Page 42 of Tulips and Lost Time

“Why are you stomping into my house at this godawful hour and waking my family?”

“Your parents are at work, and the twins are already at Turner’s place.” He wanders into my room, digging his hands into his pockets and scanning my walls. He’s like a fucking cop, and I’m his suspect.

Or maybe that’s just guilt eating me up.

“Kari called a girl’s meeting or some shit. Had something exciting to share with everyone.”

“Oh?” Calm down, dickhead. Calm the hell down. “W-what exciting thing?”

“I don’t know. That’s why I’m here.” He stops by my old drum kit in the corner of my room and runs his finger across the layer of dust that has collected since I replaced it with a newer, better set a while back. “Do you have any clue what’s going on?” Suspicious, like Mulder and Scully—I have no fucking clue which one is which—he glances over his shoulder and pins me with a knowing stare. “Have you heard anything from the twins?”

“No.” Jesus christ. Kari swore she wouldn’t tell Marcus about our kiss. But did she swear not to tell the girls?

No!

“I don’t know…” I swallow to lubricate my painfully dry throat. “Um… what do you think it could be?”

He shrugs and turns, setting his hands on his hips. “She’s going to college in a few weeks. She’s pretty fuckin’ thrilled about it,” he adds bitterly. “Got her dorm assignment already. We’re in the middle of ordering textbooks. Nothing new is going on with all that.” He kicks one ankle over the other and sneers. “It’s a guy.”

My stomach lurches, threatening to make a fool of me and mess up my bed. “What?”

“She must be seeing someone, right? Girls don’t get squealy and weird except about men. Then they lose their absolute fucking minds and regress back to the school-girl giggles.”

“Um…” Push it down. Push all the vomit down. “I dunno, man. They’re not in seventh grade anymore. I’m not sure these girls do that stuff.”

“Maybe not the twins.”

His instant dismissal has my brows shooting high in question. Excuse, the fuck, me?

“Jess and Laine, and even Britt, are constantly talking to guys,” he continues. “It’s like you and Scotch don’t give a single fuck about their dating lives.”

“It’s not that we don’t care. It’s that we don’t feel the need to control everything.”

“It’s not control.” He brushes me off again. “It’s precaution. Kari is the quiet one in that group of girls. She’s not out there chatting up guys every damn day. She’s not as outgoing or as confident. So if one caught her eye, then that would be exciting news to share, no? And considering what we know about her being shy and all that, chances are the guy is some opportunistic prick we need to protect her from.”

Fuck. Me. Sideways.

“I think you’re jumping way ahead of yourself.” I slump back into bed and flop my arm over my eyes, blinding myself and pressing down until stars float in my vision. “Your sister wants to hang with her girlfriends. And you’re catastrophizing that until it’s a situation where she’s being taken advantage of by some fuckin’ Chad you don’t even know.”

“Exactly.” He grabs my sheet and yanks it off my legs until I’m completely exposed in the middle of my bed. The cool morning air, prickling my skin. “Let’s go for a drive and see what we see.”

“You’re insane. And I have a shift tonight. If I’m tired and someone dies on my watch, who do you think the board will hold accountable? Me?” I lift my arm and eye him across the room. “Or my best friend who wants to sneak around and make sure his adult sister isn’t having any fun?”

“She’s allowed to have fun. In fact, she’s allowed to have as much fun as she wants.” He snatches up a pair of my jeans and tosses them at my legs. “It’s the guy we’re keeping on a leash. Get dressed. We’re heading out for a bit.”

Kane’s lips curl high, a taunting smirk like daggers straight to the center of my gut. “You were banging his sister and playing sleuth with him on the side?” He sets Billy’s empty bottle on the counter and lifts her until her cheek rests on his chest. “You’re a fuckin’ clown, Lenaghan. You should have just told him you were the exciting news.”

“Dude! You don’t understand the beat down he had planned for any guy who looked at her. No way was I volunteering that information.”

“Makes you a pussy,” he snickers. “I knew Jess had a brother. I had even crossed paths with you in my former thug life.”

“Current,” I grumble. “You’ve yet to leave that life.”

“Can’t say I gave you a single fuckin’ thought when I was getting to know her.” Like a pro, he pats Billy’s back and grins when she releases small bubbles of air. “I knew you existed. But you didn’t get even a second of consideration within my relationship.”

“Makes you disrespectful.”

“Funny, Jess held the same sentiments. Still,” he shakes his head. “Didn’t care. When a man loves a woman, it’s about him and her. It’s between them, and only them, and once they’ve got their shit figured out, then the rest of the world may be invited in. But they don’t get a say on what happens.”

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