“Oh.”Awkward.
Her shoulder rose in a shrug, and she looked over at the kitchen. “The clock’s my grandma’s, the plates and stuff are Ava’s from one summer she worked in a diner and learned to cook instead of what she was actually supposed to do, which was wash plates, but because she kept breaking the plates, they asked her if she could cook. Ava, being Ava, said yes.”
“Your history is here,” I said as I settled back down on the sofa. “Here I thought it lacked personality, and it’s filled with you both. Your memories.”
She smiled, and I don’t know how, but it made her look soft and vulnerable, and I felt something stir within me. I decided it was because of how open she was being. Sure, we’d hooked up, but we’d been all about the sex and not so much the talking.
“Yeah, so, you can guess why I flipped out about your brother trashing my home.” Her tone was light, and I knew she wasn’t being a bitch about it, just stating a fact.
“They didn’t take any of your mementos?” I asked, feeling guilty about the improvements for the first time.
“No. Trust me, Ava would have let you know.”
“Not you?”
“I’m calmer than Ava.”
She was delusional. “And earlier with my cleats?”
“Perfectly calm. Ava would have shoved them up your butt.”
I almost protested, and then I nodded. “Yeah, she probably would have.”
“So, distraction over, why Mayhem?” she asked as she leaned back against the couch, waiting for me to talk to her.
“My dad and the twin’s dad are twins,” I started, and I saw her nod. “Well, Kage and Kerr were actually triplets, but the third one died. Anyway, that isn’t important, well it is, but not to the story.” I took a deep breath. I was babbling. “My grandpa was apparently quite the troublemaker, and so was his brother. My great-grandfather and his dad before him, they wanted to leave their mark, not just in companies and things, but my great-great-grandma was a teacher, and she was always teaching, educating, but in those days, she wasn’t teaching in schools like she wanted to be.” I took a breath. “So, the old guys decided their legacy would not only be the business of warehouses and manufacturers, but they were also going to leave more. So, they built a school, Cardinal Saints High, and they allowed anyone in to learn.”
“Wow, in those days that was a big thing,” Red said in appreciation.
“Yeah, they got a lot of stick for it, and some folks claimed they must be agents of the devil to let just anyone in, no matter the color of their skin, their gender, or where they laid their headdown at night.” Stretching my legs out, I leaned my head back. “Our family, being immigrants themselves, thought, ‘Well, fuck your racists,’ and they then went on to build a college, so the kids who went to their high school had an even bigger chance of making it in the world with the proper education.”
“Was it free?”
I gave a rueful laugh. “No, unfortunately not. It takes a lot more money to run a college than a school, but they made sure every course to be taught had at least three scholarships, so kids who needed it to be free had that chance of going. Of course, in those days, the college didn’t have as many courses and stuff as it offers now, and it’s been extended a lot over the generations. But that’s basically the Santo legacy.”
“Huh? You cause Mayhem because your family built a school?” Red shook her head. “What?”
I grinned at her. “Our name is Santo, meaning saint. The townsfolk accused them of being devils.” Spreading my hands out in front of me, I shrugged. “The Devils were born.”
“I’m still not understanding.”
“My great-grandfather caused theoriginalMayhem when he decided he was going to build a school and offer free education toanyonewho wanted to attend.”
“But you guys don’t donicethings,” Red protested. “You cause fights and breakups andchaos.”
“Fuck nice. Nice is boring.” Turning my head to look at her, I saw her trying to understand. “In their day, what they did was considered by some asnotnice. Now we do it our way; we cause disruption, we disturb the peace, and wouldn’t you want to know sooner rather than later that your boyfriend was gonna cheat?” She looked away from me at the reminder, and I waited.
With a sigh, she turned back to look at me. “All your family has done it?”
“Yeah, all the guys.”
“Girls not allowed?” Red mocked.
“Did you listen to anything I said? We’re not dicks, and Quinn’s a Devil.” I reminded her. “Truthfully, Santo moms usually birth boys. Tilly, my little sister, is the first girl born in three generations, I think.”
“Dear Lord, even your DNA is overwhelmingly masculine,” Red scoffed.
“Yup.” I barked out a laugh at her tone. “And anyway, whatwedo, me and the twins, isnothingcompared to what Onyx and his friends can do. Their brand of Mayhem is . . .” I shook my head. “Yeah, best you never find out.”
