Page 66 of The Lost Kings
I moved with him down the station as he tried to get away from me. Lowering my voice, I said, “I didn’t fuck her. There was no fucking whatsoever.”
Gio stared at me for so long I thought perhaps he’d relent, but instead, he pushed me, forcing me back into the metal table. The bowls we’d filled with chopped veggies spilled all over the floor. Our grandmother cursed in Spanish and our mom wiped her hands on her apron before quickly moving around the counter.
I took advantage of the delay and punched him in the jaw.
He drove into my chest, pushing me into another table, which made a mess of even more of the food. Mom was screaming at us, so was our grandma, but it wasn’t until our dad came in that we finally broke apart.
“The fuck is going on here?” he roared.
He yanked me by the shirt and shoved at Gio’s chest until we were separated.
I was breathing hard, and Gio still looked murderous.
Dad asked again, his voice echoing around the room. “What’s going on?”
“Nothing!” I screamed while wiping at all of the onions and tomatoes that had fallen on my shirt.
“Gio?” Dad asked, but he pushed out of our dad’s hold and stormed out of the kitchen.
“He gets five minutes, then he’s back here cleaning this mess up. You both will be here until midnight replacing all the food your mother and grandma have been preparing. Do you understand me?” Dad’s grip on my shirt tightened until I agreed.
Once he finally let go, I stared after the door my brother had exited through.
I had finally finished cleaningeverything and replacing all the food by one in the morning. My arms were tired, my fingers sore, and as I got into my dark room, I dropped into bed.
“You actually cleaned everything on your own?” Gio’s voice echoed from across the room. If I had any energy at all I’d throw a pillow at him.
“Clean? I had to cleanandreplace all the shit we spilled. You were supposed to come back and help me.”
His chuckle grated against my nerves.
“Presley snuck through our window tonight. She was crying and begged me to listen to her.”
That had me alert, but I didn’t show it. I remained face down on my bed, pillows practically suffocating me.
Gio continued, “I heard her out. She said all this stuff was confusing to her, but she figured we were all three just messing around. She didn’t think it meant anything to which I had to agree with her and stop being such a little bitch about things.”
“But it does mean something,” I replied, muffled and strangely annoyed.
Why would she chalk it up to us messing around? Probablybecause I had alluded to that by not talking about what we were doing outside of the car.
My twin let out a heavy sigh, which made me open one eye and take him in. He was in a white tank top and black boxers. His face revealed too much, and that had always been his downfall.
“I think we need to maintain that this is meaningless, Bro…so we don’t scare her off.”
That made me move my head to the side so I could see him better. “So now there’s a we?”
My brother smirked. “Since you did all the work tonight, I’ve decided to forgive you.”
I did throw a pillow at him then. Then another.
His laugh was a ray of sunshine that always seemed to move away my clouds.
“So, where does that leave us?” I finally asked once my brother turned his light off.
Gio waited a few seconds before replying, “I think we just go with the flow. If you do what you did today, I promise not to lose my shit. Just know that I’ll be stealing moments with her too.”
“We’re usually always together, the three of us. What then?” I risked asking, afraid of what it would mean if my brother shut this down. I didn’t mind having him with me in that car. He’d been my teammate in absolutely everything I’d ever done. Sharing wasn’t an uncommon feeling, and while I didn’t really pay attention to what he did with her, it didn’t bother me that he was doing something with her at the same time.
