BAD WICKED TWISTED: A Briarcrest Academy Box Set (9 page)

What the hell? Was I jealous of my
brother
?

After breakfast was ready, I stayed silent while Sebastian jumped into being the perfect host, making her a plate piled high with toast, strawberries, and bacon. He gave her silverware and a napkin and then poured her orange juice. He even pulled the stool out for her.

I’d never seen him so solicitous.

Finally, he stopped hovering and sat down beside her. As he ate, he kept shooting her little smirks, and she’d grin back. When she ran out of bacon, he jumped up to get her more. And as he sat back down, I noticed that he scooted his seat a bit closer to hers. He leaned down and whispered something in her ear, and I slammed my coffee down hard, splashing most of it all over the bar.

“Okay, bro?” he asked, his eyebrow cocked.

My mouth tightened
.
“Fine. Just fine,” I said, getting up to grab some paper towels. I wiped up the mess, angry at myself for losing control. For wanting what I couldn’t have.

“I like your tattoos,” she said after I sat back down, her eyes flicking over me. “I didn’t see this one last night,” she said, pointing at the writing I had wrapped around my left wrist. “Rachel and Joel,” she read quietly. “Your parents’ names, right?”

“Yes,” I said.

She bit her lip and gave me a cute smile. “Can I see the dragon on your chest again? It’s incredible.”

I faltered, thinking how ridiculous it’d be to take my tank off in the kitchen, but I couldn’t say no to her. At that moment, I would have done anything to make her smile like that again.

“I’ve got more on my back,” I said, taking off my tank and showing her where I had Sebastian’s name and birth date written on my left shoulder blade. “Sebastian Tyler Tate,” she recited.

When I faced her, she studied the dragon that lay across my heart, making my pulse kick up.

“He’s gorgeous,” she said, staring at the large tat for so long I began to feel hot. She finally looked up at me and said, “His eyes are blue just like yours. And he’s fierce and breathing fire, yet he doesn’t seem scary to me.”

I nodded, pleased at her words. “Yeah, he’s an eastern dragon, the ones with the snake-like bodies. His colors symbolize courage and protection of loved ones.”

“I like it,” she murmured, and I pictured her touching it, caressing the green scales, licking the red flames . . .

“You interested in getting a tat?” Sebastian asked her, pulling her attention away from me and yanking me back to the present.

She shrugged. “My friend Mila and I are going to check out this new place a couple of blocks over today. You can come with if you want,” she said, looking at both of us.

I shook my head and took a deep breath. Here it was. My chance to make sure she knew where I stood with her. “Nope, got a date with someone at the park,” I said, picking my shirt back up and slipping it on.

Sebastian scowled. “Tiffany?”

“Just eat, Sebastian.”

He huffed and murmured out something, but I couldn’t understand it, which was probably just as well. Tiffany was not his favorite person.

“Who’s Tiffany?” Nora asked.

“A girl I’m seeing,” I told her, holding her gaze and keeping my face cool. I had to set her straight, and if exaggerating about my relationship with Tiffany was the way to do it, then I would.

She stared down at her plate. “Oh.”

She seemed disappointed, but it had to be done. But then I remembered her list where she’d written about having meaningless sex. Was she really going to screw any guy she could? And now that I had told her no, would she go for Sebastian? I glared at them both, imagining her taking her clothes off for
him
.

“Tiffany’s a real sweetheart,” Sebastian said with a sarcastic smirk. “Not the sharpest tool in the shed, but hey, she is pretty.”

Nora picked at her fingernails and shrugged. “Pretty’s good. Smart isn’t always what it’s cracked up to be.”

“Let me see your fingers,” Sebastian said, reaching out and taking her hand.

“Why?” she asked, letting him take it.

“The BA brochure said you’d taken piano for years. I can tell. You’ve got the calluses to prove it. So maybe you could play for us sometime?” he said.

She shrugged.

“Sebastian, can you start clearing the table, please?” I said, giving him a hard look as he still held her hand. The same one I’d held last night.

“In a minute, bro,” he dismissed me, not looking away from Nora. Speaking to her, he said, “Our family has always been into music . . .” He paused. “Our parents are dead.”

Nora nodded. “Yeah, Leo told me.”

Sebastian straightened up like he’d been poked in the ribs and looked at me in surprise. He dropped her hand. “You told her about mom and dad?”

I nodded.

He looked quizzically from me to Nora. “Really?” he asked me again, like I was lying.

I clenched my teeth together. “Yes.”

He trained his eyes on me then Nora, scrutinizing us, jumping from one to the other, seeming to be deep in thought. Finally, he nodded as if he’d just figured something out. He laughed a little to himself, like he knew a joke we didn’t.

He continued, “Anyway. So instead of sending me off to live with some distant cousins when they died, he gave up his band and college so he could be a full-time dad.”

“I bet he was a great one,” Nora said.

Sebastian snorted as he stood to clean up. “Don’t let him fool you, Nora. He packs a mean wallop to the head when you least expect it. I only keep him around ’cause he can cook.”

And immediately, I felt my jealousy of Sebastian ebb away. He was the only real family I had left. I loved him. Hard. And I had no right to be mad at him for flirting with Nora.

I hugged him and rubbed his head playfully with my knuckles. He was long overdue with all the lip flapping he’d been doing this morning.

“See how he is?” Sebastian said, grinning as he pulled away from me, trying to smooth down his styled hair.

