Page 85 of Shattered Veil

Zoey smacked his chest. “Liam!”

“Don’t act all high-and-fucking-mighty,” Cassie bit back. “You’ve joked about applying to work at strip clubs for years.”

“Joking doesn’t mean I actually did it, Cas!” he exclaimed.

Interrupting their sibling bickering once more, Zoey stated, “Don’t pretend like you have anything against stripping, Lee, come on.”

“I don’t,” he told her. “I have a problem with my little sister stripping.”

“Yet you had no problem with it when I said I should apply at PT’s,” Zoey argued.

Liam replied through his teeth, “That’s different.”

“Oh, why?” Cassie asked innocently. “Because I shouldn’t be seen as a sexual object? I’m not a child, Liam. Plenty of men—and women, for that matter…”

The latter half of her last sentence made me choke on my spit, and Liam interrupted with a grimace:

“Ah, no-no, we aren’t talking about this.”

Cassie smirked, crossing her arms as she said, “You’re the one that started it.”

Zoey sighed loudly. “Topic at hand. You live alone, and your house is in the middle of nowhere. Stay with us, yes?”

Cassie’s face twisted at the thought of an extended stay in her brother’s living room. “I’ve gotten used to privacy.”

Claire spoke in a mousy tone, “Erm—Jay?”

I glanced at her to see her blue gaze expectant, and I voiced, “Hmm?”

Claire tipped her head toward Cassie, and there was no doubt in my mind what the intent was behind her quiet call of my name. She was implying that I should offer for Cassie to stay with me.

“Oh,” my voice went high as I quickly glanced at Cassie, and I looked back to Claire to find her gaze a silent, gentle plea to, ‘Do the right thing.’

Luke avoided making eye contact with anyone, as it was clear he didn’t desire to insert himself in the middle.

Cassie cooed, “You do have an extra bedroom.”

“I do,” I replied succinctly, knowing full well that Claire’s old bedroom would be thoroughly unoccupied if Cassie were to be staying with me.

Zoey obliviously shrugged. “Problem solved—”

“Not problem solved,” Liam interrupted, throwing a hand toward Cassie. “She’s gonna drive Jay insane.”

“I’ll be on my best behavior,” Cassie assured him wryly.

Liam groaned, “Cas.”

“It’s fine,” I interrupted Liam rapidly. “Really, it’s fine. Cas, you can stay with me.”

Cassie smiled wide at me, not a trace of guilt or our shared secret written on her face as she noted, “Problem solved.”

I was idly chopping a red bell pepper in the kitchen when the front door creaked open, and Liam appeared. His freckled face was worn, the stress from, well, everything written across it as he lugged a large, black suitcase across the threshold. The wheels hit the hardwood with a clack, and he grumbled:

“You packed your entire goddamn closet.”

Cassie strolled in with a single white pillow under her arm, remarking as she walked past her brother, “Well, I don’t know how long I’ll be here. I’m not about to go to the laundromat three times per week.”

“Fine,” Liam acquiesced, shutting the door behind him. “Fine. I get it.” He pointed toward Claire’s old room. “Go bring—”

---