Page 31

“Where the actual fuck have you been?” Xander roars the second the front door opens.

I keep my chin tucked toward my chest and my hood is draped over my head. I haven’t had a chance to see what I look like, but I know I look like I was rolling around in a bush.

My phone is completely destroyed, so who knows what time it is.

All I know is I hope I never see those men again.

“Are you going to answer me?”

“No.”

His stomps stride my way before coming to a stop. “What do you mean, no?” I turn my head away when he rips the hood off. “Sarah.”

His hand clamps down on my shoulder and he twists me to face him. “Look at me.” I wince and close my eyes before raising my chin.

“What the fuck, Sarah?!” He bellows. “Who did this do you?!”

The sound of a stampede rushing down the steps fills the house.

“What is going on?”

“What happened?

) “What the fuck?”

The rest of my brothers simultaneously ask. I open my eyes and meet a plethora of different emotions flashing over each of their faces.

The world pauses just before all hell breaks loose.

I guess I look worse than I thought.

Their shouts of anger, concern, and panic reach new heights the more they appraise my appearance. My shoulders bunch tighter and tighter with each question they ask. I shout when I can’t take it anymore.

“Nothing happened!”

Their voices stop abruptly. I straighten my shoulders and lift my chin higher.

“I’m fine. I slipped and fell.”

Technically speaking, it’s not a total crock of shit.

“I thought you were sick?” Colson’s question breaks the silence that followed my explanation. Tommy crosses his arms across his chest. The look of disappointment in his eyes is like a punch in the gut.

“I was. I am.” My brain stalls as I struggle to come up with an excuse for leaving the house after being dropped off.

Xander scowls at me, and I shrink like a terrified kitten, begging for the ground to swallow me whole.

“You know better than to leave without someone knowing. I’ve been calling you for over an hour. Where is your phone?”

Oh no.

“I… sorta. Kinda…broke it,” I mutter, tugging my phone from my jacket pocket. It’s ripped out of my grasp.

Tommy and Xander frown, flipping my phone this way and that way. The screen is completely shattered, pieces of glass missing.

“This might be our cue to leave,” Ronny, not so subtly, whispers to Colson. The pair spin on their heels and Scooby-Doo run it up the stairs.

“Table,” Xander barks, standing to the side so I can walk to the kitchen. I wince when my bruised ass lands on the wooden seat.

The seats opposite of me groan from the weight of Xander and Tommy settling in.

The coppery tang of blood meets my tongue as I nibble at the dried skin of my bottom lip, waiting to be reprimanded.

Neither of them says a word. They simply stare me down. I shift uncomfortably, willing myself not to crack under pressure. I run my fingers through my hair and pause when I feel a twig tangled in the strands.

An awkward chuckle spills out. Xander’s brow rises but he remains silent. The twig pulls a few strands of hair from my scalp as I remove it and set it down on the tabletop.

“Soooo.” My gaze bounces back and forth between Xander and Tommy. Trying to figure out how they’re going to play this.

“Tell us what happened after I dropped you off.”

Okay, so Tommy is playing good cop.

That’s either a good sign, because he’s usually bad cop, or Xander is PISSED.

Crickets chirp in my brain. I can’t come up with an excuse that would make sense. Everyone we know was at the fight.

“I needed period stuff,” I blurt out. “Since you guys were out, I decided to go get them myself.”

Xander pushes his seat out and leaves the kitchen without saying a word. The sound of him rummaging in what I assume is the bathroom fills the silence between Tommy and me.

His heavy steps pound into the stairs when he returns.

“Try again.” Multiple packs of pads and tampons are tossed onto the table.

The guilt returns with a vengeance. Tension coils around my throat like a boa constrictor.

“I… I uh-.” I lick my lips. “I decided that I didn’t want to stay home while you guys were out. I was going to walk back to the farm, but I slipped, fell into a bush, and broke my phone.”

The lie spills out of me with enough ease, I start to believe I can pull this off. That is, until Xander scoffs and Tommy’s disappointed filled gaze turns to pity.

Good luck Tommy mouths, rising from his seat and exiting the kitchen.

* * *

Muttered curses flow out like a waterfall. The blisters on my hand have since grown their own blisters. I’ve created a second skin out of sweat.

“Speed it up, Sarah.”

Speed it up, Sarah. I mock Xander’s voice in my head.

My punishment for sneaking out and lying about it is helping Xander repair the roof. The very same roof that doesn’t actually need any repairing. Xander is nit-picking every shingle and nail, making me replace some that I doubt need any replacing.

WHO DOES THAT?

Colson and Ronny lie lazily in folding chairs on the front lawn, fully enjoying the show of my struggling to maneuver on the uneven surface.

“You got this, sis!” Colson howls and Ronny is thrown into a fit of laughter.

“Fuck you, Colson!”

“Mouth,” Xander chastises, and I roll my eyes.

An hour later, I’m all but crawling into the house. Muscles I haven’t discovered yet are screaming to the universe for relief.

But I didn’t crack. I didn’t tell them the real reason to why I left and came back looking like I got jumped.

So, right now, despite the agonizing pain I’m in, I call that a win.