11
Am I like on the payroll now?
Luca
The first thing a person sees when walking through the front door of the DeVille house is an entire wall covered in photos of Ariana and Lil.
Because, of course, it is.
I’ve been looking at the pictures for the last ten minutes. I think my favorite is the one of them in their caps and gowns, grinning wildly and flipping off whoever’s taking it. They look so happy.
The familiar bite of jealousy fills me. It’s not a feeling I get often anymore. This time, it sits heavily in my stomach, weighed down by the ‘what ifs’ those memories of spending time out at the lake as a kid stirred up.
I skipped my graduation. It wasn’t going to be anything like the one in these pictures. But I wonder if it could have been. If Dad and Marco had stayed close, would I have been surrounded by people who gave a shit about me, who celebrated me?
