Chapter 18 #2
I sure hope Noah let them in, or they all had a nasty surprise.
Cassian parks and looks at me. “You ready to get this over with?”
“Nope. I changed my mind. I live with you now.”
“Will that make them any happier? In case you haven’t noticed, I’m a man as well.”
“Probably not, but you have twenty-seven rooms. I can hide for a long time before they find me.”
“I think you’re overreacting.”
“I have an acute sense of responsibility, and I was told nice girls don’t live with boys before they’re married.”
“Well, that’s an easy fix. Get married, you trollop.”
I snort out a laugh, telling myself this isn’t that big of a deal. My house has become a bed and breakfast, not a house of ill repute. It’s even better than a bed and breakfast because Noah usually cooks for me.
I take a deep breath, leave the relative safety of the car, and march up the porch steps.
My dad meets me at the door. He’s about six feet tall, broad-shouldered but soft around the edges, with a little gray in his short beard.
Up until he retired, he was the CEO of a construction company he built from the ground up.
He’s strong-willed and efficient, and it annoys the daylights out of him that his daughter was born with an entrepreneurial spirit and a love for flowers.
Right now, he’s smiling. But it’s not a friendly smile; it’s a concerning smile. If a cat could smile, this is the smile it would wear when it cornered its prey.
But before he can say anything, his eyes stray to the Lamborghini. His jaw goes slack, and his gaze moves to the man beside me.
“Dad!” I say brightly, hurrying forward to give him the awkwardest of hugs. When I step back, I say, “What are you guys doing back already? I thought you were going to be gone until the end of summer?”
“We came back early. Mom broke her glasses and decided she would like to update her prescription before she orders new ones.” He glances at Cassian, frowning. “And we didn’t hear much from you and Max, so we decided to come home.”
His expression says he thinks it’s a good thing he did. I’m sure he’s imagining that I got myself into all kinds of trouble while they were out of town. And he’s right, but I bet his mind hasn’t leaped to vampires yet.
So, I’m still a step ahead.
“Ah,” I say.
Also, note to self: next time your parents are gone, call them.
“Your mother is inside with Noah,” Dad says.
“I could have introduced you to him if I’d been here.” I raise my eyebrows, hoping to subtly get my point across. “I wish you would have texted first.”
“I’m sure you do.” He gives me a wry look and then jerks his chin toward Cassian. “Who’s this, and whose Lamborghini did he steal?”
“Huh?” I glance at the vampire by my side. “Oh, this is Cassian, and the Lamborghini is his.”
Kind of. I mean, it seems to be, though I think he claimed it with bloodline politics and clout. Not sure how that works. Not sure I want to know how that works.
Dad frowns at him like he’s up to no good. Then he offers his hand.
“Hello, Mr. Edwards,” Cassian says smoothly as they shake. “I’m pleased to make your acquaintance.”
Dad nods, sizing him up, and then turns toward the door. “Let’s go inside.”
I follow him, reminding myself I’m an adult. Even if my parents don’t like my decisions, I’m not a child. And it’s not like they’ve agreed with all my life choices up to this point, anyway. What’s one more thing to add to the list?
We find Mom and Noah in the living room. One of them looks more uncomfortable than the other.
Mom sits in Grandpa’s old rocking chair, drinking a diet soda. She’s pleasantly plump, always on a diet, with shoulder-length brunette hair and what appears to be a slight vacation tan.
“Piper.” She rises, crossing the room to give me a hug. She smells like the raspberry vanilla hand cream she buys from the mall in Junction. “Dad thought he heard you pull up.”
“In a Lamborghini.” Dad gives her a pointed look.
Yep, he thinks I’ve gotten involved with a European drug lord.
Mom blinks at him, flummoxed. Then she gives Cassian a cautious smile. “It looks like you’ve already met my husband, Robert. I’m Elette.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Edwards,” Cassian says, as charming as I’ve ever seen him.
She turns back to me, smirking ever-so-slightly. “Are there any more men hanging around the house we should meet?”
Okay then.
“Just Noah and Cassian,” I answer dryly.
