Good Girl (Playroom) (39 page)

I’ve spent the last hour
moving around the room. When Devon moves a foot, I move a foot. It’s been a beautifully choreographed dance to avoid one another. The kids have noticed, but it’s Kieren who’s the most suspicious-
I can’t freakin’ tell him!

Halfway through transcribing the lasagna recipe
, my squirrely niece makes a reappearance. The girl has been clinging to me like
Saran Wrap
all week. “Why are you so sad,” Violet softly murmurs in my ear.

“I’m fine,” I mumble a reply as I write down the components of homemade tomato sauce.
What’s wrong with the jarred stuff?

“I’m used to bitchy and bratty, even Zombie, but sad is a new one. Did Devon hurt yo
u? Want me to kick his ass?” Violet’s blue eyes flash with anticipation as Violent Violet makes an appearance.

“I’m sad, but I’m better than last week, and next week I’ll be even better
than this week,” I uncomfortably reply.

“Good,
‘cuz if you’re unhappy, then Mom’s unhappy… and you know the saying: if Momma ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy.”

I snort and pull Violet
into a hug. “You’re fabulous, Violet, fabulous!” She hugs me back, beaming a smile at me. I catch Clover dabbing her eyes again. That woman has cried all week. Every time Violet turned into a creepy cuddle monster, Clover started misting. Violet looks at my face- studying me… again, for the billionth time this week. “You’re creeping me out with that shit, girl,” I warn as I step away.

“Do you
love me the same as Robbie?” Violet asks out of nowhere.

“Yeah, why wouldn’t I?”
I scrunch my forehead in confusion.

“Do you love Robbie
more because he’s your brother?” Violet cautiously asks.

“Nope, I love him because he’s Robbie. Same as I love Seth because he’s Seth and you because you’r
e you.  I have to love you guys. It’s a prerequisite to family.”

“But
you don’t have to like us,” Violet sings, like she’s okay with that.

“Jesus, do you remember every nasty thing I say?”  I shudder because I hope she doesn’t. I was a vindictive bitch.

“Here,” Devon breathes to me as he hands me a recipe card. Startled, I fly across the room like I was fired out of a cannon. Everyone stops what they were doing and stares at me. I can deal with Devon in the same room as me, but not talking to me, or breathing on me, or touching me, or acknowledging me.

“Willo
w, ya got a minute?” Kieren politely requests, but wraps his hand around my wrist and pulls me from the room. “What. The. Fuck. Was. That?” Kieren demands when we get to the hallway.

“Not
hing,” I bashfully say while scuffing my sneaker on the linoleum.

“We’ve hung out all week and not once has Devon joined us. When I say
your name he runs from the room. But every night when I get home from visiting you, Devon interrogates me for the details. Out with it, Spanky,” Kieren commands.

I push Kieren
into the spare room and shut us in. I just need a hug. Auggie’s held me all week when I break down, which is usually between the hours of sleep and awake, while I hysterically bawl. I’ve avoided touching Kieren because the thought has tears prickling my eyes. One of the last happy thoughts I had of Devon was how I could spend eternity in his arms- that fizzled quickly.

I burrow my face against Kieren’
s broad chest and sigh in relief. “We broke up,” I sniffle.

“Why, when, and how? And more importantly, how come I’m ju
st now finding out about it?” Kieren’s tone is accusatory, but his hands slowly slide up my back and begin to massage my loneliness away.

“Two weeks ago
, Devon broke up with me, and I won’t tell you why. Kieren, you have to ask your brother, because I won’t be a wedge between the two of you.”

“Auggie?” Kieren
jumps to the logical conclusion.

“Nope… Auggie is Mr. Kline again
,” I happily report. “No funny business.”

“Really? Whoa…” Kieren
squeezes me tighter. “You’ve had a shitty fucking week, I take it,” he snorts. “And Auggie’s balls must be indigo by now.”

“Fuckface,” I say with affection.

“I prefer Stud, thank you very much, Spanky.”

“Let’s go back. I can’t have my family thinking I’m an equal opportunity skank.”

