Page 169 of Contempt

I’m more or less empty-handed. I don’t bother taking the empty muffin container in with me, but I have the video in my phone.

I’ve managed to lock my temper back up in its cage, but as soon as I walk through the front door, there’s a slight resurgence. Parker’s message echoes in my head.

I hope you don’t mind sneaking around.

I haven’t minded sneaking around, but that’s because I was drunk on these first few sips of her. It all felt easy enough, I didn’t think much about the hole we were digging right beneath our feet.

But I can see how our situation may have made Parker feel that, regardless of what she wants, nothing serious can ever really happen between us. Parker is fiercely protective of her mother’s happiness, and there’s not a shot in hell she’d put her own before it.

I am not so selfless.

They’re all gathered on the couch in the living room. Gemma’s next to my dad, and his arm is around her shoulders, propped against the back of the couch. Parker is facing them with one leg curled up beneath her and her hands going. Whatever she’s telling them, she’s animated about it. Under different circumstances, the sight would make me smile.

Her enthusiasm ebbs when I walk into the room.

The conversation goes quiet.

I’m used to it at this point. I don’t really care.

“There you are,” Dad says, as if they’ve been waiting for me.

“Here I am,” I confirm, making my way over to the couch.

Parker scoots over to make room for me. “We were just about to watch—”

Her words are cut off when I get to her, grab her by the neck, and bend down to kiss her full on the mouth.

Gemma gasps as if someone just ran a fucking sword through her, and Parker gasps too, her shock caught between my lips as I taste her.

I don’t linger too long.

I pull back, gently releasing her neck, and Parker stares at me, her eyes as wide as saucers and her jaw hanging open.

Then I drop onto the couch, prop my feet up on the coffee table, and slide my arm around her, the same way my dad has his around Gemma.

“Now, what are we watching?”

Chapter Forty-Six

Parker

I sit on the couch with my head in my hands, the sound of the clock ticking the loudest noise in the room.

The television has been forgotten, of course.

Hayden grabbed my mom and took her into his office as soon as she regained the ability to talk.

We were all shocked when Landon kissed me, but Mom was the most shocked. Hayden knew something, I knew everything, and poor Mom just sat there, stunned and confused, as she watched her daughter’s attempted attackermark heron the goddamn couch.

I feel immense guilt and no small amount of fear the longer they’re in there.

I don’t know what’s going to happen.

In my mind, the most likely outcome seems to be Mom coming out, sad and teary, and making me go pack a suitcase so we can go back to our house.

Landon sits on the couch next to me, not nearly as stressed as I am.

“I cannot believe you did that.”

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