Page 58 of Lucky Penny
I can’t throw her over my shoulder and drive her to the prison. I can’t wave a magic wand and heal a ten year wound that I still don’t fully understand between her and her brother.
Logically, I know that. It’s not my place. But at the same time, I’m a confident fool, feeling like maybe I’m the only one whocanmend this family.
Because no matter what Penny says or thinks, we are still a family.
And you do stupid shit for your family.
I wake up with my heart racing as Tank barks, palms sweaty, and fumble for my phone in the dark room.
It’s 1:30 a.m.
“Tank, knock it off,” I grumble, squinting in the dark.
Tank barks again, sharp and loud, and it echoes through the hallway outside my door. I close my eyes, hoping whatever spooked him is gone, and set my phone back down, steadying my breath.
But then he lets out a low growl, one I’ve never heard from him, and all the hair on the back of my neck rises.
“Fuck.” I grunt as I throw back the sheets, my bare feet hitting the cold floor.
His growls intensify along with my blood pressure. Something’s not right.
Before I can even find the light switch, there’s pounding on the front door that shakes the whole house. My breath quickens, and I’m fully awake as I nearly rip the bedroom door off the hinges, darting into the moonlit hallway. In sync, two more bedroom doors open, and Penny and Fia groggily step out.
“What's going on?” Fia’s green eyes are wide, while Penny’s chest is heaving, her hair messily toppled on her head.
“Who is disrupting my beauty sleep?” she snaps, with a stare that could cut glass. She looks like she’s ready to fuck someone up.
That’s my girl.
Three more loud bangs on the front door come before I can answer. Tank barks, his hackles raised as he barrels down the steps to the front door.
“Stay here,” I instruct the girls, eyeing the only one stubborn enough to follow me.
Penny crosses her arms but doesn’t move. I’m not playing around.
“Fia, I know you’re in there! Open the fucking door!” a deep muffled voice bellows, the sound carrying up the hall.
“You’ve got to be kidding me right now,” Penny growls, ripping past me, but I grab her waist, tossing her back up the stairs.
“Don’t you fucking move, Penny. Stay upstairs,” I bark, and her eyes harden, but she clenches her jaw and turns around to stand next to her sister.
Fia pulls her robe tightly around her frame, her lips parted in shallow breaths.
I’m going to kill this guy.
“Grab the baseball bat!” Penny hisses at me, but I walk past the coat closet. I don’t need a bat.
“Heel, Tank,” I command, and he reluctantly sits behind me, but his eyes remain locked on the door.
I open the front door and step out into the freezing cold night with nothing on but sweatpants.
A guy about Fia’s age leans against the porch pillar with a baseball hat low over his eyes and a UNCW sweatshirt on. A luxury white sedan is parked haphazardly on the street in front of the house, and I choke back a scoff.
There’s only one person this could be, and if I’m right, they’ve got about three seconds before they’re swallowing their own teeth.
Fuckboy snaps his head up, and his bloodshot eyes find mine in the dark. The single functioning outdoor light barely illuminates the porch, but the neighbors’ Christmas lights twinkle behind him, almost making this look like a peaceful moment.
It’s not going to be.
