Page 50 of Amethyst Flame
Mom covered her mouth. “Imogen!”
He took a breath. “You’veseenher?”
“I just said so.”
“And she looked all right?”
“Black hair, panda eyes, salty as hell? Yeah.”
His forehead wrinkled as if he had trouble parsing my words, and then blinked rapidly as if to abandon the effort. “Well, what did she say?”
I sighed. “That you’re a control freak. Sounded to me like you box her in, stalk her, big brother her mobile, probably even meter her oxygen. I would’ve run away too. Kinda like your wife?” I lifted one eyebrow at him when he stiffened.
“Not helpful,” Mom said behind him.
“Just keeping it real,” I shot back. “Bri’s staying with a friend. We done here?”
He ignored my question. “Did she happen to mention that one of those so-called friends is a twenty-year-old man?”
My stomach tightened. No, she had not. Baby sis had left out that juicy morsel. I didn’t return fire, contemplating this. Because fuck.
The man in front of me went on. “He thinks she’scoolandmature for her age.”
Okay, now I had a comeback. “Didja get that from reading her texts?”
“So what if I did?”
A spark in my awareness alerted me that my moths had made contact with the ones I’d left behind. They were still at the Arbolito Mall.
Still at the mall?
I flattened my hands into the [map] command…and saw my mom’s attention sharpen on me. She knew when I was accessing my purple powers.
My moths returned information on a strange cylindrical space filled with misshapen …fuck, it was a trashcan. She’d tossed the slap bracelet. It was probably a symbolic gesture after I’d refused to rent an apartment with her. I should’ve thought of that.
Luckily, I had another resource.
“What’s this pervert’s name?” Dane or Jacob could hunt him down. Then I could kill him. Maybe burn his dick off first.
“I don’t know. He was in her phone as Alex.”
“’Kay,” I said. “I’ll take care of it.”
He stared at me in stunned silence. Then, “What does that mean?”
“It means you can get out of my house now.”
Mom stepped forward to arbitrate. “Are you going to contact her again, Imogen?”
“Warnings don’t work,” the bio-bum said. “Brianna will only lie about him.”
“She’ll lie to you.” I lifted my phone between us and texted her. Granted, it was a weird flex, considering this was exactly what he wanted me to do.Fuckit…Dummy you can crash with me. We can brush each other’s hair*vomit emoji*
“Is she coming here now?” Her father’s eyes had widened with sudden hope.
I read aloud as I typed, “Not going to turn you in. I hate your dad too. You didn’t say he had a face like a ballsack.Send.”
From inside the kitchen, Jacob snorted with laughter.
