Page 106 of Drifting

The sound of someone falling on the ground echoes through the ceiling, then Mav and Dom walk down the stairs, each holds one of them. Dom has Jack, who’s more bruised than when he went up.

“Don’t throw us out,” Brenda pleads with Uncle Brett. “We’re your family!”

Not having it, he opens the door and pushes her out. Mav does the same with Lara, then Dom shoves Jack out.

“Don’t bother coming back, Brenda. You’ll hear from my lawyer.” Uncle Brett slams the front door, then heads toward the back. “I’ll go pull my truck around.”

Mav sits on the loveseat, Nick perches on the arm, and Dom leans back against the wall again.

“So, are you going to tell me who all these hotties are?” Cin wheezes. “Especially the one in the glasses.”

I glance over to see Nick’s face redden, and he suddenly finds his shoe needs to be tied.

Grinning, I wave my hand toward Nick. “Cin, I’d like you to meet my new step-brother, Nick.”

Her eyes shoot off Nick and back to me. “No way! Aunt Patty got married?”

While we wait for Uncle Brett to return, I tell her the whole story, starting from the hospital. I stop twice as she devolves into a coughing fit, and wonder what’s taking Uncle Brett so long. He must have needed to calm down before taking Cin to the hospital.

“I can’t believe it, and I’m happy for Aunt Patty. Glad she finally got herself straight. Who are the other two?” she asks. “They look familiar.”

“The one on the couch is Maverick, and the brooding one is Dominic Knight. Two of my boyfriends.”

Her mouth falls open. “Daaammmn girl.” Then, she does a double take. “Wait, Knight? As in Knight Technology? And did you say two of?”

I bite my lip and hold up four fingers.

She laughs, which quickly heads into another coughing fit, but she gives me a thumbs up.

Uncle Brett comes in through the front door and helps Cin out to his truck.

“I’m going to grab some clothes and shit for her,” I tell the others. “I’ll be right back.”

I run upstairs and into Cin’s room, which is the last door on the right. It’s one of the smallest in the house, barely big enough to hold double bed crammed into the corner. It lies unmade, with sheets crumpled on one side. I go over to the small dresser that stands alone in the room and root around, looking for something comfortable for her to wear. I also need to find something for me to wear, since we’ll stay overnight.

Shit, I didn’t ask the guys if they mind staying. They might need to get back.

I stuff everything into a duffle bag and head back downstairs. “I’m sure they’re going to make her stay overnight. If you three want to go home, I’ll go back and forth with Uncle Brett.”

“We’re not leaving you, Firefly,” Dom says. “We can stay for a few days. Where’s the hospital? Mav or Nick can search for hotels, so we can find a place close by.”

“Sure, I can search. If you’re ready, we can go,” Nick says.

“Thanks, Nick. You don’t have to stay if you don’t want to.”

“I don’t mind. Don’t really want to go home and deal with family drama, anyway.” He smiles. “You should call your mom on the way to the hospital to explain what happened, though.”

As we jump in the SUV, and Mav types the address into the GPS, I take my phone out and call Mom, explaining what we discovered at Uncle Brett’s house.

“I’m glad you found Cin,” she says, relief clear in her voice. “And that Brett finally has his eyes opened about Brenda. I’ll call the school and tell them you won’t be there on Monday.”

“Thanks, Mom.” It feels weird, but good, to be able to rely on her right now.

“Be safe, honey. We’ll see you soon.” She hangs up.

The entire time I was talking to her, my phone was beeping, and I now check the screen.

Shit, my battery is almost dead. “You guys don’t have a charger in here, do you?”

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