The buzzer pealed from downstairs. “What’s that?” she asked.

“Door bell. Looks like it’s payback time, Nora,” I said.

Her face turned white and her fork clattered down on the table. “Shit. Parents?”

“No, it’s friends of ours, and I want you to come downstairs and meet them,” I said.

She nodded, her face still pale.

I stood there for a moment, wanting to tell her it would be okay. That I wouldn’t let anyone hurt her. But I walked out the door and didn’t look back, leaving her there with Sebastian.

“Behind every beautiful thing is a world of pain.”

–Nora Blakely

AFTER LEO DISAPPEARED from sight, I sped out of the kitchen and went to the bathroom, grabbing my phone and backpack on the way. My mouth dried, thinking about who could be waiting for me. If it wasn’t family, then who could it be? What if he’d changed his mind and called the police?

Whatever was waiting for me, I could handle it. I simply needed to do the things on my list: get drunk, get high, and get laid. Get relief. End of story.

My phone buzzed. I opened it and saw Mila had texted me five times during the night and early this morning.

--What happened last night! You never texted me!

--Where are you, chica? You better be in your car! Asleep!

--Hello?? Okay, are you alive?? Don’t drive drunk, or I will be MAD!!

--Now I’m scared! Call me!

--Crappola, are you in jail! I better be your one phone call!

My stomach lurched when I saw Finn had called me several times as well, and the thought of listening to his nasally voice made me feel nauseated. I hated how weak he made me feel, even though he lived four hours away. I deleted all six voicemails he’d left with a shaking hand. He hadn’t tried to call or text me in months, and I suspected him moving back home had him trying to reach out. He’d hated living there as much as I do now, so he had to be desperate if he planned on coming back to Highland Park.

I washed my face and then redid my ponytail, easing around the yellowish bruise on the side of my face. I grabbed some toothpaste and cleaned my teeth with my finger.

Someone knocked on the door. “Hey, we’ll be in the big room past the yoga area. It’s downstairs,” Sebastian called out.

“Okay,” I mumbled.

Thinking I should get this day started the right way, I took out the flask and gulped down a big swig of vodka, coughing at the bitterness. I took another swallow, watching myself in the mirror, staring at the strange girl who’d gotten drunk last night. I didn’t know her, but I liked her a lot better than numb Nora. Yeah, this girl was real. She wouldn’t do everything Mother said. She wouldn’t break down behind closed doors, dreaming of knives, blood, and secrets. This girl could handle whatever shit came her way.

To make sure I was ready, I searched around the bathroom for a word to roll around, yet there was nothing that caught my attention except nail clippers, dental floss, and, of course, the toilet. Damn it. I closed my eyes, riffled through my cerebral dictionary and got what I needed.

“
Hydraulic
,” I said aloud. “A noun derived from Greek and Latin, referring to a system, such as the mechanism operated by the pressure transmitted when a liquid is forced through a small opening or tube. Such as a toilet,” I said, nodding at myself in the mirror for a job well done. I flushed it for good measure, watching the water swirl around.

There, I felt better.

Nope, not loony at all.

I walked out of the bathroom and halted. Sebastian was standing there, his head cocked as he looked at me.

“Who were you talking to?” he asked.

I didn’t answer.

He arched his brow at me. “It sounded a lot like you were saying all this technical shit about the crapper.”

I burst out laughing.

“Yeah, I didn’t mean to make a joke, but it’s a pretty good one, huh?” he said with a chuckle.

I nodded and smiled widely, not able to resist his easy manner.

He held up a hand. “Wait a minute; you weren’t actually talking
to
the crapper, were you?”

“No,” I said. “I was defining a word, repeating its definition, parts of speech and etymology. The usual.”

His eyes widened. “A word?”

“Yeah, I got a thing for words. You know how some people collect sea shells? I collect words. I think about them all the time. They make me feel better when I’m jittery. I can’t get through the day without them. Well, I guess I
could
, but it wouldn’t be fun.” Understatement of the year.

“My mom collected porcelain figures,” he murmured, nodding like it was everyday you heard some girl admit she was neurotic.

Looking at Sebastian, I couldn’t help but see the differences in his and Leo’s appearance now. The opal-blue eyes were the same, but Sebastian’s blond hair was gelled in a buzz cut while Leo’s was longer and sexier. Enough to run my hands through and hold on tight while he pounded away.

I pushed Leo out of my head and checked out Sebastian, standing there in his skinny jeans and retro Beatles shirt. With expensive Italian loafers. This guy was so LA.

He wagged his finger at me. “I knew you’d like me. I’m hard to resist,” he grinned.

I shook my head at his arrogance.

“So, do you have a lot of words in your head?”

“How many do you think is a lot?” I said.

“My mom had like a hundred of those porcelain things, sitting around everywhere.”

“Well, if I had to guess, I’d say I repeat different words in my head about five times a day. So that’s about thirty-five new words a week.”

“Damn,” he whispered out.

“Yeah, it’s what Mother calls a serious problem.”

My phone rang, and I saw it was the black bunny.

“Hey, can you give me a few minutes?” I said, nodding at the phone. “It’s my best friend, and I need to talk to her about what happened to me last night. She tends to worry.”

“Sure, come on down when you’re done,” he said, walking away.

And so, after I’d assured Mila I hadn’t been arrested or kidnapped by two lunatics, I made my way downstairs, ready to face Leo and his brand of justice.