“In some ways, yes, but in others, I still have some growing to do. Like tonight. Grown me would have called as soon as Asher ditched our movie in favor of a party, but he said he liked me and wanted me to meet his friend. I didn’t realize when he said his friend, he meant his penis.”
I grip the wheel tighter. “Did he touch you?”
“No,” she says with conviction. “Not at all. I mean, I know what you walked in on, but I didn’t mind kissing him. I just didn’t want to go further.”
“Good, because I would go back there and kill him right now if he had.”
We pull up to her house then. After she talks to the security guard a moment, we drive up and I park the car.
“Will you come in with me? Maybe stay?” she asks almost pleadingly.
I chuckle. “I’m not sure my presence will help, but sure. Why not?”
Before we reach the front door, it swings open. Reed stands on the other side. Tinsley goes to sneak by him, but he grabs her and wraps her in a hug. I watch as he squeezes her with his eyes shut tightly, some of the tension in his shoulders melting away. After a moment, he kisses her head before taking a step back.
“Go tell Keat you’re home, and then go to bed. We can talk tomorrow.”
“Okay,” she says in a small voice. “Sage is going to stay with me tonight.”
His gaze whips to mine. I give him a subtle shake of my head. He lets out sigh. “Sure thing, Tin Tin. Go check in with Keat, and I’ll take Sage to your room.”
I give her a reassuring smile and nod. She gives me one back, then heads upstairs.
As soon as she’s gone, Reed turns to me. “Where’d you find her?”
“She’ll tell you all about it in the morning, Reed.” I start up the stairs. “She just needs time to lick her wounds. She knows she made a mistake.”
I feel him following me. We stop as soon as we reach the top.
“Why didn’t that little punk bring her home?” Anger flashes in his eyes.
“I honestly don’t know. She called me and asked me to come, so I did. I don’t know what else to tell you.”
He takes a couple of steady breaths. “Thank you for going to get her. I wish she called me, but I’m still grateful that you answered her call, even if this is partly your fault.”
“My fault? How? If you keep trying to shelter her from everything bad in life, then she won’t know how to deal with it when something bad happens to her. She knew she made a mistake tonight, and she didn’t call you because she knew you would lecture her instead of being there for her.”
“I’m always there for her. Keaton and I both are. We’ve dedicated our lives to being there for her. You don’t know anything,” he growls.
“I know that your parents are shit and have abandoned you to fend for yourselves. I know that you’ve taken on the dad role, and that as much as she appreciates it, she sometimes wishes she had her big brother instead of her dad to talk to. I know that she craves female attention and guidance in her life, but she’s given up hope that she’ll ever get it because your mom is absent and neither one of you seems to want to settle down, or if you are dating someone, she can’t stand them.” I step forward and grab Reed’s hand. He startles, but I keep talking. “You have done an amazing job raising her and Keaton. I can tell in the way Tinsley talks about you that she loves you and wants to make you proud. She knows you would do anything for her and are doing your best. She also knows that there are things she can’t ask you about. Women stuff. That’s why she turned me. Why she came to me and V about this in the first place. She needs someone who will guide her as a mother would and not a friend, brother, or father.”
I go to step back, having said my piece, but he grabs my hand and intertwines our fingers. “Thank you, Sage. I mean it. I know I’ve given you a hard time, but you’re right. She’s needed a female figure in her life for a while. I can’t say I agree with her turning to you, but I’m still glad you showed up tonight.”
I roll my eyes at his poor attempt at an apology.
He chuckles before allowing his eyes to drag down my body. “Not that I’m complaining, but what in the hell are you wearing?”
I glance down and realize for the second time tonight that I still haven’t changed.
“Well, when Tinsley called, I jumped out of bed and threw shoes on. I didn’t bother getting dressed. This is what I normally wear to bed.”
His eyes take me in with appreciation, which causes my blood to warm. It’s not the first time he’s looked at me this way and probably won’t be the last, but tonight feels different. It feels as if we’ve made a sort of truce in all this hatred we’ve been slinging.
“Going out in public like this? That isn’t going to help your reputation.”
Well, I thought we had a truce.
“Yeah, well, who cares about my reputation. It’s already tarnished thanks to you. I only care that Tinsley’s home safe.”
I start to walk away, but he grabs my arm and pulls me back. I sigh and roll my eyes. “What, Reed?”
His face holds a look of confusion. “I wasn’t trying to insult you. You look sexy as fuck right now. I was trying to compliment you.”
My heart flutters at him calling me sexy, but I keep the blank look on my face. “Well, you should probably work on that, then, but thank you, I guess.”
Thankfully, before he can respond, Tinsley pads down the hallway. “Time for bed.” She leans up and kisses Reed on the cheek before grabbing my arm and pulling me into her room. “Good night.”
She shuts the door before he can say anything.
I chuckle. “You’re tempting fate, girl. He’s already mad at you, and then you shut the door in his face?”
“I was trying to save you. You looked pissed.”
“Did I? We were talking about you.” I sigh. “He does make me a little twitchy sometimes.”
She giggles before going to the bathroom. A few minutes later, she comes out with a freshly clean face. “He can be a jerk, but he’s a good guy. Deep down, but still.” She hesitates. “I’m sorry if this makes school rougher on you. I plan to tell them everything tomorrow. I’m going to make sure they know you were only looking out for me.”
“Don’t worry about me. You need to tell them the truth about everything because it’s the right thing to do, not because you want to keep me out of trouble. Be prepared though. If you think what I did to Asher was bad, Reed and Keaton are going to be three times worse.”
She climbs into bed, and I climb in beside her. “I know. I almost want to lie because I don’t want them to hurt him.”
“I know you like this kid, but what he did was wrong. He should have never taken you to a party during your first date.”
She lets out a snort. “I’m not concerned for him. I’m concerned for my brothers. I don’t want them to get in trouble when they beat him up. While I had a good time at first, I didn’t like how he was talking or how he treated you when you showed up. Keat and Reed are going to murder him, and I still need them,” she says in a quiet voice, then follows it with “Don’t you dare tell them I said that.”