Page 14

“I needed to establish dominance,” Mikey said, nodding solemnly and making his father’s lips twitch as Sebastian walked around the table and?

“Hey!” Mathew snapped with a murderous glare as he found himself unceremoniously shoved off his chair so that Sebastian could sit across from Mikey, who he was guessing wasn’t talking to him at this point. “You could have just a

sked, jerk.”

“I could have,” Sebastian admitted as he reached over and plucked the slice of pizza that looked delicious out of Mikey’s hands before she could take another bite.

Mumbling to herself, something that he noticed that she did a lot when she was cranky, she grabbed another slice of pizza that he would probably steal as Mathew sat down next to him with a sigh and shot Jessica, who was too busy trying to finish her homework while she ate to really care what was going on, a pathetic pout that she easily ignored.

“What happened to your hand?” Jonathan asked, making Sebastian bite back a curse.

“Oh, my god! Sweetie, what happened?” his mother asked, worrying her bottom lip as she took in the bandage that Mikey wrapped around his hand.

Before he got a chance to answer, Mikey said, “He talked back,” only to nod to herself as she added, “He’ll learn.”

Chuckling, his father reached over and carefully took Sebastian’s bandaged hand into his to get a better look as he said, “On the off-chance that Mikey didn’t beat you, you want to tell me what happened?”

With a sad shake of her head, Mikey asked, “My beatings aren’t enough for you, Uncle Trevor?”

“Of course, they are,” his father drawled, shooting Mikey a wink as he carefully pulled the bandage up to get a better look at the cut on Sebastian’s hand.

“Then why are you questioning my methods?” Mikey asked, doing her best to distract his father, which Sebastian appreciated since it actually worked sometimes.

“You really are a brutal little thing, aren’t you?” his father asked.

Nodding, she reached over and stole Jonathan’s glass of chocolate milk and finished it off all while maintaining eye contact with his father. “I really am.”

“And you’re really bad at changing the subject,” his father said with a teasing smile as he returned his attention to Sebastian’s hand.

“Not usually,” Mikey murmured, looking thoughtful as his father took another look at his hand.

“You want to tell me what really happened?” his father asked with a sympathetic wince.

Shrugging, Sebastian pulled his hand free. “I had to fix something for Aunt Haley.”

“And you forgot to wear gloves?” his father asked, sending him a questioning look as he sat back in his chair.

“They got in the way,” Sebastian said, noting the questioning look Jonathan was sending him.

“Next time wear them,” his father said with a pointed look at his hand.

Nodding, Sebastian reached over to grab another slice of pizza when he caught the way that Jonathan was staring at Mikey. Frowning, his gaze flickered to Mikey to find her staring right back at his brother. “Can I help you with something, pookie?” she asked, somehow managing to look bored.

“Why are you here?” his brother asked, looking confused.

Blinking, Mikey asked, “Why wouldn’t I be here?”

Instead of answering her, Jonathan followed that up with, “What is your mom making for dinner tonight?”

“Meatloaf and mashed potatoes with buttermilk biscuits.”

“And…”

“And chocolate fudge cake for dessert?” Mikey barely had a chance to finish when Jonathan nodded once, stood up and headed toward the door.

“But I made baked macaroni and cheese,” his mother said, sighing with disappointment as her shoulders slumped while the rest of them slowly turned their attention to the pan on the stove and swallowed hard as they stared helplessly at the red gooey mess that they were apparently expected to eat.

He loved his mother.