Her eyes closed in understanding and she let out a long breath as her hand dropped away from his face.
“He’s on his way,” Curtis said, walking back toward the group. “He said he’s bringing the boys.”
“Great,” Draco said, walking over to drop into a chair.
“You should call your parents,” Trix told me and Charlie. “Casper’s probably on his way, but Mack should come get you, Kara.”
“Okay,” I said, nodding. I looked at Draco.
I couldn’t imagine just leaving him. The whole reason he was in this mess was because of me. I was the catalyst. Shouldn’t I be there for the eventual fallout? What if they needed to ask me questions or something?
As I pulled my phone out of my pocket, something else dawned on me and I froze.
Everyone was going to know about the photos. Everyone would see them. My dad would see them.
Before I could work up the courage to call, we heard the sound of motorcycles coming up the driveway.
“Jesus, who did he bring?” Trix asked, striding toward the front door. She opened it and looked out, then turned to meet my eyes. “Your pop’s here.”
Shit.
“I see you brought the cavalry,” Trix called out as the men came stomping up the front porch stairs and into the house.
“You know how it is,” the boys’ dad Cam replied, leaning down to give her a kiss. “You know what’s goin’ on?”
“They wanted to wait for you,” she said.
Cam looked over at me and Charlie, who were still standing awkwardly at the edge of the room. “You couldn’t even get those two to talk?”
“I didn’t try,” Trix said dryly. “Charlie’s ready to hulk out and Kara has been on the verge of tears since they got here.”
“Hey, kiddo,” my dad said as he caught sight of me. “Shoulda known you’d be mixed up in whatever this is.”
“Hey, Dad,” I said, sagging against him as he came to hug me.
“You feelin’ okay?” he asked.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” I only partially lied.
Charlie’s dad Casper threw his arm over her shoulder and said something quietly into her ear, but she didn’t respond. Cam sat down on the edge of the couch, facing his sons in the chairs. Grease stood, his back against the wall, quietly waiting.
“Okay, someone tell me what the fuck happened,” Dragon ordered, crossing his arms over his chest. At that moment, he didn’t look like the boys’ grandpa. He was every inch the president of the motorcycle club that our families belonged to.
Like someone had suddenly hit the play button, Curtis, Draco, and Charlie all started speaking at once. Charlie was defensive, her voice higher pitched than normal and her hands gesturing wildly. Curtis sounded angry; his voice was a little louder than the others. Draco, though, was almost monosyllabic. He didn’t rise from his seat, he barely looked up. His voice was the one I focused on, as he detailed how he’d beat up Travis and gotten caught by the coach.
None of them, not a single one, mentioned the photos of me.
“You dragged us over here because you got in a fight?” Grease asked in disbelief. “Hell, Tommy did that shit once a month his entire high school career.”
“It wasn’t a fight,” Draco said, finally raising his head to look at the group crowded into the living room. Charlie and Curtis finally fell silent. “I beat the shit out of him. He didn’t get in a single swing.”
“So the kid’s a pussy,” Grease said with a shrug.
“I also hit him with a baseball bat,” Draco said, no emotion in his voice.
Grease’s mouth twitched, but he didn’t reply.
“So, we need to call the lawyer,” Dragon said. He nodded to Casper who then let go of his daughter and stepped out of the room. “You stand by it?” Dragon asked Draco.
“Yeah,” Draco said firmly.
“Alright,” Dragon said.
“No,” Trix argued, her voice loud with disbelief. “No, not alright. What the hell were you thinking?”
Draco didn’t respond.
“Do you think that rules just don’t apply to you because you’re going to patch in eventually?” she asked. “You’re not a member yet. You’re a fucking kid! Your only responsibility is to stay out of trouble long enough to reach adulthood.”
“Baby,” Cam said, reaching for her.
“No,” Trix said, shaking her head. “I want to know what he was thinking. I want to know how he thought he could get away with this.”
“He had it comin’,” Draco replied through his teeth.
“He had it coming?” Trix repeated, her voice so low it was almost guttural. “Do you even hear yourself?”
Charlie and Curtis both started back up again, their voices joining in on the back and forth.
I couldn’t take it anymore. I couldn’t listen to Draco downplay the whole thing, or Trix yell at him, or Charlie and Curtis pushing their own version of the events that were close to the truth, but not quite. The events of the last few hours were getting distorted, turning Draco into some out of control teenager that was stupid enough to get himself into really big trouble.