I open my room with my key card, and we’re immediately greeted with voices coming from inside. Ren, Roman, Sophie, and Luna are all piled on the large L-shaped couch.
“There you guys are,” Roman greets and pushes off the couch.
He comes over to me and slaps a hand on my back in greeting. He is the only one in our extended family who is actually taller than me. As the story goes, he used to be an underground fighter, entering fights for money where only one person exits the ring. Even looking at him now, as his age is showing, it’s no surprise that he won every time.
Luna and Sophie come over and greet me next, while Ren is greeted by Scarlet and my parents. The room suddenly starts to feel smaller.
“I love this apartment. Can I stay here tonight?” Scarlet asks.
I shrug, unsure if this is a good idea. I would like to have my sister here, but I don’t know if my father will allow it. Seeing my apprehension, she turns to my parents.
“Please, it’s been forever since I’ve seen Quinton, and you can’t tell me there is a safer place than this apartment.”
“I don’t know,” my father starts, but my mom cuts him off.
“Q and Ren will both be here, and in two years, she’ll be here in her own apartment. I don’t think it’s a bad idea. Plus, then we’ll have the suite to ourselves.” She smiles, and Scarlet fake gags. My parents' love story is one for the books. If there has ever been a person to bring my father to his knees, it’s my mother. However, that doesn’t mean I want to hear them talk about fucking.
“Luna is staying here as well,” Sophie chimes in, thankfully.
My father looks back and forth between Ren and me, his gaze penetrating. “You know the rules, and you also know if anything happens to your sister—”
“Nothing will happen to her, not here, not ever,” I interrupt.
“Fine.” He turns to Scarlet, who is ready to jump out of her skin. “You need to check in with me every few hours, and do not go anywhere without your brother.”
Scarlet nods, her smile growing with every passing second.
“Then it’s settled. You can stay.” A smile breaks across my father’s lips, and the tension in the air eases.
“Yay! I’m even more excited now. I can’t wait for the ball, though. I want to meet all your friends.” Friends? I don’t have the heart to tell her I haven’t made any friends, unless you count what Aspen and I are doing as being friends. Which I don’t.
“Ren told me he has no date to the ball. What about you, Q? Are you taking someone?” Luna asks curiously.
“If it wasn’t for you guys being here, I wouldn’t go to the stupid ball in the first place. So no, I’m not planning on bringing anyone else just to bore them to death.”
“Nonsense,” my father interjects, and I can tell from the gleam in his eyes whatever he is going to say isn’t going to be something I want to hear. “It will be good for business. I’ll find someone for you to take.”
Great. Just when I thought this couldn’t get any worse, I’ve gone and stuck my fucking foot in my mouth.
“I’ll sleep on the couch,” Scarlet insists. “You can sleep in your bed.”
“Okay.” I smile, handing her a pillow and a blanket.
I watch as she makes her bed on the couch and crawls under the blanket, wearing pajamas covered in pink hearts and little owls. I already know she’s gonna come and crawl into my bed, but I’ll let her have her way. She hates sleeping in places she doesn’t know, and every time we are someplace new, she ends up in my bed, not wanting to sleep alone.
I’ve told her many times just to come and sleep in my bed, but every time, she insists that it will be different now and that she is not a little girl anymore.
I’ll believe it when I see it. “All right, good night. I’ll see you in the morning.”
“Good night.” She smiles at me, pulling the blanket up to her chin.
Luna and Ren are already in bed, and Luna had no trouble admitting she wanted to sleep in her brother’s room.
Walking into my room, I get ready for bed as well, brushing my teeth and stripping out of my clothes down to my boxers before I climb into bed.
Looking up at the ceiling, I lie awake in bed for so long I wonder if Scarlet actually did fall asleep on the couch. That idea is proven wrong when the door cracks open, and Scarlet tiptoes into my room.
I can’t hide a grin when she climbs into my bed and slips under the blanket, settling on the other side of the bed.