Page 78 of The Voices are Back

Bowie looked like a frozen deer in a spotlight, so I caught him by the shoulder and gave him a small push to get him moving.

He did, but kept glancing back at Sunny, who was in his full uniform looking intimidating as hell. Beige tactical pants, beige tucked-in, skintight long-sleeve shirt. Desert-tan-camo-patterned bulletproof vest with his large gold star pinned to the middle of it. And a gun on his hip as well as a beige patch on the upper right corner of his chest that said “sheriff.”

Let’s just say, he had the angry look down pat, too.

“Sit.” I gestured toward the one and only chair by itself across the room from all the other seating. That was where Lolo liked to sit and read. “And maybe you can explain to us why you thought it would be a good idea to sneak out of school, go burn down Morrigan’s coffee shop, and then return as if you hadn’t just committed a felony.”

Bowie swallowed hard.

Then with trembling words, explained what he did this morning.

“And why did you think that this would be a good idea?” I snapped.

Bowie flinched as if I yelled at him often, which pissed me off even more, because I didn’t. Not even close. In fact, I’d been more than patient all this time.

And honestly, I felt like I was doing a damn good job at being patient with him, when I could’ve just as easily gone the other way when it came to how he’d been acting toward me lately.

I’d been dealing with his bad attitude now for a year.

I deserved better.

“I…” He stopped, unsure what to say, because it was likely he didn’t have an explanation for what he’d done.

“You…” I urged.

He closed his eyes and opened them, and not even the tears in his eyes were enough to break my anger.

“Son,” Sunny said, inserting himself into the conversation. “What you did would get you fifteen years in a federal prison if you were tried as an adult. Though you’re too young for that, you made an adult decision today that could very easily affect the rest of your life.”

Bowie let out a low moan.

“You can kiss all those sports you love goodbye,” Danyetta said stiffly. “No more friends. No more electronics. No more cool school. You’ll be going back to public school, where you no longer have all those really cool classes you love. For you being a damn genius, you really made a poor decision today.”

Okay, well it was a good thing that I wasn’t alone in the anger scale.

“Do you mind if I say something?” Morrigan asked quietly.

All eyes turned to her.

“No, feel free,” Danyetta said just as quietly. “You’re going to be a major part of this family. I feel like maybe you should have a say in how we’re raising our son.”

Morrigan looked as if she was brought close to tears by those words, and I was happier than a pig in shit that she’d given Morrigan the acceptance that she needed. Because Danyetta was right. Morrigan might not be wearing my ring—yet—but she would be. Very soon in the future if I had my way.

Because when the love of your life was the love of your life, you couldn’t just wish that feeling away. It was a constant ache deep in your heart that constantly let you know where they should be—right beside you. And I’d done a whole lot of denying myself of that lately.

It was time for me to lock her down.

“Why would we listen to you?” Bowie lashed out.

Morrigan started talking before either Danyetta or I could react.

“Because through your father, you became someone I’ll protect with all my heart,” she replied. “Who encouraged you to do this? I saw the video. I know that look in your eyes. You were angry and hurting. You didn’t want to do it. Why did you?”

I hadn’t noticed any hesitation.

But I was so fucking angry that I was only focusing on his actions. Not his hesitations.

Bowie looked shocked for a moment. As if he hadn’t expected to be asked who’d given him the idea.

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