“They’re a different faction. Sure, we’re allied for the moment—”Didn’t that sound ominous?“—but alliances fall.”
“Aren’t you the voice of doom and gloom?” Neev chirped, her voice cheerful, a stark contrast to the worry in her expression.“Leave her alone, Lucas. She’s gone through enough without you sniffing for blood. This isn’t the time.”
I shot her a grateful smile as Raisin opened the door to let Lucas and me into the building. He strode over to Ma’s front door, shepherding me in like an unwilling sheep.
When he dropped me on the couch, I slapped his arm. “Thanks for being so gentle, jerkface.”
“Be careful with her!!” Ma screeched, barreling toward me so she could fuss.
“Cade picked me up and tossed me over his shoulder, Ma,” I whined, smirking at them while she busied herself arranging the cushions around me.
“Cade Frasier! You did not treat your injured sister like she’s a bag of cement!”
When both of my hellion siblings squirmed under Ma’s rage-filled glares, I settled back with a weary yawn.
As they justified their unjustifiable actions to her, I asked Neev, “Could you get me some ibuprofen, sis?”
“Sure thing.” She reached for my hand then dithered, unable to follow through with the pat when she saw I was bruised there. “Be back in two.”
Looking around the room, I spied Raisin hovering by the coffee table. Her concern washed over me like a hug. “I’m okay, sis.”
Her throat bobbed. “Doesn’t look like it to me.”
“No,” I faltered. “But I will be.”
“Now, what on earth happened to you?” Ma cried once the boys had been adequately reprimanded, pivoting on her heel as, for whatever reason, she marked the sign of the cross on her chest.
Maybe she thought the Holy Spirit would take away my aches and pains better than an NSAID could?
While Neev doled out ibuprofen like she was the nurse in the family, I took the pills slowly to delay me actually having to answer.
I could ignore my brothers, but Ma? Not so much. Especially if she wept.
“The last thing I know you’re in bed, throwing up like it’s going out of fashion, and then Neev tells me you went out to see some boy?”
Neev chortled. “Hardly a boy, Ma.”
“They’re boys to me unless they’re my age or older,” she disregarded, hands worrying the cross pendant Da had given her after Neev’s second birthday—which said everything really. “I had a vision that one of us would be in the hospital this week, but I thought it was you at work!”
I managed not to roll my eyes at her talk of ‘visions.’ Barely. “I like him, Ma.”
“Like him,” Lucas scoffed. “He’s Sicilian!”
Ma’s focus tripped over the bite Stan had left behind on my throat. “He isn’t the reason you’re in this state, Kitty? You can tell us?—”
“No!”
“Yes,” Cade corrected.
I glared at him as best as I could when my eyes refused to behave how I wanted. “If you know what happened, then why am I the one talking? You think it’s comfortable? This is precisely why I wanted to stay away until I was better! I want to be left alone, goddammit?—”
A knock sounded at the door.
Followed by the buzz of the intercom.
Then a pounding came next.
My heart sighed in relief, as I knew that would be Stan. I was so goddamn grateful for his stalker tendencies that I could have cried.
