He placed a hand on my knee. “Now, that’s not true. You also know how to give an entire household a heart attack.” He smiled at his joke before continuing, “You could read? We have that whole library down there which no one but Marcus seems to bother using.”
I stared at him, arching a brow.
Rayne chuckled. “Okay, okay. No books. God knows your mom moaned and groaned daily trying to get you to put down your daggers and pick up a book.”
I couldn’t help but smile, thinking back to all the times mom and Marcus tried to get me into anything other than fighting. They’d have me reading all sorts of books in the library. Sonnets. Philosophy. Classics like Moby Dick or Pride and Prejudice. I whined and begged to be done with all of them in a matter of minutes.
Mom even tried to get me to read some of her vampire smut, which seemed a bit weird when she was in a relationship with six vampires of her own. Why read about it when you could live it?
“How about knitting?” Rayne asked with a smirk. “You get to stab yarn with two needles. It’s kind of like training?”
I scoffed. “I don’t think I’ll—”
The doorbell rang throughout the house, a low booming bong that always reminded me of a bell in one of those cathedral towers.
Both of us cocked our ears toward the open door of my bedroom, listening to the sound of footsteps as they moved toward the front door. Since my other dads would be sleeping for a few more hours, it was likely Darren answering the door.
A quick look outside told me that both Darren and my mom had come inside.
“May I help you?” Darren’s cultured voice asked, his tone indiscernible.
A familiar, low growly voice danced up the stairs and had me tensing in my seat. “Hello. I’m Tate. I go to school with your daughter?”
A muffled laugh told me my mom had answered the door, too. “You don’t seem so sure about that.”
“Uh… I mean, I do go to school. I mean… the academy. Your academy. Which is great, by the way.” Tate let out an exasperated sigh. “Is Jack here?”
I could just imagine the awkward smile on Tate’s face as he stumbled over his words. I probably should go save him before my mom takes it too far.
Rayne arched a brow at me.
Shaking my head, I stood, walked out of my bedroom, and leaned over the balcony, looking down into the foyer. There Tate stood in the doorway, his hands in his pockets, tongue pulling on his lip ring while my mom and Darren stared him down.
“Mom, leave Tate alone.”
Tate’s head lifted, his dark brown gaze meeting mine. Immediately relief came over his face, his shoulders loosened, and he released the hold he had on his lip ring. “Jack! Hey, princess. How are you?”
My mom turned to look at me, her brow rose as she mouthed the word princess with an amused grin on her lips.
“Come along, Piper.” My dad pressed a hand to my mom’s lower back and ushered her away from the front door. “Leave them be.”
“But I wanted to give him a hard time,” my mom pouted.
“Another time,” my dad reassured her, then winked up at me.
I turned my attention back to Tate and then jerked my head, urging him to come upstairs. I didn’t wait for him to follow my instructions, moving back through my open bedroom door. I opened my mouth to tell Rayne to give me some privacy, but he was already gone. Likely gone back to his bed in the basement.
Tate’s footsteps squeaked on the stairs, and I quickly glanced around my room, hoping I hadn’t left anything embarrassing out for him to see. Before I could even think about whether or not a pile of dirty clothes was something to be embarrassed about, Tate was standing in my doorway.
I didn’t quite know what to do with myself. Even if I’d ignored a lot of his messages, we’d still texted and talked on the phone some. This was the first time he’d shown up at my house.
It was strange seeing him here in my parents’ home and not at the academy. I’d never had a friend, let alone a boyfriend, in my bedroom before.
How was I supposed to act? If we were back at the academy, I might have hugged and kissed him in greeting. It felt wrong almost to do that in my parents’ house. Like one of them would show up at any moment to chastise me. Though, thinking about it now, that seemed silly. There were far worse things I’d done than kiss a boy in their house.
So I sank back down onto the window seat and waited for him to speak.
Tate braced his hands on my doorway, his eyes taking in my bedroom from the dark blue comforter on my bed to my sheetsand pillows in disarray. He stepped into my room, his fingers trailing over my dresser, and he picked up random knickknacks I’d kept from my childhood.
