The three nodded their heads, their eyes downcast. “Yeah.”
“Clean the damn kitchen.”
“Ah, man! Walker!”
“Now.” He didn’t have to shout, they got his meaning and scurried off. He glanced up at me and gave a tight-lipped half smile, holding up the SD card. I took my first full breath.
I couldn’t find my voice. How could I tell him what that meant to me? I mouthed the words, “Thank you.”
He nodded, his eyes softening.
April pushed past me, fully dressed and yanking on her coat. I stepped forward, catching her arm. “Oh no, you’re coming with me.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Or what?”
“Or I tell Mom.”
Her mouth snapped shut with a clicking sound. I led her around the banister and down the steps. Josh took point and led us out of the party, Sam in our wake. The music pounded and the crowd had grown, but the guys moved out of Josh’s way. The girls were another story. They all stepped into his path, touching his arm or calling his name to get his attention. He nodded politely and smiled at each one of them but didn’t slow our exit from the house.
The cold air hit me as we stepped onto the front porch. Josh threw his jacket around my shoulders. When had he picked that up? He kept his hand on the small of my back as we got to my car. I spotted April’s car a few spots over.
“I’m not going with you,” she argued.
Sam rolled her eyes. “I’m not sure you’re in a position to argue.”
“What, like you get to tell me what to do?”
“Sam saved your ass.” Josh’s tone said he’d had enough, but his eyes were soft when he looked down to me. “Do you want me to take you home?”
I shook my head. “I think I need a minute with my sister.”
He nodded and glared back at April. “Give your keys to Sam.”
April sputtered, and I nearly lost it. “Give them to her now, April.”
She cursed, but she did it.
Sam gave us a mock salute as she headed off toward April’s little coupe. “See you at home.”
April crossed her arms and leaned against my car.
Josh handed me the SD card. “I’m sorry about how tonight turned out.”
I shook my head with a small smile. “Not all of it.”
“Not all of it,” he agreed, a wicked glint catching his eye in the moonlight. “Do you want my help getting her home?”
April scoffed and raised her eyebrows.
“I’ve got this. Don’t worry.”
Something flashed across his eyes, like he was remembering my bitchy tirade last week. But he wasn’t one to bear a grudge, and the look passed with a sigh. He skimmed his hand over my cheek and slowly, giving me time to decline, brushed his lips over mine. “Tomorrow?”
“I’ll see you at practice,” I said against his lips, wanting to stay just a moment longer.
“I can’t wait.” He gave me a soft smile, and went back to the party.
I watched him walk away and felt a twinge of jealousy. We weren’t exclusive. Hell, we weren’t even dating, but something ripped apart in me at the thought of him finishing what we’d started upstairs with some other girl.
But I had to take care of April; I couldn’t follow him back into the party no matter how badly I craved being around him.
Freaking April.
“Pictures?” I held up the SD card for punctuation. “Do you know what these could have done to you? You can’t get away from crap like this once someone puts it on Facebook.”
She dropped her gaze. “I didn’t know they had a camera.”
“You shouldn’t have been here in the first place!” I threw the SD card to the pavement and crushed it beneath my shoe, breaking it into pieces under my heel.
“You’re not my mom!”
“You’re acting like you sure as hell need me to be.” I couldn’t escalate her temper tantrum. “You want to get drunk and laid?” I threw my arms out, palms up. “Be my guest! But you have a boyfriend, or did Brett just morph into Tyler? Is that who you are now?”
“I told Brett I needed some space, and he understood. It’s not like I’m a virgin, or like Tyler is the only guy I’ve been sleeping with!”
Horror nearly froze me. “What is going on with you, April? This isn’t you.”
“Like you’d even understand!”
It felt like she’d slapped me. “What do you mean?”
She tucked her red hair behind her ear, a nervous trait we both shared with our mother. “Dad died, Ember.”
If she’d wanted my defenses up, that was the way to do it. “Yeah, I remember.”
“You . . .” Tears welled in her eyes. “You just picked up and went along perfectly! Everyone else is falling apart and you’re just . . . perfect little Ember! I don’t expect you to understand how this feels or why I’m here because I’m not . . . perfect!”
A ball of frustration worked its way into my throat, nearly choking me. “You really don’t think I know what you’re doing, April? You’re here to forget.”
Her head snapped up, her gaze meeting mine, but she didn’t speak.
“You want to forget everything that hurts. You don’t want to think about the fact that Mom can’t seem to function, or that Gus doesn’t have a dad . . . that we don’t have Dad.” Now it was my eyes that were blurring. “You’re sick of crying, and worrying, and the fucking pain! So you lose yourself in someone, and you give over to those feelings because for those few moments, there’s nothing in your head or your heart but the way he’s making you feel. Yeah, April, I get it.”