“So…” she begins, her eyes moving between them. “Noah says he’s renting a room from you. Is that right?”
She doesn’t believe it.
“Do you want me to show you our rental agreement?”
She rolls her eyes, her expression softening with pity. “Honey, if money was so tight you thought you needed to take on a tenant, I wish you would have let us know.”
And now they think my business is going under.
“It’s not that—” I cut myself off, realizing this is my best out. “Okay, it was a bad spring, and I didn’t get as much planted as I would have liked. I didn’t want to worry you.”
Dad practically glares at Cassian. “Are you renting a room, too?”
“No, I’m…” Cassian trails off, realizing he’s not sure how to answer. He can’t say he’s my conservator. The vampire meets my eyes, silently asking for help.
“Cassian is Noah’s friend,” I explain.
“You go for joy rides with your boarder’s friends?”
“He’s my friend now, too. And we were just out.”
“Out where?” Dad asks, being blatantly nosy now.
“Out.”
He glowers at me for a minute and then turns to Cassian. “What do you do for a living? You a trust fund kid?”
“Guilty,” Cassian lies before I can tell my dad to drop it. “But I also dabble in investments.”
“I can’t place your accent,” Mom says. “Where are you from?”
“I was born in France but spent my formative years in Romania.”
Mom blinks at him. “What brought you to the States?”
“I’m keenly interested in medical research.”
“I thought you were in investments?” my father asks, growing even more suspicious.
“Dad,” I warn.
He shrugs, not the slightest bit repentant.
“Okay, well.” Mom looks between Cassian and Noah, her concern evident. “But what does Kevin think about all this? Where is he, anyway?”
Oh…oh no.
I didn’t tell them about my ex-boyfriend. I mean, I know I didn’t tell them. I figured I’d deal with it when they got back.
And look.
They’re back.
“Um, okay. So…” I catch Noah’s eye and wince when he shoots me an incredulous look. “That’s kind of a long story, but Kevin and I aren’t together anymore.”
“Because of these two?” Dad demands. “We leave for a few months, and we come back to find you’ve broken it off with your long-time boyfriend and are now cohabitating with a couple of rich, pretty boys. Piper, are you doing drugs? Worse? What the hell is going on here?”
Dad isn’t really a bad language guy, at least around us. Maybe at work. I don’t know. But anyway, I can tell he’s pretty concerned.
And, okay, when you look at our situation from the outside without all the info, it probably looks a little alarming.
But I don’t know how to fix it, at least not yet.
Thankfully, I don’t have to. Because Max, bless his often-annoying heart, walks through the front door.
“Max!” Mom exclaims, her face softening.
My brother ambles in all casual-like, grinning at our parents like the charming suck-up he is. “You guys are back.”
Grateful for the moment to think, I take a deep breath. Noah stares at me, silently asking me how we’re going to explain this.
I have no idea.
Max hugs Mom and then gives Dad one of those side-arm guy embraces.
“Do you know your sister has leased a room in your grandparents’ house to a guy none of us has met?” Dad demands.
Here we go.
Growing up, I was the golden child. Teachers loved me, I got good grades, and except for that pesky vegetarian “nonsense,” I was the model child.
Max barely made it to graduation. He skipped school more often than he went, started his band, almost lost his driver’s license a week after he got it, and refused to work for Dad in the family business.
He was the black sheep. I was the darling lamb.
But after high school, Max got his act together.
He’s held down a steady job, even though it wasn’t the one Dad had lined up for him.
He hasn’t had a speeding ticket in a good eight years, and his band doesn’t interfere with paying the bills.
He even bought a house. (Which is, obviously, the measure of a successful adult.)
And just like that, Max miraculously became the golden child—or at least a little shinier than me.
But maybe that could work out in my favor. All he has to do is take my side.
“Yeah, I know,” Max says calmly, jerking his head toward Noah in a cool hello.
“And you’re okay with that?” Dad says, growing even more agitated.
Max shrugs. “Well, yeah. I didn’t really want Piper here alone, you know? Not with her stalker and the vampire diagnosis.”
Or maybe he won’t be any help at all.