Page 2 of Mask and the Magnolia

Yeah, these guys probably eat a handful of pills for breakfast and swallow them down with the blood of ten virgins and a shot of straight gasoline.

With a chuckle, I turn back to the door, pulling it open before I reach into the car and offer my hand.

“Thanks, Vinny,” Maisie whispers as she gets out, keeping her hand firmly in mine even as she fixes her skirt. “Wow.”

We walk up the steps behind our parents as the valet takes our car, the two of them exchanging hushed words while the manufactured muscle eyeballs the hell out of me.

My sister squeezes my hand as they let us into the foyer where some kind of butler is already waiting to take our coats or whatever he thinks we need to check since it’s seventy degrees outside and we don’t have any.

“Please wait here.”

He looks like a fucking penguin.

Short, round, dressed in a black suit and waddling like there’s a big fat stick shoved up his pompous ass.

“This is a big day for us.” Our mother spins toward Maisie the second we’re alone, immediately fussing over her hair and the little bit of makeup she was allowed to wear. “It’s a big day for you, honey.”

I frown at that.

It’s the third time she’s said it today, referring to this as some milestone for my baby sister, and each time she does, my stomach twists into so many fucking knots it nearly makes me sick.

“You remember what I told you?”

Maisie nods but doesn’t say anything.

She doesn’t need to.

She’s only thirteen years old and as a beautiful, fresh-faced, barely presented omega without one mean or deceitful bone in her body, being in a house that’s practically humming with negative male alpha power has her terrified.

So, of course she can’t remember one goddamn thing our mom told her about how to act while we’re here. My sister probably can’t even think straight right now let alone recall the four pages of bullshit Mom made her memorize.

And that makes me squeeze her hand a little tighter.

I’ve got you.

No matter what happens while we’re here, or what our mother’s ulterior motive is, I’ve got my baby sister’s back, and I won’t let anything happen to her.

Ever since she was born, it’s been me and Maisie Moo.

My parents don’t give a genuine shit about either of us, not in the way other kids’ parents do. We were obligatory for our mom and dad, probably even accidental, and as soon as they had one of each—a boy and a girl, hoping we’d be an alpha and omega—Mom ran out and made the appointment to have her tubes tied.

I don’t think either of them wanted to have kids, but biology dictated otherwise, and I’m sure somewhere along the way they agreed to make the best of it.

Which was damn near impossible from the day I learned to walk because making their life hell was ingrained in my DNA and when Maisie came along, all bets were off.

Even at three years old I knew how special my sister was, and from that moment forward the sun has always risen and set with Maisie’s smile.

Do I have friends? Sure, I have a few. A small group of guys at school who most consider to be outcasts but they’re straight with me, and they’ve been solid since we were kids, but no one I actually give a fuck about.

And yeah, there are girls. Chicks who dig the dangerous freak, the unhinged weirdo with a penchant for skipping class and starting fires, but they don’t mean anything, either. Nothing more than a place to stick my dick when the mood strikes, anyway, because the only person who actually matters to me in any real way is my Maisie Moo.

It’s been me and her since she came kicking and screaming into this world, and the second she looked up at me with those big blue-green eyes and wrapped her teeny fingers around my not much bigger one, I knew. I knew I had to protect her from our parents, from everything out there that was ugly and cruel, and I’ve done that for the last thirteen years.

And something is telling me that tonight is going to put my powers of protection to the test.

“I said take that off,” my mother hisses as she grabs my mask, yanking it from my face and over my head before shoving the PVC against my chest. “I don’t know why you can’t just listen to me; you were supposed to leave it at home. Today is incredibly important to our family and I don’t need you screwing it up by looking like the freak you are.”

With a smirk, I stuff my mask into the back pocket of my black jeans. “Forgive me. I’d hate to fuck this up for you, Larissa.”