Page 56 of Where We Belong

Silence ensues. I turn to look at Lexie, but her face is pointed down at the mixing bowl in her hands, clearly avoiding my gaze. Still at the counter, Josie smiles at me, but it’s nothing like the one she wore an hour ago. In a single minute, her mother destroyed all the hope Josie had built that they might have a normal holiday after all.

As if reading my mind, Lexie glances at her brother, who sprawled himself onto the couch in the living room, and says, “We’ve made enough food for all of you, if you want to join us for dinner.” The body I’ve seen being agile and flexible time and time again is now rigid, as if going through something that’s not natural.

“Least you could do,” the guy says without looking up from his phone.

It’s my turn to stiffen.

Lexie must feel it because she moves closer to me and brushes my arm with hers, the touch as calming as it is electrifying.

But then that asswipe goes on by saying, “Actually, while you’re at it, why don’t you clean up around here? Make your trip worth your while.”

Lexie drops the bowl, which causes a clinking sound as it bounces onto the laminate countertop. “All right, Kyle, that’s enough.” There’s fire in her eyes, probably because this is happening in front of Josie.

He looks up from his phone, a can of beer in his hands. “What? You’re too good for that too, now?” He takes a swig of the drink that’s probably been hanging around the couch for a while.

“Will you all stop with that? That’s not why I left, and you know it.”

“Right. Little Miss Usain Bolt and all.”

I remember vividly this one time in New Zealand, three years or so after I’d left home, when things got out of hand with this other tourist who was hitting on a drunk girl and touching her when she was clearly too wasted to say no. I pushed him off her and told him to get the fuck out before I destroyed him. He must’ve seen how serious I was because he did leave. Before then, I’d never felt the urge to be physically aggressive with someone. I’d been angry, sure, but never in this sort of primal way.

Today officially tops that time at the bar.

I tighten my fists by my side as Lexie remains calm and goes for another tactic this time: ignoring him. She turns toward the stove and continues reading the stuffing recipe on her phone, not uttering a word.

I hear footsteps coming from the living room, and then he’s there.

As much as Josie and Lexie look alike, he couldn’t be more different, with his brittle hair and too-intense blue eyes. I know from what Lexie’s told me that they all have different biological fathers—all out of the picture—so he must look like his father while the girls take after their mother. Even from here, I can smell the sweat and cheap alcohol emanating from his clothes.

“What?” he says. “Cat got your tongue?”

“Jos, help me with the cranberries?” Lexie says. Even through her nonchalance, I notice the way the muscles in her neck are strung like a bow.

Josie scrambles from her stool to her sister, just as Kyle steps forward and spits, “Answer me, you bitch!”

His words are the hatchet to the cables that were holding my temper in check.

Moving in his way, I lift a hand to his damp chest and say, “You take another step and we’re gonna have a problem, pal.”

He snickers, his rancid breath making me want to puke. “Are you supposed to scare me, skinhead?”

Pots clang behind me before Lexie steps in between the two of us, steam practically billowing out of her ears. “I think it’s time for you to shut the fuck up, Kyle.” She moves even closer, her chin lifted so her brother can see every angle of her beautiful sneer. “And if you ain’t scared of him, then be scared of me. IpromiseI will fuck you up. Understood?”

Kyle huffs, not moving an inch.

“I’m not above going to the cops with what I found in the basement,” she says, and Jesus Christ, I don’t think she’s ever looked hotter.

His face drains of blood. “You wouldn’t.”

“Try me.”

A second passes before he says, “Whatever.” Then, he disappears down the hall, and I’m pretty sure we collectively release a giant breath.

It’s only when he’s out of sight that Lexie’s shoulders fall and I notice she’s shaking from head to toe.

“Lex…” I start.

“How about a picnic?” She turns to her sister, a serene expression back on her face. “We could show Finn around town. What do you think, Jos? Wanna get out of here?”

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