“If only you were Skankier,” he murmurs and slaps my ass.

“My name’s not Tina,” I
haughtily gloat as I reenter the kitchen.

“Oh, I’m telling Auggie…” Kieren
sings. “He’ll be wicked pissed that you called his sister a skank.”

“Willow,” Clover reprima
nds and I feel all eyes on me. Shit, I’d forgotten about everyone else once I started bantering with Kieren, and his wink informs me that that’s exactly what he’d planned on. I give Kieren a small smile of thanks and walk back over to my duties.

“Gross,” Rae complains for the umpteenth time.

“Little Isis, if you complain again, I’m gonna leave you to clean up all this shit,” I warn. My patience is wearing thin after Clover made us, not only cook the meal, but sit down at the dining room table and be subjected to etiquette lessons. The girls loved it, me and the boys suffered in silence. Now we’re stuck doing the woman’s work. “If you make a mess, ya gotta clean it up. The more you bitch, the more I want to rip your tongue out and stuff it up…”

“Willow,” Kieren growls as he tightens his hand over my mouth. “Yeah, when
Dad hitches to your sister, you’ll regret finishing that sentence. You can’t threaten your family like that, Spanky.”

“Um… what planet are you from,” Violet defends me. “If you can’t threaten family, who can you threaten?”

“I’m taking my vote back, immediately. No way in hell is this sycophant going to be my new sister,” Kieren growls in disbelief.

“They don’t call me
Violent Violet for nothing,” Violet proudly announces. “And it’s too late to renege. The box just arrived. Mom’s at the door accepting the delivery.”

“Fuck,” Kieren hisses while four jubilated
Yay
s shout around the kitchen. I don’t reply because Kieren’s hand is still over my mouth, and Officer Devon doesn’t reply because I think I cut his tongue out and shoved it up his ass.

“What is this?” Clover b
ites her bottom lip to contain her happiness. Who knew she’d love surprises. “An apron?” She looks at us like we bought it for her. Seven noes are shaken. “Four leaf Clover’s lucky bakery?” She reads the apron with a bemused expression. “Bake me your best desert and leave it on the porch. I’ll leave you another surprise, too. Your secret admirer, Papa Bear… Kids?”

“No
t it,” I mumble behind Kieren’s hand and give it a lick. Kieren groans and rubs his palm on his pant leg.

“Sorry, I was taken up with the surprise.”
Kieren looks at his hand and smiles.

“Mrs. Webster, we didn’t send it,” Devon’s honest voice taints my ears, and it’s filled with utter bullshit.

“Oh,” Clover yelps and slides the apron on. “It’s nice,” she purrs while rubbing her hands along the light green fabric. Clover took the bait-
Clover’s gonna get laid… Clover’s gonna get laid…

“Spanky?” Kieren chuckles.

Devon’s hearty laugh stops me in my tracks. I was doing a jig to the ‘Clover’s gonna get laid’ chant.

The door opening wipes the
good mood from my face, and my entire being. “Seth, tell her to leave,” I command. The kid runs to the door, but Essie bulldozes over Seth. “Get out!” I scream, charging forward like an enraged bull.

“Leave,” I hiss. “Don’t step foot over this threshold again… or next door… or
Revamped
or the Spook House. If I frequent it, you’re no longer welcome there.” I’m a hairsbreadth away from snapping. The blue-eyed, brown-haired jezebel stands before me, and only our familial ties stop me from tearing Essie fucking head from her neck.

“You told her? How could you? You promised not to tell?” Essie’s bottom lip quivers as she deals
with her own tiny betrayal. Essie’s eyes are pointed above me, no doubt at her new lover.

“Oh… Oh… that is fucking rich.” I walk away shaking my head and grab the
Sharpie
I was using to make recipe cards. “Since the shirt I made you four years ago is long gone, this will have to suffice.”

I pop the lid off the marker with my front teeth. I carve an
A
in the center of Essie’s forehead in permanent ink, too bad it’s not tattoo ink.

