Page 18 of My Heart to Keep
“I’m sorry about Celia. She’s lucky, though.”
I sighed. “No shit.”
“You know us Thompsons have fire in our blood. It’s about time you finally showed some of that,” he said teasingly.
I smiled at Carter. I liked this softer side of my brother. I couldn’t remember the last time he’d been so nice to me. It wasn’t as if he treated me like crap, but he could be cold at times.
“It wasn’t my first time throwing a punch. I hit her right after Maiken was rushed to the hospital last year.”
He regarded me proudly. “For real?”
“It felt good to hit her. Well, not for my hand.” I set the cup of juice down on the table next to me. I couldn’t drink any more. “Are you in trouble with Mom and Dad for bringing me here?”
“What are they going to do to me? Dad could try and ground me, but I’m not a kid anymore. I have worse problems anyway.”
My eyes widened. “What does that mean?”
He gave me a sidelong glance. “The week before the semester ended, I got arrested for being drunk and disorderly on campus.”
I gasped, and the intake of air got stuck in my throat. Carter had always been the good boy. If he’d done something terrible in high school, he hadn’t gotten caught. “Does Daddy know?”
He choked. “God no. If he did, he’d probably lock me up in the barn.”
I giggled.
“What’s so funny?”
I snorted. “Drunk, huh? Is there a pattern forming in our family?”
He grinned for a mere second before losing his smile. “I was lucky, Quinn. One, I wasn’t driving. Two, the dude I decked isn’t pressing charges.”
I bit a nail. “Do you think Sloane will press charges?” I hadn’t even thought of that. I could go to jail.No. No. No.
He grabbed my hand from my mouth. “She won’t.”
My stomach churned. “You don’t know that.”
“Even if she does, nothing will come of it. She was out of control too.”
I furrowed my brows. “Why is your situation different? I mean, why can the guy you hit press charges?”
He got up and dumped his cup into the trash near the door. “Because he was an innocent bystander at a party who looked at me the wrong way. Quinn, I prefer if Mom and Dad don’t know.”
Daddy would have a stroke if he knew Carter had been arrested. “I’m not a tattler.” I yawned. My body was beginning to feel weak and tired.
My brother returned to his seat, his expression somber. “I know. Can I tell you something else in confidence?”
Carter and I had never ever told each other our secrets. “Of course.”
“I’m thinking of dropping out of college.”
What is happening around me?I felt as though the party had been some sort of launch to another planet. “Why?” I shouldn’t have been surprised. Carter had never been into school. “You were the one who decided to go.” Momma and Daddy hadn’t forced him or encouraged him. Our parents might be strict, but they wanted us to make our own decisions when it came to college.
Liam ambled in. Black circles painted his tired amber eyes as he yawned. “I’m ready for bed.”
I jumped up. “Celia?”
He sat down on the chair next to Carter. “Doc said she has no bleeding in her brain. She might not remember anything.”
