“Your mom has sock accounts?” I don’t know why this surprises me. Violet is basically insane. Awesome, but definitely not normal. Mav gets his sense of humor from her.
“I’m sure she’s set your mom up with one too.” Mav raises an eyebrow at me. “And yours.” He points to BJ.
“How do you know it’s your mom? I mean, there are loads of catfish accounts out there,” BJ says.
Mav pulls his phone out of his pocket, pulls up his IG account, and clicks on a post of him with some girl sitting in his lap from earlier in the semester. He scrolls through the comments, clicking on a profile of a woman wearing a tiny bikini top blowing a kiss at the camera. Every single post she has looks like it’s from some kind of photo shoot, and there are captions like “Feeling pretty.” Another says, “Just reading by the pool” with the same model sprawled out on a towel beside a pool with a magazine artfully placed by her head. The best one is captioned “I love pineapple,” and the model is lovingly cradling a pineapple while wearing a pineapple-print bikini. “Now read the comment she left.”
Lavender nabs the phone and barks out a laugh before she passes it to me. The comment reads: “So HAWT! Don’t forget to wrap your sausage! XOXO #safesex.”
Mav has liked the comment and replied with: “Thanks for worrying about my junk.”
“Does she know you know?” BJ is basically doubled over with laughter.
“I don’t think so, and I’m not going to ruin it for her.” He slides his phone into his pocket when our food arrives. “So does River know?”
“Not yet.” Lavender pokes at a chunk of pineapple floating in her smoothie. “I haven’t seen him to tell him since he hasn’t been home much lately.”
Mav digs into his scrambled eggs. “Man, I hope I’m around for that.”
“Guess it’s a good thing we’ll be able to move back into our house again soon, huh? Less chance of you being murdered in your sleep that way.” BJ chuckles.
Lovey elbows BJ in the side. “I’m sure it’ll be fine.”
But everyone exchanges a look.Chapter Twenty-EightThe Geyser
Lavender
Present day
I’M NOT PLEASED to see River’s car in the driveway when we get home late that night—or early that morning, I guess. BJ wishes me luck, and Maverick is pretty much gleeful as he punches in the code. If River is in the living room, there’s going to be a confrontation—one that has to happen if Kodiak and I are going to try to make this work.
I steel myself for the coming meltdown as Maverick opens the door and we follow him inside. Kodiak laces his fingers with mine and gives my hand a squeeze. I feel a lot like we’re walking into an angry lion’s cage.
River is right where I expect to find him, sitting on the couch. I don’t expect him to be drinking one of my extra-sugary coolers and watching old episodes of Vampire Diaries, but then, this has been the year of the unexpected.
His gaze shifts away from the TV and immediately finds me. His eyes narrow as he takes in Kodiak’s proximity and our clasped hands.
His lip curls up, and he flings out a hand. “What is this?”
“Can you hold the meltdown for a minute? I need to get popcorn for this.” Maverick is so excited, he’s like a shaken bottle of soda, ready to explode.
I throw an unimpressed glare his way. “Not helpful, and you are not sticking around for this. I need to have a conversation with my brother without a bunch of gawkers.”
“Sorry. I’ll keep my mouth shut.” Maverick looks appropriately chagrined.
“I think we need to have a talk, Lavender, in fucking private.” River’s gaze bounces between me and Kodiak, nostrils flaring.
“I fully agree that we need to have a talk, but there are some issues we need to address, and since they revolve around Kodiak, he should be involved.”
River slams his bottle down on the table and pushes to his feet. “You can’t be serious!”
He storms across the room, and I step in front of Kodiak, crossing my arms. “You need to calm down.”
“And you need to get out of my way because I’m going to kick this fucker’s ass! How are you with him? He put you through hell!” River yells.
“So have you!” I shout back.
“What?” River recoils as though I’ve slapped him.
“You keep blaming Kodiak for making a mess of things when we were kids, but you were just as bad. Look at what you’re doing right now.”
“I just wanted to keep you safe. I’m always going to want to keep you safe, especially from someone who’s hurt you time and time again.” River jabs his finger toward Kodiak. I can feel him behind me, but I don’t turn to see his reaction.