Everyone gasps
, except for the young boys. Seth asks Weston in a confused voice, “The anarchy symbol?”

“Dipshit, you need to pay closer attention in English class,” Violet hisses. “More importantly, you need to pay attention to your family history. Essie just earned her right to be named after her namesake- Hester Prynne.”

“So fucking rich,” I purr. “You are accusing him,” I point at Devon, “Of betraying your trust. Are you fucking kidding me? You, who betrayed me, expected Devon, who betrayed me, not to betray you? You deserve each other,” I hiss in disbelief.  My voice is deeper than the level of Hell I’m currently residing in. I hadn’t expected to be this angry. Heartbroken, sucker-punched, but not infuriated.

“Leave,” Violet orders. “This is our house, and you’re no long
er welcome. I don’t know why Willow isn’t kicking Devon out, but there must be a reason. I can’t kick Devon’s ass, but you’re family. I have no issue with punching a bitch out.” Violet’s violence is displayed in Technicolor as her elbow flies back and none of us are quick enough to stop her. A jab lands perfectly on Essie’s left eye. Violet hops around flinging her hand around and saying
oww, uh, oooo, owie.

Essie runs away with tears in her eyes and I feel bad about it. I don’t want to, b
ut after eighteen years of Essie being my best friend, I hurt enough for the both of us.

“Thanks?” I shake my head not knowing what else to say.

“You’re very welcome, sister,” Violet primly says as she accepts an icepack from her mom. I quizzically look at Violet, but my attention is diverted. On one side of the kitchen is Kieren, Rae, and Weston, all with identical expressions of disappointed outrage, and on the other side is Devon. Devon looks like he’s going to be sick. It’s exactly what I didn’t want to happen.

“No,” I shake my head. “Don’t. This isn’t about you guys as a family. It was between Devon and me.”

“And apparently Essie,” Clover snidely hisses. She sounds so much like me that I snort.

“Bethany, too,” Devon hammers the final nail in his coffin. “Mustn’t forget that disgusting part of my shame.”

“Why haven’t you killed him?” Kieren calmly asks.

“I have my reasons,” I mumble under my breath. I still love the scumbag, or it wouldn’t hurt so
damned much.

“Bro, y
ou couldn’t think of a worse way to hurt Willow? Perhaps buy her a puppy, and then kill it, or assault her mom? You could have crashed Willow’s car into
Revamped
and destroyed her livelihood, I guess. Maybe burn the Spook House down while you’re at it?” Kieren’s level of sarcasm makes me proud.

“I did hurt Willow’s
car. I watched as she dumped five gallons of gas all over it and killed it with fire. But that was after she took a maul to the outside and a portable reciprocating saw to the interior. After Willow was finished, I reported it as stolen and said vandals destroyed it so she could get the insurance money.”

“Why?” Kieren and I say at the same time.

“I knew you wouldn’t see me watching. It was my fault, and I know you, Willow. You’d never touch that car again. I’ll admit, it was interesting to watch Auggie help you,” Devon answers me, and then turns to his brother. “I screwed Essie and Bethany in Willow’s car.”

“When?” Kieren whispers, but I can tell he already knows the answer.

“Don’t,” I warn, but the scumbag doesn’t listen. “While I was a coward and you weren’t. While you were telling Willow the truth, I was betraying her,” Devon admits.

I close my eyes as Kieren walks from the kitchen and the screen door slams
behind him. “Well, it’s good that we got our first family fight out of the way, don’t you think?” I cheerily say. Clover looks at me like I’ve lost my dang mind, but the other five heads emphatically shake yes.

This is why Devon is still here. Why I haven’t screamed at him like I did Essie. Nothing will remove Essie’s family status, but the Masons aren’t connected to us yet. I will do anything for my sister, even if that mean
s looking at the man who betrayed me… and calling him family. And it’s why Devon is still standing here taking all of our shit-stares and ridiculing comments… Devon’s here for the wellbeing of our family… and for once, Devon isn’t being a coward.

~Chapter Thirty-Nine~