Page 17 of Legacy of Smoke
“Shit yeah. I needed a place to crash. Mom locked me out again.”
Thatbitch. Lily wasn’t more than half of my flesh and blood and I would never turn on her like that. Even if she wasn’t related at all, I would have a hard time turning her away. She needed someone in her corner.
“You know you can move in here with me.”
She blinked and swayed some more. “Um. No. I couldn’t fuck here. It’s too… virginal. Why did I want a pink room?”
I slipped an arm under hers and helped her stagger down the hall to her room. And yes, it was pink. Frilly pink. A little girl’s dream come true. I helped Dad decorate it. Now the pink was slightly less childish, and a bit more Lily with posters and two lava lamps. Plus, there were French-inspired carnival masks she and I made one weekend not too long ago. I’d painted mine bright purple and an almost transparent sea foam green. A red and black checkered harlequin pattern, accented with black lace and dark sequins, adorned her mask. Both hung on the wallbetween the two closets. Hers directly under mine. “Here we go. Did you want any water, Alka-seltzer?
“Hook me up with that hangover medicine you swear by. I’m going to need it.”
It was on the tip of my tongue to demand answers. Instead, I tried the indirect approach. “Did you have fun?”
“Oh, fuck yeah. I met this guy.” She held out her hands, and the gap ranged from three inches to almost eighteen as she tried to lock in dick size. “This fucking big. Man, I’m broken. He broke my pussy.”
“That’s nice. What’s his name?”
“Uh… Some city name. Fuck. Dallas, Fort Worth…?”
A cold slither of doubt crawled up my spine. “Austin?”
She stuck her finger on her nose. “That’s it. Austin. That’s Tex ma’am, get your boots off the stage. A verybadcowboy.” She giggled and fell onto the bed with one leg dangling off and her clothes tangled around her body.
I stuffed down resentment and shame, and a lifetime’s worth of worry, and removed her shoes and helped her get into something she wouldn’t get strangled by later.
“Did I also mention, he kisses like a fucking Hoover vacuum. I thought my tongue was going to fall off. Fucking-A.”
I yanked her leg up onto the bed, rolling her to the side with the momentum. She curled up into a ball, hugging the fuzzy black teddy bear I bought as a gift for her sixteenth birthday. She loved that more than the mall gift card and shopping trip I’d splurged for. It stayed here, because, to quote Lily, “Jewel, that bitch, would gut it with a knife and feed it to me for breakfast.”
Lily’s hair tangled around her face. I brushed it out of the way. Her makeup was smeared, and she looked a few pounds thinner than usual. She hadn’t eaten.
I didn’t like the way her veins floated too close to her skin, either.
But she was beautiful. Tragically pretty. Like her mother back in my childhood memories. At one time, Jewel turned heads. Every Destroyer wanted her. Except one. I straightened a lock of hair that flopped out of place. Dad put up a fight. But Jewel won.
Then she ruined the gift they made. My poor sister. If she’d been my full sister, we’d have both known nothing but love.
My nose was snuffly, so I did one last check on Lily before going to my bathroom and cleaning my face. Mid-mask, I realized Austin, and maybe Sprout, was still out there looking for Lily. I called the bar to let them know she was here. Safe at home. Where she belonged.
Austin answered.
“Oh hi, you made good time.”
“It’s not far. I was just waiting for Sprout.”
“I’m sorry I put you both through this tonight. If I’d had known she was on her way here?—”
“Poppy?” His tone admonished me, but left it open enough to not sting.
“I know. I’m enabling her, aren’t I?”
It was late enough the party had wound down. I heard him sigh over the jukebox. “Yeah. She needs help. Professional help.”
“You’re right, but she also has towantit.”
“She can’t do that by soaking off your good graces. You realize that, right?”
I bit my lip. “Yeah.” My mind drifted, and I had to ask what was bothering me. “Silly question, where were you all weekend?”
