I scowl and snatch up my laptop as a type of shield. “I’m not pouting. I never pout.”
“No?” He looks down at my phone on the bed. Screen facing down, but the device vibrates against the covers. “Not gonna answer that?”
“Nope.”
“Could be an emergency.”
“It’s not. You’re here, and Mom is here. So there’s no one left for me to accept emergency calls about.”
“Aw…” He flashes a wide grin, so large and taunting that I’m tempted to pop him on his sore nose. “You got your stubborn from her, huh? That’s cute.”
“Up yours.” I slam my laptop shut and fold my arms. “I’m not stubborn. And I’m not taking that call.”
“But it could be Luke.”
“You don’t even like him!” I explode. “Every single time you were in the same space together, you taunted him.”
“He was dating my daughter! I had to see what he was made of. I had to know whether he would protect you, or if he was a yellowbelly who would slink away.”
“He’s not a coward.”
“No,” he chuckles and reaches up to touch his nose. “He’s not. I also wanted to see if he’d be able to control his emotions. That guy walked away from so many fights, Ally. He’s got the willpower of a saint.”
“He smashed your face in! Are you seriously defending him right now, even with two black eyes?”
“Well, to be fair, you were drinking,” he sniggers. “You stumbled in the snow, bonked your head, and I followed you down to check if you were okay. From his point of view, all he saw was the guy who wouldn’t stay the hell away following you to the ground.”
“He fought you!”
“He pulled every single shot,” he declares, “and when you got near, he seized up and didn’t hit at all till his clone pulled you away. Oh, and on that note,” his eyes widen. “I had no clue he was a twin. I owe his brother an apology, because I may or may not have been taunting two of them, thinking there was just one.”
“Ugh.” I flop back against my pillows and groan. “What did you do to Rob? He’s a sweetheart.”
Jason laughs. “I didn’t know there were two! Sure was a moment of surprise for me when he turned up outside the restaurant.”
“You are such a pain in my ass.” I roll my eyes. “You purposely taunted him, and I was so self-righteous and demanding that he wasn’t allowed to bite back.”
“Like I said,” he laughs. “Willpower of a saint. So…” He looks back to my phone. “You gonna take that call?”
“No.” I flip my phone for just a second, reject the call, then toss the device to the floor. “I’m not ready to not be stubborn yet.”
“Wow.” Jason learns fast, because his wow absolutely did not mean wow. “So you’re just gonna throw it all away, huh? You find a guy who loves you, Ally. He loves you so much that he’s willing to come out into a deadly storm to find you, he bolts across a parking lot when he sees you fall, he defends you, when so many guys are too cowardly to do so, and he risks prison because he was already in trouble with the law. And you don’t even take his call and say thanks?”
“I refuse to say thank you for fighting on my behalf. I told him I was not a possession. I’m not something he can own, or fight for.”
He lifts both brows in surprise. “So you’d rather he’d stayed in that night, and left you to figure it all out on your own?”
“I’m not a damsel who needs rescuing! I’m a grown woman who deserves respect and independence.”
“First of all,” he growls, “you sound so much like your mother, it makes me sick. Second, he waited until damn near the middle of the night, which means he was giving you that respect and independence. He trusted you to have your shit under control.”
“He came looking when I called him.” Mom stops in the doorway and rests against the frame. My gaze tracks over to her, to the tight jeans that make Jason’s eyes bulge and follow, even after all this time. “He was at home when I called him,” she explains softly, “and he said he was worried. And perrrrhaps, I called and ignited a flame.” She grits her teeth and studies my stinging eyes. “I might have mentioned you were out with a guy, and you were slightly concerned about being cut into pieces.”
“Nice,” Jason grumbles. “You put so much trust in me.”
“Hush.” Mom steps into my room and sits down on the bed between me and her high school boyfriend. Her attention is all on me, but my eyes jump to her leg, and the hand he places there.
Quiet possession. An inability to let go now that he’s finally found her. He owns her, even though we’re unownable.
“Honey, we’ve all listened to the messages he left on your phone. He was worried about you that night, he was asking you to check in and let him know you were okay. But not once did he say you were incapable of taking care of yourself, nor did he say you were doing something wrong. He just wanted to make sure you were okay.”
“And then you called and set everything on fire.”
“I was worried!”
She thrusts up from my bed and snatches my phone when it begins buzzing again. Before I can bound over and grab it, Mom answers and brings the device to her ear. “Luke, honey. It’s Miranda.”
My heart surges; he’s right there. She’s speaking to him.
“No, she’s right here, but she’s still riding her high horse. Yeah, it totally makes her ass look fat.”
I sit back down, ignore my father’s quiet chuckles, and fold my arms.
“Nope, she’s still mad too. But don’t fret, she’s mad at herself and women’s oppression. This isn’t about you.”
“Mom, stop.”
She pauses and grins. “Yeah, that was her. She’s sitting on her bed doing this thing she used to do when she was four. I should take a picture, then I’ll dig up an old picture from when she was young. This thing she does with her lips… it’s the same. Cranky little brat. Always so serious.”
She stops to listen for a second, then throws her head back and laughs. “The only way we could make this worse is if we put music on and try to force her to boogie.” She shakes her head. “Nope. She won’t do it. She’ll refuse. But the way her crankiness turns more severe is entertaining.”
“Mom, hang up. Now.”
Her gaze comes back to mine, but her smile turns to a frown. Then her eyes shadow while Luke speaks on his end.
My stomach swishes and dips. It circles and threatens to make me sick.
“Um…” She swallows while he speaks. Nods, but it’s less about agreement, and more about acknowledgment. “Okay. Right. I’m sorry about this, okay? It’s just… yeah. You understand?” She nods again. “You’ll take care, won’t you? Maybe call me sometime. We can catch up. Maybe my daughter doesn’t—” She stops again and sighs. “Right. But I still want to know that you’re doing well. Tell your mom I said hey, and your dad too. He’s a sweetheart.”
She pauses for a moment while Luke speaks. But I don’t need to hear the words to know he’s saying goodbye. Not the ‘We’ll chat tomorrow’ farewell that he’s given every single day since I left town. But the ‘Have a nice life’ sort.