Page 90 of Avenged

“Did you sleep with Truck?” she asked, but there was no accusation in her voice. Instead, there was excitement. Hope. It made the tears I’d refused to shed earlier come back, and I barely held them back by closing my eyes. Violet saw it and came around the counter, wrapping me in her arms. When had my sister become the strong one? When had she become the one who knew the right thing to say and the right thing to do? She’d grown up, and I’d missed it somehow. Maybe because she was only sixteen. But just like I was twenty-four going on forty-four, she was sixteen going on twenty-six. Too old and too wise for her years.

“Are you okay?” she asked as she smoothed my hair.

“I’m fine,” I told her, which was my normal response. She stepped back and looked at me.

“Don’t lie to me, Jers. What happened?”

“Nothing. Everything.” I shook my head in frustration. “Nothing.”

She frowned. “Do I need to have Jada hire someone to go break some legs?”

I snorted through the tears. “Have you seen Truck? Do you think it would be that easy?”

“I’m sure she knows some professionals. Right, Jada?”

Jada came from where she’d been perusing the glamour magazines. “What?”

“Do you know any professional hitmen?”

Jada laughed, her dark locks swinging around her. “Not personally, but I bet my dad does. Who we offing?”

“Truck,” Violet answered.

“No one!” I responded.

Jada looked from my face to Violet’s and back. She must have seen something that worried her, because she frowned. “Look, my parents are in Asia for another two months. The house is full of bedrooms. Why don’t both of you come stay with me? I told Vi that ages ago, but she said you were both happy where you were at. I couldn’t blame her with those two hunky men skulking around that adorable cottage, but if it’s not working out, just come stay with me.”

I wanted to shake my head in the negative. I wanted to say no; we couldn’t afford to be in someone else’s debt. But then I thought about going back to Truck’s, and that twisted a knife inside me. How could I stay with him when he would feel regret and guilt every time he saw me? He would never ask us to leave. He was too noble for that, but he’d be wishing it. He’d be wishing he could walk away as easily as Skip had walked away.

I pushed my hand to my forehead. My thoughts and feelings were too jumbled. Feelings that I’d hidden and held on to long after prom night were getting mixed up with what was happening now. I was overreacting. Part of me knew that. But part of me also knew I needed space. Truck needed space. We needed to process the last twenty-four hours before we could decide on a path forward. Or, in our case, a path backward. How to retreat from momentary lovers, to friends, to acquaintances, to someone we once knew.

It would be better to do it now than later.

Violet was nodding yes to Jada’s offer, but when she looked back at me, she saw my uncertainty, and her face got all stormy. It wasn’t often Violet got mad. She was usually all light and positivity, but the rare moments where she did get riled were like fighting a tsunami. An impossible tide to turn.

“We can do this,” Violet insisted. “Jada doesn’t care we’re there. Her parents wouldn’t either if they were home.”

“They would. You know they would,” I said quietly. No one wanted to be associated with the Banner girls. The girls whose father had killed the sweet music teacher. Jada seemed to know exactly what I was referring to, which sort of proved my point.

“Puh-lease.” Jada waved a hand. “My parents associate with way more serious derelicts than two girls who shouldn’t have to answer for the crimes of their father. Jesus, if half the people in this town knew the things my dad…never mind. I can just honestly say my parents don’t really pay any attention to the drama in New London, and if by chance they did, they’d probably just laugh at the locals’ provincial ways.”

I was completely torn. Too many emotions and thoughts were swirling through me.

Violet took charge—something she rarely got to do because I was always the one to tell her what she could and couldn’t do. She didn’t need me to do that anymore. She was so much more grown up than I let her be. Because I needed her to stay small. I needed her so I would have a purpose. What would happen to me if she didn’t need me anymore?

“We’re going to stay with Jada,” she said.

I couldn’t voice any of what I was feeling. My words were swallowed up by the lump in my throat. I just nodded, because, at the end of the day, the thought of Truck’s friendship turning to disgust if I stayed was harder than the thought of owing Jada’s family something for our time in their house.

“You here for the rest of the day?” Violet asked.

I nodded again.

“’Kay. Jada and I are going to go get our things and move them to her house,” Violet said. She squeezed my hand. “Do you want me to take the car?”

I finally found my voice. “You don’t even have your learner’s permit. You’ve barely started driver’s ed.”

She laughed. “That doesn’t mean I don’t know how to drive.”

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